Climatic resilience: Marine heatwaves do not influence the variations of green crab (Carcinus maenas) megalopae supply patterns to a western Iberian estuary

Abstract

Extreme climatic events like marine heatwaves (MHWs) are becoming more frequent, intense, and longer lasting all around the world. The consequences of these anomalously warm periods are devastating for marine ecosystems. Still, little is known about these extreme events off the western Iberia coast. Here we analyzed MHW events occurring from 1982 – 2020 on the Aveiro coast, western Iberia coast of Portugal. A total of 79 events were detected for the region, with an average duration of 15.8 days, and a mean intensity of 1.9 ºC ± 0.4 ºC above the 90th percentile of sea surface temperatures (SST) for the region. The maximum intensity of the events has increased by 0.5 ºC over the last decade. The relation between SST, and therefore, MHW events, the North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO), and the regional Iberian Upwelling Index (UI) was identified. The intense upwelling of the region seems to mitigate the duration of warming conditions, resulting in shorter MHW events. Furthermore, the impacts of SST and MHW events on the supply patterns of Carcinus maenas megalopae were examined, utilizing daily data from 2002, 2006 - 2009, 2012, and 2013, collected at the entrance of Ria de Aveiro. Cross-correlations were employed to assess the effect of SST on megalopae supply, while ordinary least square cumulative sums were used to identify variations over time. The influence of SST on supply was noticed with a 5-to-11-day lag, but this relation changed over the years. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no evidence supporting a diminishment in megalopae supply due to MHW events. These elusive findings, coupled with the apparent lack of influence of these extreme events, highlight the relatively weak intensity and brief duration of the MHW events in the region, coupled with the high thermal tolerance of these species.