Abstract
Environmental conditions can impact the development of phenotypes and in turn the performance of individuals. Climate change, therefore, provides a pressing need to extend our understanding of how temperature will influence phenotypic variation. To address this, we assessed the impact of increased temperatures on ecologically significant phenotypic traits in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). We raised Arctic charr at 5°C and 9°C to simulate a predicted climate change scenario and examined temperature-induced variation in ossification, bone metabolism, skeletal morphology, and escape response. Fish reared at 9°C exhibited less cartilage and bone development at the same developmental stage, but also higher bone metabolism in localized regions. The higher temperature treatment also resulted in significant differences in craniofacial morphology, changes in the degree of variation, and fewer vertebrae. Both temperature regime and vertebral number affected escape response performance, with higher temperature leading to decreased latency. These findings demonstrate that climate change has the potential to impact development through multiple routes with the potential for plasticity and the release of cryptic genetic variation to have strong impacts on function through ecological performance and survival.
Highlights
Environmental conditions can profoundly influence the development of adaptive phenotypes through phenotypic plasticity (Pfennig et al, 2010; Pigliucci, 2005; Pigliucci et al, 2006; West‐Eberhard, 2003)
Plasticity is thought to increase the likelihood of survival in changing and unpredictable conditions and can itself evolve to be adaptive through repeated exposure to the same environment over generations (Badyaev, 2005; Nettle & Bateson, 2015; Parsons & Robinson, 2007)
To understand how plasticity may affect an organism's response to a changing environment, conservation biology should expand its focus beyond assessments of extant phenotypes and genetic variation (Campbell et al, 2017)
Summary
Environmental conditions can profoundly influence the development of adaptive phenotypes through phenotypic plasticity (Pfennig et al, 2010; Pigliucci, 2005; Pigliucci et al, 2006; West‐Eberhard, 2003). Estimates of this “Arctic amplification” effect predict warming in the far north to be three to four times the rate of temperate and tropical regions (Bracegirdle & Stephenson, 2013; Overland et al, 2013; Pithan & Mauritsen, 2014) This suggests that thermal plasticity (i.e., within‐generation phenotypic responses to temperature) could play a major role in how populations, especially those from high latitudes, cope. Ectotherms, such as fishes, in these areas are likely to be more susceptible to changes, with evidence indicating that there are already shifts in life‐history traits in some fish species (Cai et al, 2014; Crozier & Hutchings, 2014). We predicted that higher temperatures would induce the formation of fewer vertebrae and that this would impede escape response performance (e.g. Ackerly & Ward, 2016; Sfakianakis et al, 2011)
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