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Oyster larvae used for ecosystem restoration benefit from increased thermal fluctuation
Alter, K.; Jacobs, P.; Delre, A.; Rasch, B.; Philippart, C.J.M.; Peck, M.A. (2024). Oyster larvae used for ecosystem restoration benefit from increased thermal fluctuation. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 198: 115750. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115750
In: Marine Pollution Bulletin. Macmillan: London. ISSN 0025-326X; e-ISSN 1879-3363, more
Peer reviewed article  

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Author keywords

    Ontogeny; Thermal performance curve; Respiration; Heat waves; Flat oyster; Ecosystem restoration


Authors  Top 
  • Alter, K., more
  • Jacobs, P., more
  • Delre, A.
  • Rasch, B.
  • Philippart, C.J.M., more
  • Peck, M.A., more

Abstract
    A bottleneck in restoring self-sustaining beds of the European oyster (Ostrea edulis) is the successful development and settlement of larvae to bottom habitats. These processes are largely governed by temperature but a mechanistic understanding of larval performance across ecologically relevant temperatures is lacking. We reared larvae at low (20–21 °C) and high (20–24 °C) fluctuating temperatures and applied short-term exposures of larvae to temperatures between 16 and 33 °C to assess vital rates and thermal coping ranges. Larval thermal preference was between 25 and 30 °C for both rearing treatments which corresponded with optimum temperatures for oxygen consumption rates and locomotion. Larvae had 5.5-fold higher settling success, however, when reared at the high compared to the low fluctuating temperatures. Higher mean and periods of increased temperature, as projected in a future climate, may therefore enhance recruitment success of O. edulis in northern European habitats.

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