Linking Short-Term Physiological Responses to Longer-Term Climate Impacts: A Case Study Using Atlantic Herring Early Life Stages

Increasing knowledge on how key factors affect physiological and vital rates (metabolism, growth, survival) of organisms will help us gain a cause-and-effect understanding of historical, climate-driven changes in species and to make more robust projections of future impacts. We use Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) larvae as an example of how to explore physiological-based relationships underpinning temperature-dependent growth and thermal windows supporting growth and survival. Since meeting metabolic requirements is a primary challenge of organisms (especially at environmental extremes) emphasis was placed on understanding responses of the mass-specific respiration rate (R) and the circulatory system (e.g. heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output (CA)) to changes in temperatures. We explore how short-term measurements of R and CA may reveal temperature optima and pejus limits and how R and CA are related to longer-term responses of temperature-dependent growth under ad libitum feeding conditions. We investigate how intrinsic (developmental) and extrinsic (temperature, prey) factors interact to affect growth potential of larvae using a physiological-based IBMs.