Temperature Effects on Growth and Recruitment in Marine Fish

Temperature exerts a fundamental influence on the physiology, life history and population dynamics of marine fish. At the individual level, thermal conditions determine metabolic rates, feeding activity and energy allocation between somatic growth and reproduction. Warmer waters can accelerate growth and shorten development times, yet may also heighten metabolic demands and restrict aerobic scope under extreme heat or low oxygen. Temperature governs the timing of spawning and larval hatching, establishing seasonal windows for successful recruitment. Shifts in sea-surface and sub-surface temperatures can compress or expand these windows, altering survival rates of eggs and larvae. Over longer timescales, sustained warming drives evolutionary and behavioural adaptations, from altered age at maturity to poleward redistribution of stocks. The interplay between temperature, oxygen availability and habitat structure also mediates bottom-up and top-down controls on larval survival. Understanding these interactions is essential for predicting impacts of climate change on fish populations, informing adaptive fisheries management and safeguarding food security in a warming ocean.

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Temperature Effects on Growth and Recruitment in Marine Fish publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in temperature effects on growth and recruitment in marine fish across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Recruitment: The addition of new individuals to a fishable or reproductive population.

Phenology: The timing of biological events such as spawning and hatching in relation to environmental cues.

Aerobic scope: The difference between minimum and maximum metabolic rates, indicating the energy available for growth and activity.

Physiologically based species distribution model (SDM): A predictive framework that links species’ thermal and metabolic requirements to habitat suitability under varying conditions.

Critical temperature window: A defined range of temperatures within which growth, development or survival of early life stages is maximised.

References

1. Caught in the middle: bottom-up and top-down processes impacting recruitment in a small pelagic fish. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2022).
2. Putting Temperature and Oxygen Thresholds of Marine Animals in Context of Environmental Change: A Regional Perspective for the Scotian Shelf and Gulf of St. Lawrence. PLOS ONE (2016).
3. Climate warming causes life-history evolution in a model for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Conservation Physiology (2014).
4. Impact of temperature on Downs herring (Clupea harengus) embryonic stages: First insights from an experimental approach. PLOS ONE (2023).
5. Forecasted Shifts in Thermal Habitat for Cod Species in the Northwest Atlantic and Eastern Canadian Arctic. Frontiers in Marine Science (2021).
6. Reduced Reproductive Success of Western Baltic Herring (Clupea harengus) as a Response to Warming Winters. Frontiers in Marine Science (2021).