Warming waters beget smaller fish: evidence for reduced size and altered morphology in a desert fish following anthropogenic temperature change.

ABSTRACT: Poikilothermic organisms are predicted to show reduced body sizes as they experience warming environments under a changing global climate. Such a shrinking of size is expected under scenarios where rising temperatures increase cellular reaction rates and basal metabolic energy demands, therein requiring limited energy to be shifted from growth. Here, we provide evidence that the ecological changes associated with warming may not only lead to shrinking body size but also trigger shifts in morphology. We documented 33.4 and 39.0% declines in body mass and 7.2 and 7.6% reductions in length for males and females, respectively, in a wild population of Amargosa pupfish, Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae, following an abrupt anthropogenically driven temperature increase. That reduction in si

SUBMITTER: Lema SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6832196 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature