A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela

Changes in the environment can alter the suitability of habitats for organisms. In marine systems, fish species have their own specific requirements in terms of temperature and other habitat features. Behavioral responses such as thermoregulatory behavior in ectothermic species allow mobile organisms to respond to detrimental changes and search for more suitable habitats. However, for many species, limited information exists on the ecological requirements to help explain species abundance in a changing habitat. An example of a quickly changing habitat is the Wadden Sea, where five bearded rockling (Ciliata mustela) abundance has increased, unlike other Wadden Sea species. The increasing abundance of rockling has coincided with increasing average sea water temperatures and the recovery of mussel and Pacific oyster beds. Warming waters and increased structural habitat may have provided rockling with a more desirable habitat. Therefore, to better understand why rockling abundance is increasing within a changing Wadden Sea, a water temperature preference chamber was used to determine rockling's preferred temperature range. In addition, rockling's affinity for structural habitat and the trade-off between preferred temperature was examined by following their response to the systematic removal of artificial physical structures within the preferred temperature conditions. The preferred temperature range of rockling was found to be 10.4–15.7 °C. Following structure removals, rockling repeatedly moved away from their chosen temperatures to adjacent compartments with different temperatures but containing physical structure, indicating that the presence of physical structure was more important than preferred temperature until 18.6 °C. These novel findings provide insight and experimental support for the hypothesis explaining rockling's increase in the Wadden Sea: 1) mean annual temperatures have been steadily increasing towards rockling's preferred thermal range and 2) increasing mussel and Pacific oyster beds are plausibly providing structural habitat, an important habitat requirement for rockling. When fish display a strong association with physical structure it is necessary to link physiological and habitat preferences to better understand climate change related responses.

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Main Authors: Dye, Bass, Tulp, Ingrid, van Leeuwen, Anieke, Blom, Ewout, Schram, Edward
Format: Article/Letter to editor biblioteca
Language:English
Subjects:Behavioral thermoregulation, Ciliata mustela, Habitat association, Habitat selection, Temperature preference,
Online Access:https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/a-rocklings-choice-the-trade-off-between-thermal-preference-and-p
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spelling dig-wur-nl-wurpubs-6210052024-10-30 Dye, Bass Tulp, Ingrid van Leeuwen, Anieke Blom, Ewout Schram, Edward Article/Letter to editor Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 570 (2024) ISSN: 0022-0981 A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela 2024 Changes in the environment can alter the suitability of habitats for organisms. In marine systems, fish species have their own specific requirements in terms of temperature and other habitat features. Behavioral responses such as thermoregulatory behavior in ectothermic species allow mobile organisms to respond to detrimental changes and search for more suitable habitats. However, for many species, limited information exists on the ecological requirements to help explain species abundance in a changing habitat. An example of a quickly changing habitat is the Wadden Sea, where five bearded rockling (Ciliata mustela) abundance has increased, unlike other Wadden Sea species. The increasing abundance of rockling has coincided with increasing average sea water temperatures and the recovery of mussel and Pacific oyster beds. Warming waters and increased structural habitat may have provided rockling with a more desirable habitat. Therefore, to better understand why rockling abundance is increasing within a changing Wadden Sea, a water temperature preference chamber was used to determine rockling's preferred temperature range. In addition, rockling's affinity for structural habitat and the trade-off between preferred temperature was examined by following their response to the systematic removal of artificial physical structures within the preferred temperature conditions. The preferred temperature range of rockling was found to be 10.4–15.7 °C. Following structure removals, rockling repeatedly moved away from their chosen temperatures to adjacent compartments with different temperatures but containing physical structure, indicating that the presence of physical structure was more important than preferred temperature until 18.6 °C. These novel findings provide insight and experimental support for the hypothesis explaining rockling's increase in the Wadden Sea: 1) mean annual temperatures have been steadily increasing towards rockling's preferred thermal range and 2) increasing mussel and Pacific oyster beds are plausibly providing structural habitat, an important habitat requirement for rockling. When fish display a strong association with physical structure it is necessary to link physiological and habitat preferences to better understand climate change related responses. en application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/a-rocklings-choice-the-trade-off-between-thermal-preference-and-p 10.1016/j.jembe.2023.151959 https://edepot.wur.nl/641761 Behavioral thermoregulation Ciliata mustela Habitat association Habitat selection Temperature preference https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research
institution WUR NL
collection DSpace
country Países bajos
countrycode NL
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode dig-wur-nl
tag biblioteca
region Europa del Oeste
libraryname WUR Library Netherlands
language English
topic Behavioral thermoregulation
Ciliata mustela
Habitat association
Habitat selection
Temperature preference
Behavioral thermoregulation
Ciliata mustela
Habitat association
Habitat selection
Temperature preference
spellingShingle Behavioral thermoregulation
Ciliata mustela
Habitat association
Habitat selection
Temperature preference
Behavioral thermoregulation
Ciliata mustela
Habitat association
Habitat selection
Temperature preference
Dye, Bass
Tulp, Ingrid
van Leeuwen, Anieke
Blom, Ewout
Schram, Edward
A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela
description Changes in the environment can alter the suitability of habitats for organisms. In marine systems, fish species have their own specific requirements in terms of temperature and other habitat features. Behavioral responses such as thermoregulatory behavior in ectothermic species allow mobile organisms to respond to detrimental changes and search for more suitable habitats. However, for many species, limited information exists on the ecological requirements to help explain species abundance in a changing habitat. An example of a quickly changing habitat is the Wadden Sea, where five bearded rockling (Ciliata mustela) abundance has increased, unlike other Wadden Sea species. The increasing abundance of rockling has coincided with increasing average sea water temperatures and the recovery of mussel and Pacific oyster beds. Warming waters and increased structural habitat may have provided rockling with a more desirable habitat. Therefore, to better understand why rockling abundance is increasing within a changing Wadden Sea, a water temperature preference chamber was used to determine rockling's preferred temperature range. In addition, rockling's affinity for structural habitat and the trade-off between preferred temperature was examined by following their response to the systematic removal of artificial physical structures within the preferred temperature conditions. The preferred temperature range of rockling was found to be 10.4–15.7 °C. Following structure removals, rockling repeatedly moved away from their chosen temperatures to adjacent compartments with different temperatures but containing physical structure, indicating that the presence of physical structure was more important than preferred temperature until 18.6 °C. These novel findings provide insight and experimental support for the hypothesis explaining rockling's increase in the Wadden Sea: 1) mean annual temperatures have been steadily increasing towards rockling's preferred thermal range and 2) increasing mussel and Pacific oyster beds are plausibly providing structural habitat, an important habitat requirement for rockling. When fish display a strong association with physical structure it is necessary to link physiological and habitat preferences to better understand climate change related responses.
format Article/Letter to editor
topic_facet Behavioral thermoregulation
Ciliata mustela
Habitat association
Habitat selection
Temperature preference
author Dye, Bass
Tulp, Ingrid
van Leeuwen, Anieke
Blom, Ewout
Schram, Edward
author_facet Dye, Bass
Tulp, Ingrid
van Leeuwen, Anieke
Blom, Ewout
Schram, Edward
author_sort Dye, Bass
title A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela
title_short A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela
title_full A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela
title_fullStr A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela
title_full_unstemmed A rockling's choice: The trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela
title_sort rockling's choice: the trade-off between thermal preference and physical structure in the five bearded rockling, ciliata mustela
url https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/a-rocklings-choice-the-trade-off-between-thermal-preference-and-p
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