Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish species
The functional traits of species depend both on species’ evolutionary characteristics and their local environmental conditions and opportunities. The temperature-size rule (TSR), gill-oxygen limitation theory (GOLT), and temperature constraint hypothesis (TCH) have been proposed to explain the gradi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2023-09-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/15880.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797409133663617024 |
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| author | Han-Yang Lin Mark John Costello |
| author_facet | Han-Yang Lin Mark John Costello |
| author_sort | Han-Yang Lin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The functional traits of species depend both on species’ evolutionary characteristics and their local environmental conditions and opportunities. The temperature-size rule (TSR), gill-oxygen limitation theory (GOLT), and temperature constraint hypothesis (TCH) have been proposed to explain the gradients of body size and trophic level of marine species. However, how functional traits vary both with latitude and depth have not been quantified at a global scale for any marine taxon. We compared the latitudinal gradients of trophic level and maximum body size of 5,619 marine fish from modelled species ranges, based on (1) three body size ranges, <30, 30–100, and >100 cm, and (2) four trophic levels, <2.20, 2.20–2.80, 2.81–3.70, >3.70. These were parsed into 5° latitudinal intervals in four depth zones: whole water column, 0–200, 201–1,000, and 1,001–6,000 m. We described the relationship between latitudinal gradients of functional traits and salinity, sea surface and near seabed temperatures, and dissolved oxygen. We found mean body sizes and mean trophic levels of marine fish were smaller and lower in the warmer latitudes, and larger and higher respectively in the high latitudes except for the Southern Ocean (Antarctica). Fish species with trophic levels ≤2.80 were dominant in warmer and absent in colder environments. We attribute these differences in body size and trophic level between polar regions to the greater environmental heterogeneity of the Arctic compared to Antarctica. We suggest that fish species’ mean maximum body size declined with depth because of decreased dissolved oxygen. These results support the TSR, GOLT and TCH hypotheses respectively. Thus, at the global scale, temperature and oxygen are primary factors affecting marine fishes’ biogeography and biological traits. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:09:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b3af9b7f2af349269878d9695a153da3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:09:56Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-b3af9b7f2af349269878d9695a153da32023-12-03T14:02:02ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592023-09-0111e1588010.7717/peerj.15880Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish speciesHan-Yang Lin0Mark John Costello1Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandFaculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Nord University, Bodo, NorwayThe functional traits of species depend both on species’ evolutionary characteristics and their local environmental conditions and opportunities. The temperature-size rule (TSR), gill-oxygen limitation theory (GOLT), and temperature constraint hypothesis (TCH) have been proposed to explain the gradients of body size and trophic level of marine species. However, how functional traits vary both with latitude and depth have not been quantified at a global scale for any marine taxon. We compared the latitudinal gradients of trophic level and maximum body size of 5,619 marine fish from modelled species ranges, based on (1) three body size ranges, <30, 30–100, and >100 cm, and (2) four trophic levels, <2.20, 2.20–2.80, 2.81–3.70, >3.70. These were parsed into 5° latitudinal intervals in four depth zones: whole water column, 0–200, 201–1,000, and 1,001–6,000 m. We described the relationship between latitudinal gradients of functional traits and salinity, sea surface and near seabed temperatures, and dissolved oxygen. We found mean body sizes and mean trophic levels of marine fish were smaller and lower in the warmer latitudes, and larger and higher respectively in the high latitudes except for the Southern Ocean (Antarctica). Fish species with trophic levels ≤2.80 were dominant in warmer and absent in colder environments. We attribute these differences in body size and trophic level between polar regions to the greater environmental heterogeneity of the Arctic compared to Antarctica. We suggest that fish species’ mean maximum body size declined with depth because of decreased dissolved oxygen. These results support the TSR, GOLT and TCH hypotheses respectively. Thus, at the global scale, temperature and oxygen are primary factors affecting marine fishes’ biogeography and biological traits.https://peerj.com/articles/15880.pdfLatitudinal gradientDepth gradientFishTrophic levelBody sizeDepth zones |
| spellingShingle | Han-Yang Lin Mark John Costello Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish species PeerJ Latitudinal gradient Depth gradient Fish Trophic level Body size Depth zones |
| title | Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish species |
| title_full | Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish species |
| title_fullStr | Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish species |
| title_full_unstemmed | Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish species |
| title_short | Body size and trophic level increase with latitude, and decrease in the deep-sea and Antarctica, for marine fish species |
| title_sort | body size and trophic level increase with latitude and decrease in the deep sea and antarctica for marine fish species |
| topic | Latitudinal gradient Depth gradient Fish Trophic level Body size Depth zones |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/15880.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hanyanglin bodysizeandtrophiclevelincreasewithlatitudeanddecreaseinthedeepseaandantarcticaformarinefishspecies AT markjohncostello bodysizeandtrophiclevelincreasewithlatitudeanddecreaseinthedeepseaandantarcticaformarinefishspecies |