title: Interactive effects of ocean acidification and rising sea temperatures alter predation rate and predator selectivity in reef fish communities.
abstract: Ocean warming and acidification are serious threats to marine life. While each stressor alone has been studied in detail, their combined effects on the outcome of ecological interactions are poorly understood. We measured predation rates and predator selectivity of two closely related species of damselfish exposed to a predatory dottyback. We found temperature and CO2 interacted synergistically on overall predation rate, but antagonistically on predator selectivity. Notably, elevated CO2 or temperature alone reversed predator selectivity, but the interaction between the two stressors cancelled selectivity. Routine metabolic rates of the two prey showed strong species differences in tolerance to CO2 and not temperature, but these differences did not correlate with recorded mortality. This highlights the difficulty of linking species-level physiological tolerance to resulting ecological outcomes. This study is the first to document both synergistic and antagonistic effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on a crucial ecological process like predator-prey dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, WCVM, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5B4, Canada.
authors.forename: Maud C O
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Philip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Munday
authors.forename: Jodie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rummer
authors.forename: Mark I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Corkill
authors.forename: Sue-Ann
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Bridie J M
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Allan
authors.forename: Mark G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Meekan
authors.forename: Douglas P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Chivers
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D057894:Coral Reefs; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: climate change; elevated temperature; foraging rate; global change; predator selectivity; predator-prey interaction; routine metabolic rate