Schütt, Laura A. (2017) The Effect of Fluctuating vs. Constant Temperature on Egg and Larval Development of Three Populations of Herring, Clupea harengus. (Master thesis), Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Kiel, Germany, 71 pp.

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Abstract

Under the influence of climate change, it is predicted that marine water temperature in shallow areas like the Kiel Bight will rise by about 3°C on average over the next 50 - 100 years. Furthermore, fluctuations around this mean are projected to shift likely affecting many species of shallow waters. The Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus) is a commercially important species that spends its early life stages close to the coast in highly fluctuating conditions. However, most experiments considering climatic changes in marine environments expose organisms to a constant elevated temperature and not the more realistic fluctuations around an elevated mean. Therefore, in this experiment, herring eggs and larvae from three different populations have been exposed to two different mean temperatures and within those temperatures two fluctuation regimes (constant versus balanced fluctuations). Elevated temperature showed a clear and expected effect over all populations, however, no such response was obtained from the different fluctuation regimes. While this experimental design could not detect a significant impact of fluctuations, effects may be conceivable with different amplitudes and frequencies of fluctuations. An organism’s response towards thermal fluctuations depends highly on the thermal performance curve of the given species. Any research involving thermal fluctuations must therefore carefully consider such performance curves, for an optimal experimental design. The experiences and results obtained from this experiment may serve as a base for future research.

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