Coral fish adapt to climate change through rapid evolution
A research team led by Dr Celia Schunter at the School of Biological Sciences of the University of Hong Kong studied six coral reef fish species at a natural volcanic seep in Papua New Guinea.
Schunter and her colleagues, in collaboration with researchers from Australia, New Caledonia, and Japan, wanted to know how the fish adapted to these extreme conditions. The results help us to understand the impact of ocean acidification on fish populations in future.
Using the extreme conditions of the volcanic seep and comparing these with an adjacent control reef, Schunter found that one species - the spiny damselfish - was able to rapidly evolve mechanisms which allow it to limit the neural effects of elevated carbon dioxide and the likely impacts in terms of its behaviour, physiology and adaptive capacity.
These mechanisms help to protect the fish from carbon dioxide induced factors including changes to circadian rhythms and immune function.
“It has been quite puzzling why some species struggle more than others with ocean acidification conditions. Our expedition to this remote carbon dioxide vent site allowed us to look at many fish species that live naturally in these elevated carbon dioxide conditions and complete parts of the puzzle,” Dr Schunter remarked, “we see that possibly limited by slow evolution, some fish species may not be flexible when responding to elevated carbon dioxide conditions and struggle more.”
The findings were published in Global Change Biology.