The New England Continental Shelf has warmed faster than 99% of the world’s ocean and sits along one of the largest latitudinal thermal gradients in the world, providing a natural laboratory to evaluate how rising temperatures affect the reproduction of marine species. We examined patterns of spawning and egg hatching of North America’s most valuable marine species, the American lobster (Homarus americanus), over the largest scale of any previous study by using unique multi-agency sampling programs, a novel analytical approach to egg development data, and simulated ocean conditions. Lobsters are remarkably adept at maintaining a consistent date at which spawn and egg hatch occur despite changes in ocean temperatures. However, elevated temperatures cause spawning and egg hatching to occur over shorter time frames, shifting the spawn and hatch season earlier at warmer locations and during warmer years. As the New England Continental Shelf continues to warm, these responses to rising temperatures could alter the phenology, dispersal, and connectivity of larval lobster populations affecting the productivity of this economically important species. This work highlights how organism life history processes can asymmetrically respond to climate change, necessitating a more in-depth understanding of how rising temperatures affect the interfaces between behavior, biological processes, and local oceanography.

Primary Presenter: Andrew Goode, University of Maine (andrew.goode@maine.edu)

Authors:

Struan Coleman,   ()

Kathleen Reardon,   ()

Remy Rochette,   ()

Jesica Waller,   ()

Damian Brady,   ()