Transgenerational exposure to marine heatwaves ameliorates the lethal
effect on tropical copepods regardless of predation stress
Abstract
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) emerge as a severe stressor in marine
ecosystems. Extreme warm sea surface temperatures during MHWs are often
beyond the optimal thermal range and beyond one generation of tropical
coastal zooplankton. However, it is relatively unknown whether
transgenerational MHW effect may shape the offspring fitness,
particularly in an ecologically relevant context with biotic
interactions such as predation stress. We addressed these novel research
questions by quantifying the reproductive success, grazing, and survival
of copepod Pseudodiaptomus incisus exposed to MHW and fish predator cues
(FPC) for two generations (F1 and F2). There were four F1 treatments
[(control or F1-MHW) × (no FPC or F1-FPC)] and 16 F2 treatments
[(control or F1-MHW) × (no F1-FPC or F1-FPC)] × [(control or
F2-MHW × no F2-FPC or F2-FPC)]. In both generations, P. incisus
performance was substantially lowered in MHW, but slightly higher in
FPC, particularly in control temperature. F2 reproductive success and
cumulative faecals were reduced by 20-30% in F1-MHW, but increased by
~2% in F1-FPC. Strikingly, direct MHW exposure strongly
reduced survival, but transgenerational MHW exposure ameliorated its
lethal effect and was independent of FPC. The increased survival came
with a cost of reduced reproductive success, constrained by reduced
grazing. The rapid transgenerational MHW acclimation and its associated
costs are likely widespread and crucial mechanisms underlying the
resilience of coastal tropical zooplankton to MHWs under high predation
pressure in the tropical coastal marine ecosystems.