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Potential impact of climate warming on the recruitment of an economically and ecologically important species, the European lobster (Homarus gammarus) at Helgoland, North Sea

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Abstract

A laboratory-based study was performed to assess the impact of climate warming on the recruitment of the endangered population of the European lobster (Homarus gammarus) at Helgoland (North Sea, German Bight). Egg-bearing females collected in situ just after spawning in late summer were subjected to various seasonal temperature regimes. Regimes with elevated temperatures (mild winters) resulted in a strong seasonal forward shift of larval hatching. Hatching took place at significantly lower temperatures than under regimes with normal winters. Experiments on larval development across a range of constant temperatures showed that no successful larval development occurred at temperatures below 14°C. Larval survival increased from 9% at 14°C to 80% at 22°C, while duration of larval development decreased correspondingly from 26 to 13 days. We hypothesize that an ongoing warming of the North Sea will strongly affect the recruitment success of the Helgoland lobster, mainly resulting from a decoupling of the seasonal peak appearance of larvae from optimal external conditions (temperature, food availability) for larval development.

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Acknowledgments

This work is part of the PhD thesis of I.S. The study was supported financially by the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture of the State of Schleswig–Holstein, Germany. Thanks are due to local fishermen for supplying ovigerous females as well as to Michael Janke for technical support in keeping and rearing the lobsters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Marine Station, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, 27483, Helgoland, Germany

    Isabel Schmalenbach & Heinz-Dieter Franke

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  1. Isabel Schmalenbach
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  2. Heinz-Dieter Franke
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Correspondence to Isabel Schmalenbach.

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Communicated by F. Bulleri.

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Schmalenbach, I., Franke, HD. Potential impact of climate warming on the recruitment of an economically and ecologically important species, the European lobster (Homarus gammarus) at Helgoland, North Sea. Mar Biol 157, 1127–1135 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-010-1394-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-010-1394-8

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