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Distinct impacts of food restriction and warming on life history traits affect population fitness in vertebrate ectotherms
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  • Simon Bazin,
  • Claire Hemmer-Brepson,
  • Maxime Logez,
  • Arnaud Sentis,
  • Martin Daufresne
Simon Bazin
INRAE

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Claire Hemmer-Brepson
INRAE
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Maxime Logez
INRAE
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Arnaud Sentis
INRAE
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Martin Daufresne
INRAE
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Abstract

Observed body size shifts in ectotherms are mostly attributed to the temperature size rule (TSR) stating that warming speeds up initial growth rate but leads to smaller size when food availability does not limit growth. However, climate warming can decrease food availability and we have limited information on how temperature and food jointly influence life history traits and population fitness. We investigated under laboratory conditions the independent and interactive effects of temperature (20 °C and 30 °C) and food availability (restricted or ad libitum) on the growth, fecundity and survival of the medaka fish Oryzias latipes. We next used our empirical estimates of vital rates as input parameters of an Integral Projection model (IPM) to predict how modifications in vital rates translate into population demographic parameters. Warming leads to a higher initial growth rate and lower size leading to crossed growth curves between the two temperatures. Food-restricted fish were smaller than ad libitum fed fish throughout the experiment, leading to nested growth curves. Fish reared at 30 °C matured younger, had smaller size at maturity, had a higher fecundity but had a shorter life span than fish reared at 20 °C. Food restriction increased survival probabilities under both temperature conditions. According to the IPM, warming reduces generation time and increases mean fitness in comparison to the cold treatments. Food restriction increased generation time and fitness in the cold treatment but had no effect in the warm treatment. Our results show that temperature and food interact on vital rates and population demographics. This is important in the context of global warming, as resources are expected to change with increasing temperatures.