Salinity and temperature influence on the early development of mysid Mesopodopsis slabberi in a temperate estuary: implications to climate change effect.

The accelerating pace of current climate change may exceed the resilience ability of many organisms, including mysids. This could lead to significant changes in maturation rates, body size, and survival, with potentially far-reaching consequences for biodiversity. To better understand the impacts of climate change in marine systems, specifically the key stressors of temperature and salinity, we studied the survival, growth rate, and overall maturation process of Mesopodopsis slabberi, from the newborn to mature stage under laboratory conditions. The conditions were manipulated to create distinct thermal and salinity stress levels, simulating different environmental scenarios. Under optimal conditions of a salinity level of 25, elevated temperatures of 26 °C and 29 °C accelerated the growth rate of juvenile organisms but also increased mortality compared to a temperature of 20 °C. Additionally, the higher temperatures resulted in earlier maturation and smaller body sizes upon reaching maturity. Under optimal conditions of 20 °C, no significant differences were observed in growth, maturity, or survival rates across varying salinity levels of 25, 30, and 35. This indicates that temperature plays a more important role in influencing growth and survival rates compared to salinity. However, salinity exerts a secondary, yet significant, modulatory effect under thermal stress. Elevated temperatures consistently reduced survival rates, though this effect was partially mitigated by higher salinity levels, indicating an interaction between these stressors.