Oxygen supersaturation has negligible effects on warming tolerance across diverse aquatic ectotherms
Under the midday sun, when photosynthesizers are producing oxygen, shallow aquatic ecosystems can become supersaturated with oxygen (>100% air saturation) while they simultaneously peak in water temperature. It has been suggested that oxygen supersaturation could protect water-breathing animals from mortality during heatwaves because of the potential role of oxygen in governing thermal tolerance. Here, we conducted a circumglobal assessment of the effects of ecologically relevant oxygen supersaturation (150%, hyperoxia) on warming tolerance (here, measured using critical thermal maximum, CTmax) in 14 aquatic ectotherms from diverse marine and freshwater environments (10 fishes, four decapod crustaceans), in a series of 24 experiments that included 147 CTmax trials and 1,451 animals using two warming rates (0.3°C min-1 and 1°C h-1). In 10 of 14 species, there was no effect of oxygen supersaturation relative to normoxic controls. In four species (two tropical reef fishes and two marine decapod crustaceans), we found mixed evidence for effects of oxygen saturation, with most of the effects being small (ca. 0.2°C-0.3°C). Thus, contrary to predictions, we conclude that oxygen supersaturation is unlikely to protect most water-breathers from heatwaves and therefore few species distribution models or climate risk assessments will benefit from incorporating oxygen supersaturation.
Authors
- Fredrik Jutfelt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9838-3991)
- Suzanne C. Mills (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8948-3384)
- León Green (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3328-3655)
- Dominique G. Roche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3326-864X)
- Erin Stewart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9948-3481)
- Zara‐Louise Cowan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3862-7111)
- Anna H. Andreassen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0208-1812)
- Lorien L. Reynolds (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8570-7165)
- Rasmus Ern (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4202-476X)
- Graham D. Raby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0549-4017)
- Robine H. J. Leeuwis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6687-4304)
- Jérémy De Bonville (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6072-1833)
- Lorena Silva‐Garay
- Rachael Morgan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9589-6388)
- Ben Speers‐Roesch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6510-7501)
- Michael R. Skeeles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7149-6777)
- Emily R. Lechner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1979-3436)
- Thomas D. Clark (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8738-3347)
- Moa Metz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4397-3948)
- Zoe Storm
- Leon Pfeufer
Institutions
- University of New Brunswick (CA)
- Deakin University (AU)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- Labex Corail (FR)
- Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l'Environnement (PF)
- Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Espace (FR)
- University of Bergen (NO)
- University of Neuchâtel (CH)
- Trent University (CA)
- Carleton University (CA)
- Université de Montréal (CA)
- James Cook University (AU)
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS Biology
- Published
- 2025-11-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003413
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.72