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Too Hot to Handle: A Meta-Analytical Review of the Thermal Tolerance and Adaptive Capacity of North American Sturgeon

November 2024
Global Change Biology 30(11):e17564

DOI:10.1111/gcb.17564

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CC BY 4.0

Authors:

Angelina Dichiera

University of Texas at Austin

Madison Earhart

University of British Columbia

Will Bugg

University of British Columbia

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Understanding how ectotherms may fare with rising global temperatures and more frequent heatwaves is especially concerning for species already considered at‐risk, such as long‐lived, late‐maturing sturgeon. There have been concerted efforts to collect data on the movement behavior and thermal physiology of North American sturgeon to enhance conservation efforts; thus, we sought to synthesize these data to understand how sturgeon respond to thermal stress and what capacity they have to acclimate and adapt to warming. Here, we combined a systematic literature review and meta‐analysis, integrating field‐based observations (distribution and spawning) and laboratory‐based experiments (survival, activity, growth, metabolism, and upper thermal limits) for large‐scale insights to understand the vulnerability of North American sturgeon to rising global temperatures. We summarized the preferred thermal habitat and thermal limits of sturgeon in their natural environment and using meta‐analytical techniques, quantified the effect of prolonged temperature change on sturgeon whole‐animal physiology and acute upper thermal limits. While acclimation did not have significant effects on physiological rates or survival overall, there were positive trends of activity and metabolism in young‐of‐the‐year sturgeons, likely offset by negative trends of survival in early life. Notably, North American sturgeon have a greater capacity for thermal tolerance plasticity than other fishes, increasing upper thermal limits by 0.56°C per 1°C change in acclimation temperature. But with limited laboratory‐based studies, more research is needed to understand if this is a sturgeon trait, or perhaps that of basal fishes in general. Importantly, with these data gaps, the fate of sturgeon remains uncertain as climate change intensifies, and physiological impacts across life stages likely limit ecological success.

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Global Change Biology, 2024; 30:e17564

https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17564

Global Change Biology

RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS

Too Hot to Handle: A Meta- Analytical Review of the

Thermal Tolerance and Adaptive Capacity of North

American Sturgeon

AngelinaM.Dichiera1 | MadisonL.Earhart2 | WilliamS.Bugg3,4 | ColinJ.Brauner2 | PatriciaM.Schulte2

1Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William and Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia, USA | 2Department of Zoolog y, The University of British Columbia,

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | 3Pacific Salmon Foundation, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | 4Department of Forest and Conservation

Sciences, T he University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Correspondence: Angelina M. Dichiera (dichiera@vims.edu)

Received: 14 June 2024 | Revised: 21 September 2024 | Accepted: 9 October 2024

Funding: This work was supported through a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biolog y (#2109765) to AMD, a University

of British Columbia Zoology Graduate Fellowship to MLE, and a University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship to WSB, a Natural Sciences and Engineering

Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Collaborative Research and Development grant (CRDPJ52364 0- 18) to CJB, and a Canada Research Chair (CRC-

2021- 00040), and an NSERC Discovery grant (RGPIN- 2017- 04613) to PMS.

ABSTRACT

Understanding how ectotherms may fare with rising global temperatures and more frequent heatwaves is especially concerning

for species already considered at- risk, such as long- lived, late- maturing sturgeon. There have been concerted efforts to collect data

on the movement behavior and thermal physiology of North American sturgeon to enhance conservation efforts; thus, we sought

to synthesize these data to understand how sturgeon respond to thermal stress and what capacity they have to acclimate and

adapt to warming. Here, we combined a systematic literature review and meta- analysis, integrating field- based observations (dis-

tribution and spawning) and laboratory- based experiments (survival, activity, growth, metabolism, and upper thermal limits) for

large- scale insights to understand the vulnerability of North American sturgeon to rising global temperatures. We summarized

the preferred thermal habitat and thermal limits of sturgeon in their natural environment and using meta- analytical techniques,

quantified the effect of prolonged temperature change on sturgeon whole- animal physiology and acute upper thermal limits.

While acclimation did not have significant effects on physiological rates or survival overall, there were positive trends of activity

and metabolism in young- of- the- year sturgeons, likely offset by negative trends of survival in early life. Notably, North American

sturgeon have a greater capacity for thermal tolerance plasticity than other fishes, increasing upper thermal limits by 0.56°C per

1°C change in acclimation temperature. But with limited laboratory- based studies, more research is needed to understand if this

is a sturgeon trait, or perhaps that of basal fishes in general. Importantly, with these data gaps, the fate of sturgeon remains uncer-

tain as climate change intensifies, and physiological impacts across life stages likely limit ecological success.

1 | Introduction

Steadily rising global temperatures and the increased fre-

quency of extreme thermal events are reducing suitable hab-

itat for many species, altering ecological interactions, and

at the extreme, potentially causing population collapse and

species extinction (Comte etal.2013; Payne etal.2 016; Perry

etal. 2005; Román- Palacios and Wiens 2020; Stillman 2019;

Sunday, Bates, and Dulvy 2012; Vasseur et al. 2014). Many

fish populations are declining worldwide (Burkhead 2012;

This is a n open access ar ticle under the terms of t he Creative Commons Attr ibution License, which p ermits use, dis tribution and repro duction in any medium, p rovided the orig inal work is

properly cited.

2 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

Dudgeon etal.2006; Moyle and Leidy1992), and their survival

and persistence are, at least in part, dictated by temperature-

dependent physiological processes (Fry 1947; Schulte 2015).

Physiological, behavioral, and evolutionary responses to ther-

mal stress, and the degree to which animals can acclimatize,

are thus thought to underlie which species are “winners” or

“losers” in the face of rising temperatures (Beaman, White,

and Seebacher2016; Morley etal.2019; Seebacher, White, and

Franklin2015; Somero2010).

Recent studies suggest that the upper thermal limits of ec-

totherms may not evolve at a sufficient pace to keep up with

increasing environmental temperatures (Araújo et al. 2013;

Bennett etal.2021; Morgan etal.2020; Sandblom etal.2016),

which is especially concerning for long- lived, late- maturing

species such as sturgeon. Sturgeon are one of the most en-

dangered groups of animals globally (Bemis, Findeis, and

Grande 1997), with all 27 species that comprise the order

Acipenseriformes being classified as vulnerable to critically

endangered (IUCN2022). These long- lived fish have unusually

slow generation times, requiring 15–20 years to reach sexual

maturity (Haxton, Sulak, and Hildebrand2016). This life his-

tory combined with historical overharvesting, current habitat

restrictions, and increasing environmental stressors have con-

tributed to the continued decline of these fishes (Haxton and

Cano 2016). Thus, understanding how sturgeon are impacted

by temperature and the degree to which they may be able to

compensate for negative thermal effects through acclimation is

critically important for predicting their fate in an increasingly

warming world.

While there are certainly limitations to the ecological rele-

vance of acute critical thermal maxima (CTmax) tests (reviewed

by Desforges et al.2023), these measurements allow for broad

insights into thermal tolerance plasticity across taxa. In most

cases, ectotherms have limited capacity for acclimation in their

upper thermal limit (Gunderson and Stillman 2015; Morley

et al. 2019). Ideally, an ectotherm would display perfect com-

pensation for warming by increasing their thermal tolerance

in proportion with the acclimation temperature, where a 1°C

increase in acclimation would correspond to a 1°C increase in

upper thermal limits. Though fish may fare somewhat better

than other taxa, in general, ectotherms do not increase upper

thermal limits more than 0.5°C with 1°C increase in environ-

mental temperature (Gunderson and Stillman2015; Comte and

Olden 2017; Morley et al. 2019; Campos et al. 2021; Ruthsatz

et al. 2024). However, recent studies on sturgeon species in

North America have revealed remarkably high thermal toler-

ance and higher levels of thermal tolerance plasticity than pre-

viously seen for other fish species, with up to 1.2°C increase in

upper thermal limits per 1°C increase in acclimation tempera-

ture (Zhang and Kieffer 2014; Bugg etal.2020, 2023; Earhart,

Blanchard, Strowbridge, etal.2023; Penman etal.2023; Weber,

Dichiera, and Brauner2024).

Having diverged from bony fish 200 million years ago, stur-

geon have remained relatively unchanged morphologically

(Bemis, Findeis, and Grande1997) and genetic ally (Brow nstein

et al. 2024) since the lower Jurassic. Yet Acipenseriformes

have very high levels of ploidy. Where all fish have undergone

at least two whole genome duplication (WGD) events, addi-

tional Acipenseriformes- specific WGDs have given rise to tet-

raploid, octoploid, and dodecaploid species, which have four,

eight, and 12 copies of their genome, respectively (reviewed

by Vasil'ev etal.2010; Schreier etal. 2021). As these genome

duplications are thought to have occurred during periods of

environmental upheaval (Trifonov et al. 2016), polyploidy

may confer greater adaptive potential (Fontana et al. 2004;

Knight, Molinari, and Petrov 2005; Murren etal. 2015; Van

de Peer, Mizrachi, and Marchal2017). Thus, these polyploid

sturgeon may have greater acclimatory capacity due to large

genomes, influencing their ability to plastically respond to

environmental change more so than derived fishes (Havelka

etal. 2011; Trifonov et al.2016; Van de Peer, Mizrachi, and

Marchal2017).

Throughout the last century, there have been concerted ef-

forts to collect data on the movement behavior and thermal

physiology of North American sturgeon to enhance conser-

vation efforts. While there are substantial resources for in-

formation regarding individual sturgeon species and specific

populations (e.g., Hildebrand et al. 2 016; Hilton et al. 2016;

Pollock etal.2015; Rodgers etal.2019), there has been lim-

ited synthesis across species to understand patterns of stur-

geon responses to thermal stress—which can vary across

species and life stage—or their potential for remarkable ther-

mal plasticity. Integrating laboratory- based experiments and

field- based observations is critical for large- scale insights into

population and species trends necessary to inform conserva-

tion and management actions (Cooke etal.2013; Wikelski and

Cooke2006).

Here, we utilized both physiological and ecological data to

understand the vulnerability of North American sturgeon to

rising global temperatures through a quantitative synthesis of

the current literature. The objectives of this study were: (1) to

summarize the preferred thermal habitat and thermal limits of

sturgeon in their natural environment; (2) to quantify the ef-

fect of prolonged temperature change (acclimation) on sturgeon

whole- animal physiology; (3) to characterize their acute upper

thermal limits tested in the lab and their plasticity in thermal

tolerance; and (4) to highlight knowledge gaps for future re-

search. The eight species of North American sturgeon included

in this study inhabit diverse environments from the Atlantic

and Gulf coasts to the Mississippi River and Great Lakes to

the Pacific coast (see Figure 1 for locations of experimental

studies included in this meta- analysis). Some species and pop-

ulations maintain residence in lakes and rivers (e.g., lake stur-

geon; Pollock et al. 2015), while others are highly migratory,

inhabiting riverine, estuarine, and coastal environments at dif-

ferent stages in their life cycle (e.g., Atlantic sturgeon; Hilton

etal.2016). Thus, we hypothesized there may be interspecific

differences in thermal effects and limitations based on habi-

tat or region and intraspecific differences based on life stage.

However, in comparison with other fish species, we predicted

that overall, sturgeon have a greater capacity for thermal ac-

climation based on previous observations of their thermal tol-

erance plasticity. Together, these data provide insight into the

thermal capacity of North American sturgeon and how they

may fare in a warming world.

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2 | Materials and Methods

2.1 | Literature Search and Data Collection

A systematic literature search was conducted according to the

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-

Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (Figure2). To identify primary

literature on the therma l effects, optima, a nd limitations of North

American sturgeon species, searches were conducted through

the Clarivate Web of Science and Scopus on 20 September 2023

using the following search terms:

((ALL=(sturgeon)) AND ALL=(thermal* OR

temperature OR warming OR climate OR heat OR

thermoregulat*)) AND ALL=(tolerance OR threshold

OR limit OR resistance OR resilience OR stress* OR

surviv* OR sublethal OR optim* OR maxim* OR

behavior OR recovery OR exercise OR distribution OR

migrat*)

The search resulted in a total of 1578 results. After removing

duplicates between the two searches, 1095 articles were ini-

tially screened for relevance and inclusion based on titles and

abstract information. Studies were excluded if: (1) they were

conducted on species other than North American sturgeon

or (2) they reported genetic, cellular, biochemical, or tissue

response data but did not incorporate another physiological

measurement of thermal effects, optima, or limitations. No re-

views or meta- analyses were included with the exception of one

quantitative review (Baril et al.2018). Baril etal. (2018) used

both published data and personal communications to provide

mean water temperature during lake sturgeon spawning for

three watersheds, and we deemed the personal communica-

tions to be of value here (refer to Table1 of Baril etal.2018 for

details of the personal communications).

After the initial screening, 225 studies were further examined

by assessing the methods, results, and discussion for relevant

data. An additional 48 papers were added from a cited refer-

ence search conducted by searching the reference lists of the

225 studies and subsequently evaluating them for inclusion as

described above. These papers consisted mainly of gray litera-

ture (e.g., technical reports) and theses that were not present in

the Clarivate Web of Science and Scopus searches. Of these 273

studies, 11 studies could not be accessed. All 11 were gray lit-

erature or theses from the cited reference search and were not

available online or in print.

Two hundred and sixty- two studies were then assessed for eli-

gibility and categorized as either observational or experimental

in nature. As such, definitions of thermal optima and limita-

tions differed for each. Experimental studies were evaluated for

inclusion if they measured: (1) temperature effects on activity

(swimming, movement), growth, metabolism, and survival;

(2) upper thermal limits (maximum temperature where loss

FIGUR E  | A map of North America with approximate sturgeon locations from the experimental studies used in this review. Only studies that

provided data for effect size and acclimation response ratio calculations were included in the figure, and as such, they do not encompass the entire

range of each species. River locations are approximate, and for studies where only a hatchery or research facility was listed, those approximate

locations were used. Dot size corresponds to the number of studies in that region/river. The Color of the dot corresponds to species. The color on the

map highlights the latitudinal temperature gradient across North America.

4 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

of equilibrium or death occurs); or (3) thermal preference or

avoidance (when given the choice of different temperatures).

Observational studies were evaluated for inclusion if they mea-

sured: (1) temperature- driven changes, upper limits or optima

for spawning; or (2) upper temperature limits to distribution

(habitat use, migrations, and movements).

Furthermore, experimental studies were assessed for their

appropriate use in effect size calculations (detailed below),

and only studies that reported means, variance, sample sizes,

and acclimation temperatures were retained. Studies with

confounding variables (e.g., salinity > 0 ppt, fluctuating tem-

perature treatments, etc.) were excluded. In total, 97 studies

were excluded where they did not present observational or ex-

perimental thermal effects, optima, or limitations as defined.

A final total of 165 studies were included in this systematic re-

view (see Data Sources in the appendix). Among these studies,

112 studies reported observational data (including review by

Baril et al.2018), and 54 studies reported experimental data.

One study (Chapman and Carr 1995) reported both observa-

tional and experimental data and was recorded separately for

both categories.

FIGUR E  | Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta- Analyses (PR ISMA) diagram illustrating the number of publications

found and retained through each stage of the literature review process. Records were initially screened for relevance if they included thermal

effects, optima, or limit data on North American sturgeon species. Relevant records were assessed for eligibility and included if they described

observed temperature- driven changes, limits or optima for spaw ning and distribution (habitat use, migrations, and movements), or experimental

effects of temperature on activity (swimming, movement), metabolism, growth, survival, or thermal limits that met the requirements for effect size

calculations. Thermal limits data are categorized into t wo groups: Upper thermal limits (acutely tested critical thermal maxima, CTmax) and thermal

tolerance plasticity (the capacity to change CTmax with thermal acclimation).

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This information was used to summarize the total number of

publications reporting thermal effects, optima, or limitations of

North American sturgeon species (Figure3). Twelve of the final

165 publications included data on two species of sturgeon, and

thus for Figures 3 and 4a,b, by including this within- study du-

plication for multiple species, the total number of publications

totals 177 studies. In addition, these studies often reported mul-

tiple metrics of thermal effects, optima, or limitations, or data

regarding multiple life stages. From 165 studies, these categori-

zations resulted in 474 unique reports.

A summar y of the number and proportion of report s (of 474 total)

describing thermal effects, limits, or optima on North American

sturgeon by species, metric, and life stage can be found in

Figure 4. Observational studies accounted for 194 unique re-

ports regarding qualitative data on spawning (includes presence

of spawning adults, eggs, or larvae) or distribution (includes

presence/absence, abundance, habitat use, migrations, and

movements). Experimental studies accounted for 280 unique

reports regarding activity (includes swimming, movement),

growth (includes length or mass change), metabolism (includes

routine, standard, maximum metabolic rates, and absolute aer-

obic scope), survival (includes mortality, hatch success), and

thermal limits (critical thermal maxima). Preference/avoidance

reports were excluded due to the limited number of reports on

experimentally determined thermal preference (6 reports from 4

studies). Studies were categorized by life stage in Figure4b: early

life stage (includes pre- hatch embryos, yolk- sac larvae, exoge-

nously feeding larvae), young- of- the- year (a g e - 0), juvenile (a g e - 1

to maturation, including subadult), adult (spawning- capable), or

not reported (where information was not available). Studies were

further categorized by metric according to life stage (Figure4c)

and species (Figure4d). Activity, growth, metabolism, and sur-

vival data were used to calculate effect sizes. Upper thermal

limits were recorded as reports, and where available, these data

were used to calculate acclimation response ratios as a measure

of thermal tolerance plasticity. For all data, when available, we

also collected additional information regarding: the population

or region the fish originated from, body mass, body length, age,

rearing and acclimation temperatures, rearing and acclimation

duration (in time), interacting stressors, and methods used for

each measurement.

2.2 | Effect Size Calculations

To investigate the effect of prolonged temperature exposure on

sturgeon whole- animal physiology, studies that provided data on

activity, growth, metabolism, or survival were included for effect

size calculations if the study included at least two acclimation tem-

peratures and reported means, variance (standard deviations or

standard errors), and sample sizes in the text, tables, or figures.

Studies that collected data when fish were returned to common

garden conditions were not included in effect size calculations.

Where multiple families, populations, or time points were re-

ported in a single study, these data were included as separate re-

ports. Where growth was reported using multiple metrics (e.g.,

length and mass), length was chosen for effect size calculations to

reduce duplication. Where “total growth” is reported, this refers

to the change in total length (mm) from hatch to timing of emer-

gence (Dammerman, Steibel, and Scribner2016). When available,

means, variance, and sa mple sizes were directly extracte d from the

tables and text provided in the articles and associated supplemen-

tal information. Otherwise, data from figures were digitized using

the metaDigitise package in R (Pick, Nakagawa, and Noble2019).

Data extractions were performed by AMD, MLE, and WSB.

Because responses were measured at different acclimation tem-

peratures, we chose to use a temperature- corrected effect size

calculation for activity, growth, and metabolism to account for

nuisance heterogeneity (Noble etal.2022). Effect sizes were cal-

culated as the log- response ratio corrected by the temperature

coefficient Q10 (lnRRQ10):

where R2 and R1 are the mean responses for the treatment and

control groups, respectively, and T2 and T1 are the temperatures

at which these groups were acclimated. As Q10 is a measure of

the factorial change in a biological rate over a 10°C increase in

temperature, lnRRQ10 accounts for passive plasticity predicted

to occur with changing temperature. Effect sizes were standard-

ized to the control treatment, which included control acclimation

temperature (either stated as “control” in text or inferred from

the temperature prior to acclimation), preferred bottom habitat

lnRR

Q10 =ln

1)(

◦

−T

FIGUR E  | Available publications on thermal effects, optima, and limits across North American sturgeon species, published from 1920 to 2024.

Histograms illustrate (a) the number of published articles sorted by decade and (b) in total for each of the eight species of North A merican sturgeon.

6 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

(substrate, if provided), feed ration (1% body mass), and dissolved

oxygen levels where possible (100%). Where more than two accli-

mation temperatures were reported, we chose to standardize to

the control treatment rather than a stepwise comparison to avoid

the minimization or inflation of effect sizes. The sampling vari-

ance of lnRRQ10 was calculated as per Noble etal.(2022):

where SD and N are the standard deviation and sample size of

the treatment and control groups. lnRR (without temperature

correction) and the associated sampling variance were also cal-

culated as a proof- of- principle comparison.

To investigate the effect of temperature on survival (reported as

either a ratio of percent survival or percent mortality), the log

odds ratio (lnOR) was calculated to determine the likelihood

of survival in the treatment group compared with the control

group as per Raynal etal.(2022):

where the proportion of alive fish to dead fish was calculated

based on survival/mortality percent and reported sample size,

and where T2 and T1 are the temperatures at which these groups

were acclimated. For sur vival studies, we chose to exclude reports

of time to mortality in the effect size calculations as these values

were not directly comparable to percent survival or mortality (the

most common method of reporting sur vival data). The sampling

variance of lnOR was calculated as per Raynal etal.(2022):

Data extractions were performed by AMD, MLE, and WSB.

To quantify the thermal tolerance plasticity of North American

sturgeon species, studies that provided data regarding the effects

lnRRQ10 =



+SD

1



10◦C

T2−T1

2

lnOR

=ln

(

AliveT2∕DeadT2

AliveT1∕DeadT1

)

lnOR =

(

AliveT2

)

(

DeadT2

)

(

AliveT1

)

(

DeadT1

)

FIGUR E  | Available publications on thermal effects, optima, and limits for North A merican sturgeon species published from 1920 to 202 4 and

the qualitative and quantitative reports extracted from these studies. Histograms illustrate (a) the number of published articles sorted by study type

(experimental or observational) included in this study. Most published articles had several reports of usable data, analyzing multiple life stages,

species, or study metrics within a single published article. (b) represents the percentage of reports that have been conducted at different life stages

for each of the eight species. (c, d) depict the number of reports and the percentage of reports, respectively, of different study metrics (activity,

distribution, growth, metabolism, spawning, survival, and thermal limits) at each life stage across all eight species.

7 of 24

of thermal acclimation on critical thermal maxima (CTmax) were

used to calculate an effect size specific to thermal tolerance: ac-

climation response ratio (ARR; Claussen 1977). ARRs provide

a quantitative means to compare the change in CTmax across a

variety of acclimation temperatures, indicating the thermal plas-

ticity of an organism. ARR was calculated as follows:

where CTmax2 and CTmax1 are the mean responses for the treat-

ment and control groups, respectively, and

and

are the

treatment and control acclimation temperatures, respectively.

The sampling variance of ARR was calculated as per Pottier

etal.(2022):

where SD and N are the standard deviation and sample size

of the treatment and control groups. Data extractions were

primarily performed by WSB and supplemented by AMD and

MLE.

2.3 | Statistical Analyses

All statistical analyses were performed using RStudio (version

2023.12.1; http:// www. R- proje ct. org/ ). To best interpret the

effects of temperature on North American sturgeon species

(using lnRRQ10 , lnOR, and ARR effect size data) and to con-

trol for nuisance heterogeneity (Noble etal. 2022), multi- level

meta- analytical models were performed using the metafor pack-

age (Viechtbauer2 010; version 4.4- 0) using residual maximum

likelihood (REML). Because multiple effect sizes were reported

from the same studies, study ID was included as an observation-

level random effect in all models. Phylogenetic relatedness was

also included as an observational- level random effect, using

methods according to Pottier et al. (2022). To determine the

effects of temperature on activity, metabolism, growth, sur-

vival, and thermal tolerance plasticity, we estimated the overall

meta- analytical mean, as well as the variation between metrics

reported for each. Statistical significance was assumed if 95%

confidence intervals did not overlap with zero. In addition, we

estimated the percent of variance between effect sizes not ex-

plained by sampling error as I2.

To determine what may explain remaining heterogeneity, we

used meta- regressions to explore the effect of six continuous

moderators: acclimation duration (days), control body mass

(g), experimental body mass (g), control temperature, experi-

mental temperature, and temperature difference between con-

trol and experimental treatments. Full models were assessed as

described above, using the metafor package (Viechtbauer2 010;

version 4.4- 0) and the same random effects. If all six continu-

ous moderators were not reported for an effect size, the effect

size was removed to run the full model without missing values.

We removed effect sizes from the datasets for activity (k = 2),

growth (k = 60), and metabolism (k = 15). Because so few stud-

ies reported body mass and acclimation duration for survival

effect sizes, only control temperature, experimental tempera-

ture, and temperature difference were tested as moderators.

A table of Akaike's information criterion (AIC) was created

using the MuMIn package (https:// CRAN. R- proje ct. org/ packa

ge= MuMIn ), and moderators from the top AIC model were re-

tained in the final model. The effect of each retained moderator

in the final model was estimated in a meta- regression using

the REML method to assess how these moderators contributed

individually as sources of variation for activity, metabolism,

growth, survival, thermal tolerance, and thermal plasticity. All

meta- analytical models were plotted using the orchaRd pack-

age (Nakagawa etal.2023; version 2.0).

To provide additional information on the vulnerability of stur-

geon to warming, we extracted data from the studies herein

regarding baseline CTma x and warm- acclimated CTma x and cal-

culated respective thermal safety margins (TSMs). We calcu-

lated TSM as the difference between CTma x and the respective

environmental (i.e., acclimation) temperature. We then explored

the relationships between sturgeon thermal tolerance plasticity

(ARR), upper thermal limits (CTmax), and vulnerability to

warming (TSM) using regression analyses.

3 | Results

Publications regarding the thermal effects, optima, and lim-

itations of North American sturgeon have increased over the

last century, approximately doubling in number every decade

from the 1980s through the last decade (Figure 3a). Lake

sturgeon (A. fulvescens) is the most studied species of North

American sturgeon (Figure 3b), followed by white sturgeon

(A. transmontanus). The least studied species of sturgeon are

the pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus), shovelnose stur-

geon (S. platorynchus), and the Gulf of Mexico sturgeon (A.

oxyrhynchus desotoi), a subspecies of the Atlantic sturgeon

(A. oxyrhynchus). As a note, only eight of the nine species of

North American sturgeon were included in this study, as no

studies on Alabama sturgeon (S. suttkusi) met the inclusion

criteria. In fact, the single study of the 1,095 articles origi-

nally screened that mentioned Alabama sturgeon was a liter-

ature review; however, within this review, no experimental

or observational studies were available for Alabama sturgeon

(Flinders and Wiegand 2014). Earlier publications were fo-

cused on observational studies of temperature effects, optima,

and limits, but the proportion of experimental studies has in-

creased the last decade (Figure4a). The proportion of each life

stage studied per sturgeon species was distinct (Figure 4b).

Strikingly, studies on the thermal effects, optima, and limita-

tions of Gulf of Mexico sturgeon are comprised mainly of stud-

ies on adults and on their distribution. Adult sturgeon were

the most studied of all life stages, specifically regarding the ef-

fects of temperature on spawning and distribution (Figure4c).

The young- of- the- year followed adults in the next most stud-

ied life stage, and much more has been studied on their activ-

ity, growth, metabolism, and thermal limits. Studies on early

life stages focused on survival and growth. The least studied

life stage were juveniles (age 1 to maturation, including sub-

adults). In addition, the proportion of each metric studied per

life stage and per species was distinct (Figure4c,d).

ARR

(CT

max2

−CT

max1

−T

ARR =



NT1

+SD

NT2



T2−T1

2

8 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

3.1 | Preferred Temperatures and Thermal Limits

of Sturgeon in the Field

Qualitative data on the thermal optima and limitations for dis-

tribution and spawning varied by species, life stage, and met-

ric (TableS1). For all species, spawning temperatures of adults

were most frequently reported, followed by temperatures that

prompt migration (typically associated with spawning behav-

ior). Almost none of the life stages of Atlantic sturgeon are

found at temperatures greater than 28°C. Peak occurrence in

the Mid Atlantic is found at 18°C (Breece etal.2018), although

Atlantic sturgeon are found across a wide range of tempera-

tures throughout their range. Adults spawn from 14°C, their

lower limit in the St. Lawrence River, Quebec (Caron, Hatin,

and Fortin2002), to ~24°C in the York River, Virginia (Hager,

Watterson, and Kahn2020). Shortnose sturgeon, which inhabits

a similar geographic range to Atlantic sturgeon, spawns any-

where between 9°C and 19°C. However, spawning throughout

their habitat typically occurs within narrow thermal windows,

for example, 10°C–15°C in Saint John River, New Brunswick

(Dadswell 1979) to ~12°C–17°C in Altamaha River, Georgia

(Ingram and Peterson2018).

On the west coast of North America, white sturgeon are found

at cooler temperatures, but this varies depending on the river

system. The lowest reported limit for spawning is ~7°C in the

Kootenai River, Idaho (Paragamian and Wakkinen 2011), and

the warmest occurrence of spawning is 22°C in the San Joaquin

River, California (Jackson, Gruber, and Van Eenennaam2016).

Similarly, green sturgeon occupy and spawn across a wide range

of temperatures. In the Klamath and Rogue Rivers in California

and Oregon, adults are found in highest abundance at 19°C

and are rarely found at temperatures > 24°C or < 5°C (Mora

et al. 2009). However, adult green sturgeon in Willapa Bay,

Washington, are not found at temperatures below 10°C (Moser

and Lindley 2007). Spawning occurs at different temperatures

throughout their range, from 10°C to 18°C in the Rogue River

(Erickson and Webb2007), Oregon, to ~13°C and 14°C in the

Sacramento River, California (Brown2007; Poytress etal.2015).

In the south, adult Gulf of Mexico sturgeon are found between

14°C and 26°C in the Suwan nee River, Florida (Carr, Tatman, and

Chapman1996) and seem to prefer temperatures between 17°C

and 23°C for movement and spawning. Fewer studies have doc-

umented Gulf of Mexico sturgeon spawning compared to other

species, and thus far only in the Suwanee and Choctawhatchee

Rivers, Florida. For pallid sturgeon, 20°C is reported as the

upper limit for spawning and abundance. Spawning generally

occurs between 16°C and 20°C in the Missouri and Yellowstone

Rivers (Fuller, Jaeger, and Webb2008; Kappenman, Webb, and

Greenwood 2013; Elliott et al. 2020), and the highest relative

abundance of young- of- the- year is found at 17°C–20°C in the

middle Mississippi River (Phelps et al. 2010). Shovelnose, on

the other hand, have been found at temperatures ranging from

~9°C to 29°C in similar habitats, and spawning is reported to

occur from 11°C to 23°C throughout their range. However, no

gravid females have been caught when temperatures reach 24°C

in Wabash River, Indiana (Kennedy, Sutton, and Fisher2006),

and in general throughout the lower and middle Mississippi

River, juveniles and adults were not present at temperatures

above 20°C.

3.2 | Effects of Prolonged Temperature Change on

Sturgeon Whole- Animal Physiology

When sturgeon were a cclimated to a change in temperatu re, there

were no significant effects on physiological rates. There was a

weak overall effect on growth (lnRRQ10 = −0.1414; CI = −0.3546,

0.0718; p = 0.1936), and marginal but still insignificant effects on

activit y (lnRRQ10 = 0 .4473; CI = −0.0247, 0.9192; p = 0.0 633) a nd

metabolism (lnRRQ10 = 0.5483; CI = −0.0637, 1.1604; p = 0.0791),

with confidence intervals overlapping zero (TableS2; Figure5).

Overall heterogeneity of these data was high (> 95%). Though

there was no significant overall effect, it should be noted that

the directionality for each physiological trait varied. Simply put,

where lnRRQ10 is zero, this indicates the response of the treat-

ment group is the same as the response of the control group

when differences in temperature between studies are accounted

for and standardized to a 10°C increase in temperature. Where

lnRRQ10 is negative or positive, this indicates the response of the

treatment group is respectively reduced or increased compared

to the control group. Activity and metabolism had a general pos-

itive trend with thermal acclimation, and when examining the

variation within each trait by metric, we found that movement

(lnRRQ10 = 0.6895; CI = 0.2446, 1.1343) and standard metabolic

rate (lnRRQ10 = 1.1148; CI = 0.3634 , 1.86 62) were sign ificantly

positively affected by thermal acclimation (Tables S3 and S4;

Figure5a,b,e,f). In contrast, growth had a general negative trend

with thermal acclimation but no significant effects of thermal

acclimation (Table S5; Figure 5c,d). Survival also had a gen-

eral negative, but insignificant, trend with thermal acclimation

(Figure 6; lnRRQ10 = −0. 4321; CI = −1.0851, 0.2208; p = 0 .194 6);

however, heterogeneity was very low (4.34%).

Though prolonged temperature did not significantly affect ac-

tivity, growth, metabolism, or survival, we assessed potential

moderators of these effects (TableS2). We found that acclimation

duration and experimental body mass were important predictors

for activity and growth. Longer acclimations at warm tempera-

tures increased activity and decreased growth, whereas larger

body mass at warm temperatures decreased activity and in-

creased growth. In addition, warmer experimental temperatures

decreased the growth of sturgeons as well. Finally, body mass

of control treatment fish was an important predictor of metab-

olism, where larger body mass at natural temperatures reduced

metabolism. However, all of these significant predictors had

weak effects (Table S2). Control temperature and temperature

difference were not important predictors for any physiological

rate, nor were there significant moderators for survival.

3.3 | Acute Upper Thermal Limits and Thermal

Tolerance Plasticity of Sturgeon

Because ramp rate has been shown to affect CTmax measure-

ments (Desforges et al. 2023), and for at least one sturgeon

species (Penman et al.2023), prior to pooling data, the rela-

tionship bet ween CTmax and ramp rate was assessed. However,

there was no significant relationship (FigureS1; p = 0.838 , ad-

justed R2 = −0.03, slope = 2.15). Thus, CTmax reported for nat-

ural (i.e., “control”) conditions were pooled across life stages

(dominated by young- of- the- year life stage, ~78% of data)

and ramp rate and analyzed for between- species differences.

9 of 24

The overall meta- analytical mean CTmax was 30.26°C

(CI = 28.9263, 31.5910; Table S2; Figure 7a), and there were

no statistically significant differences between species' CTmax,

which ranged from ~29.5°C to 32.5°C (TableS6; Figure7c). In

the data set, the highest CTmax value was recorded from YOY

shortnose sturgeon (35.1°C; Ziegeweid et al. 2008), and the

lowest CTmax value was recorded from early life stage white

sturgeon (21.9°C; Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison, etal.2023). It

is important to note that the acclimation temperatures used in

each study varied based on the relative habitat of the sturgeon

species being investigated and thus reflective of their thermal

capacity in their native environment. Therefore, we also ran

a meta- regression analysis to assess acclimation temperature

as a moderator of CTmax (Table S2). We found acclimation

temperature was an important predictor of upper thermal

limits, explaining > 50% of the variation in CTmax (p < 0.0001;

R2marginal = 0.523; Figu re8a), where sturgeon at high acclima-

tion temperatures displayed higher upper thermal limits.

The overall meta- analytical mean for sturgeon thermal toler-

ance plasticity was statistically significantly different from zero

or no acclimation capacity (ARR = 0.563; CI = 0.3908, 0.7350;

p < 0.00 01; Table S2; Figure 7b). Though reported for only

three species, we found lake sturgeon (Figure7d; AR R = 0.474;

95% CI = 0.036, 0.913), shortnose sturgeon (ARR = 0.538; 95%

CI = 0.077, 0.998), and white sturgeon (ARR = 0.632; 95%

CI = 0.249, 1.015) all demonstrated substantial plasticity in

thermal tolerance. Experimental temperature was the only im-

portant moderator of ARR, where with increased experimental

temperature the magnitude of a sturgeon's plasticity in thermal

tolerance decreased (p < 0.0 001; R2marginal = 0.115; Ta ble S2;

Figure8b). Neither control temperature, temperature difference,

FIGUR E  | T he effect of temperature on the phys iological r ates of North American st urgeon. Overal l temperature- correcte d effect sizes (ln RRQ10)

and variation by metric for (a, b) activity, (c, d) growth , and (e, f) metabolism. Mean meta- analytical est imates (dark circles) with their 95% confidence

intervals (thick bars) and prediction inter vals (thin bars) are overlaid indiv idual data points (light circles) and scaled by precision (inverse of standard

error). An asterisk (*) represents an effect size that is significantly d ifferent from zero. k represents the number of effect sizes presented, and the value

in parentheses represents the total number of studies from which the effect sizes were calculated.

10 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

acclimation duration, nor body mass were significant modera-

tors of ARR.

The high overall ARR for sturgeons was driven in part by high

ARRs from Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison, et al.(2023). These

individuals represent not only the highest ARRs recorded but

also the youngest sturgeon tested to date. Thus, we explored

whether age had a significant influence on ARR. There was no

significant relationship between age and ARR overall (Figure9;

p = 0.092; adjusted R2 = 0.097; n = 21); however, there was a well-

supported logistic relationship between age and ARR when fish

older than 400 days post- fertilization were excluded (p < 0.001;

adjusted R2 = 0.601; n = 18).

We also assessed sturgeon thermal plasticity by investigating if

they maintained TSM when acclimated to warm temperatures,

demonstrating perfect compensation for thermal stress. Here,

a slope of 0 indicates perfect compensation, and a slope of −1

indicates no plasticity. There was a significant negative linear

relationship between change in TSM and change in acclima-

tion temperatures (Figure 10a; p < 0.0 01; adjusted R2 = 0.42;

slope = −0.71; n = 22), suggesting that despite higher overall plas-

ticity indicated by ARR values, warm- acclimated sturgeon have

reduced thermal safety margins. There was also a significant

positive linear relationship between change in TSM and ARR

(Figure 10b; p < 0.001; adjusted R2 = 0.74; slope = 6. 36; n = 22).

This relationship again demonstrated the only instances of com-

plete acclimation, which coincided with improved thermal sa fety

margins, were for the youngest sturgeon tested to date from

Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison, et al. (2023). Though sturgeon

demonstrate higher overall ARR via increasing CTmax during

warm acclimation, this increase in CTmax still coincides with a

reduction in thermal safety margins (Figure10c). Interestingly,

there is a signif icant positive relationship between “natural” (i.e.,

control) CTmax and thermal safety margins (p < 0 .001; a djusted

R2 = 0.42; slope = 0.52; n = 22), but when fish were acclimated

to warm temperatures, they did not demonstrate a relationship

between CTmax and thermal safety margins (p = 0.962; adjusted

R2 = −0.05; slope = 0.01; n = 22) .

4 | Discussion

Understanding how warming affects sturgeon is critical for

predicting how these threatened and endangered species will

fare in a rapidly changing world. Here, we provide the first

comprehensive synthesis to characterize thermal effects, limits,

and plasticity across eight North American species, at multiple

life stages, and with regards to important ecological activities

(e.g., spawning, growth). Our data indicate sturgeon have the

capacity for thermal acclimation (though with some concern-

ing trends with energetic costs and survival) and impressive

plasticity in acute thermal tolerance, especially in the early life

stages. However, we acknowledge data gaps in the literature

limit overarching conclusions, and we highlight specific re-

search needs for conservation.

4.1 | Thermal Limits Vary by Habitat, Species, Life

Stage, and Metric

We predicted that given the diverse habitats sturge on occupy and

their vast ranges, there may be interspecific or even population-

level differences in thermal limits (e.g., Bugg et al. 2020).

Generally, the data collected from observational studies sug-

gest that the upper limit for presence and spawning for North

American sturgeon ranges between 20°C and 24°C. However,

we urge that this estimation be taken with caution, as there are

marked differences within and between species. For example,

juvenile Atlantic sturgeon are present in the Hudson River, New

York, at temperatures ranging from 0°C in the winter to 28°C in

the summer (Bain etal.2000). As such, it is exceedingly difficult

to provide an all- encompassing estimation due to the inherent

complexity of the data (i.e., reconciling methodological differ-

ences) and the lack of information for certain species, life stages,

and habitats. Instead, we suggest that the observational data

provided in TableS1 be used to inform future studies, or where

enough information exists to make inferences for a species, be

used for habitat- specific recommendations.

Similarly, physiological upper thermal limits reported here are

also likely to be driven in part by differences in life stages, hab-

itat temperatures, methodology, and data availability, making

overarching inferences difficult. Under natural conditions,

the overall upper thermal limit of North American sturgeon is

~30.3°C, which interestingly is double that of the average accli-

mation temperature for these data (14.8°C). This would indicate

that sturgeon have a large margin to buffer from changes in en-

vironmental temperature. However, we found individual ther-

mal safety margins vary drastically from 8°C to 18°C across life

stage, species, and habitat, likely because CTma x is particularly

dependent on the prevailing environmental temperature itself.

In fact, Zhang and Kieffer(2014) previously found the relation-

ship between CTmax and acclimation temperature is nonlinear

for shortnose sturgeon, where CTmax plateaus with increasing

acclimation temperature. Therefore, sturgeon become more

vulnerable with increased warming, despite increasing upper

thermal limits.

FIGUR E  | The effect of temperature on sur vival of early- life

stage North American sturgeon. Mean meta- analytical estimates (dark

circles) for log odds ratio (lnOR) with their 95% confidence intervals

(thick bars) and prediction intervals (thin bars) are overlaid individual

data points (light circles) and scaled by precision (inverse of standard

error). k represents the number of effect sizes presented, and the value

in parentheses represents the total number of studies from which the

effect sizes were calculated.

11 of 24

Previous research has shown that freshwater and marine ecto-

therms decrease upper thermal limits with increasing habitat

latitude (Sunday, Bates, and Dulvy2011; Sunday et al.2019).

Some of the trends found here follow this assumption, but the

limited available data precludes a full assessment of whether

sturgeon thermal limits are inherently distinct across latitudes.

In one study based in Manitoba, northern la ke sturgeon demon-

strated lower thermal tolerance and acclimatory capacity than

their southern counterparts reared at the same temperatures

(Bugg etal.2020). Yet in most cases, comparisons across stud-

ies are confounded by different rearing temperatures and/

or natural conditions. For example, shortnose sturgeon and

Atlantic sturgeon occupy similar habitat ranges and demon-

strate similar upper thermal limits (Figure 7). However, re-

ports of Atlantic sturgeon thermal tolerance under control

conditions are limited to two studies from New Brunswick,

Canada (Spear and Kieffer 2016; Penny etal. 2023), whereas

reports of shortnose sturgeon thermal tolerance range from

New Brunswick (acclimated to 10°C; Zhang and Kieffer2014)

to Georgia, USA (acclimated to 24°C; Ziegeweid etal. 2008).

Thus, shortnose sturgeons display a much wider range of ther-

mal limits, likely as an artifact of data availability. Likewise,

white sturgeon are widely distributed on the western coast

of North America and, at lower latitudes, share habitat with

FIGUR E  | Variation in the natural upper thermal limits and thermal tolerance plasticity across North A merican sturgeon species. (a) Overall

upper thermal limits when acclimated to natural (i.e., control) temperatures for five of the eight species in this study; (b) variation in upper thermal

limits across species; (c) overall level of plasticity in heat tolerance, as calculated by acclimation response ratios (ARRs); and (d) variation in thermal

tolerance plasticity across species. Mean meta- analytical estimates (dark circles) with their 95% confidence intervals (thick bars) and prediction

intervals (thin bars) are overlaid individual data points (light circles) and scaled by precision (inverse of standard error). For (c, d), the gray dashed

line at 0 indicates no capacity for thermal acclimation, whereas ARR of 1 indicates full compensation. k represents the number of effect sizes

presented, and the value in parentheses represents the total number of studies from which the effect sizes were calculated.

12 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

green sturgeon. Supporting the relationship between ecto-

therm thermal limits and latitude, green sturgeon demonstrate

significantly higher thermal tolerance than white sturgeon

(Figure 7). However, data for white sturgeon includes that of

early life stages (~15 dpf), which have a considerably lower

CTmax than older life stages when acclimated to 14°C (Earhart,

Blanchard, Morrison, etal.2023).

Dahlke etal.(2020) suggested that embryos and spawning fish

have narrower thermal margins and are therefore more vulnera-

ble to climate warming than larvae, juveniles, and nonreproduc-

tive adults. Little data exist within or across species to confirm

whether a thermal bottleneck exists for sturgeon at different life

stages, and any ontogenetic differences may be confounded by

methodological differences in thermal tolerance measurements

(Pottier et al. 2022). As demonstrated here, CTma x studies are

dominated by the use of the YOY life stage, whereas survival

studies and observational studies are more common for early life

and juveniles/adults, respectively. The only species for which

thermal tolerance of more than two life stages is reported, using

consistent methodology, are white sturgeon. The upper ther-

mal limit of white sturgeon acclimated to 14°C and challenged

with a temperature increase of 0.3°C/min increases from early

life (yolk sac larvae; 21.9°C; Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison,

et al. 2023) to YOY (28.2°C; Earhart, Blanchard, Strowbridge,

etal.2023) to the juvenile stage (29.8°C; Weber, Dichiera, and

Brauner2024). These data in white sturgeon do indeed suggest

that earlier life stages are more sensitive to warming, at least

within early development and the first years of life. However,

there are no studies of CTmax on spawning- capable or actively

spawning adults of any sturgeon species, certainly due to the

logistical and ethical challenges of working with large- bodied,

endangered animals. Studies with well- defined and consistent

methodology are urgently needed to investigate how both life

stage and habitat may underpin differences in sturgeon upper

thermal limits, but we recognize the difficulty of reconciling

FIGUR E  | Upper thermal limits and thermal tolerance plasticity as a function of acclimation or experimental temperature. (a) Acclimation

temperature (°C) was a significant moderator of upper thermal limits under “natural” conditions, measured as critical thermal maxima (CTmax ;

p < 0.00 01; R2marginal = 0.523), and (b) experiment temperature (°C) was a significant moderator of thermal tolerance plasticity, measured as

acclimation response ratio (ARR; p < 0 .0001; R2marginal = 0.115). For both, models reported significant residual heterogeneity (p < 0.00 01), and

therefore, there remain unknown sources of variance for CTmax and ARR .

13 of 24

the disconnect between field- based, ecological thermal limits

and acute upper thermal limits. To expand our understanding

of how thermal limits change across lifespans, we must become

creative in our methodology, connecting lab- based techniques to

measure more conservative thermal thresholds (e.g., avoidance

behavior, slow ramping rates for CTmax) and field- based tech-

niques to more precisely measure invivo thermal preferences

and limits (e.g., implantable thermal profile tags).

4.2 | Prolonged Temperature May Have

Concerning Impacts on Whole- Animal Physiology

After prolonged exposure to temperature change, sturgeon gener-

ally display similar physiological responses as they would under

control or “natural” conditions, suggesting a strong capacity for

acclimation. However, there are trends where metabolism, and

specifically standard or basal metabolic rate, increase with pro-

longed temperature, indicating increased maintenance costs. This

is unsurprising, as temperature is known to have a profound effect

on biological processes such as ox ygen consumption (Schulte2015;

Alfonso, Gesto, and Sadoul2021). However, the pairwise compar-

isons we chose to use here, between control and acclimated condi-

tions, can obscure the overall pattern of thermal effects. Primarily,

without quantifying how acute temperature change affects stur-

geon physiology, we have a limited understanding of the thermal

plasticity they employ during acclimation. There are few instances

of acute responses to temperature (e.g., Kieffer etal. 2014); how-

ever, more complex factorial experiments are needed to address

whether the responses found with prolonged acclimation indicate

active or passive thermal plasticity and the degree to which these

fish may be compensating for thermal stress (Havird etal.2020).

In addition, in many cases performance plateaus and/or declines

with increasing temperature, suggesting a thermal threshold has

been reached (Angilletta2009; Schulte, Healy, and Fangue2011;

Schu lte 2014, 2015; Jeffries, Fangue, and Connon 2018). For ex-

ample, in pallid sturgeon, metabolism increases with temperature

when acclimated between 13°C and 25°C, but not between 25°C

and 28°C (Chipps, Klumb, and Wright2010). This suggests a ther-

mal limit on metabolic performance that is not conveyed through

the effect size calculation. Previous studies have also found species

FIGUR E  | Relationship between acclimation response ratio

and age (days post- fertilization) of North American sturgeon species

combined. There is poor support for an overall relationship between

ARR and all ages (n = 22). However, within ~1 year of life (n = 19), there

is a logarith mic relationship between A RR and age (shown in ins et). The

dashed line and surrounding gray area indicate logarithmic regression

and a 95% confidence interval and are overlaid with individual data

points.

FIGURE  | Legend on next page.

14 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

and even populations demonstrate variable metabolic responses to

warming, for example, increasing with warming (shortnose stur-

geon; Zhang and Kieffer2014) or decreasing (e.g., lake sturgeon;

Bugg etal.2020). For these reasons, when assessing temperature

limits in young sturgeon, species- and even population- specific

thermal performance curves, rather than pairwise comparisons,

are necessary to properly understand thermal effects and limita-

tions of growth and activity.

Our data also suggest warmer temperatures and longer dura-

tions of warming may inhibit growth, which is concerning as

size can be one of the largest determinants of survival during

this first year of life, when predation is often high (Justice

et al. 2009; Caroffino et al. 2010; Hardy et al. 2021). Across

species, sturgeon appear to maintain growth in warm tempera-

tures, sometimes at the cost of other physiological processes or

performance (Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison, etal.2023; Hung

etal.1993; Allen, Nicholl, etal.2006; Kappenman etal.2009;

Boucher, McAdam, and Shrimpton 2 014; Poletto et al. 2018;

Bugg et al. 2020; Brandt et al.2022), and in spite of predation

risks (Bjornson, Earhart, and Anderson2020). However, it is im-

portant to note these assessments are based on sturgeon reared

in laboratory environments with abundant food availability. For

example, when larval green sturgeon were fed optimally, fish ex-

hibited the highest relative condition under warming; however,

when food was limited, warm- acclimated fish had the poorest

condition (Poletto etal.2018). In natural environments, if food

limitation co- occurs with elevated temperatures, increased met-

abolic demands may decrease growth and further exacerbate

impairments to physiological rates.

In addition, we found decreases in survival even in controlled lab-

oratory settings with minimal compounding stressors. As such,

when extrapolating findings from controlled settings to natural

habitats, it is important to consider how the differences in these

environments may impact our interpretations of success or failure

under warming. Decreases in immune capacity, changes in gene

expression associated with stress, reductions in aerobic capacity,

and higher mortality have all been reported while YOY sturgeon

continue to grow under warm temperatures (Bugg et al. 2020,

2023; Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison, etal.2023). Thus, it is likely

that the impacts of increasing temperatures have an overall neg-

ative effect on sturgeon, particularly in early life stages, which is

especially concerning as the recruitment and survival of early life

stages of sturgeon are one of their leading conservation obstacles

(Anderson, Schreier, and Crossman2022).

4.3 | North American Sturgeon Have Greater

Acclimation Capacity Than Other Fishes

Here, we found North American sturgeon have a greater ca-

pacity for thermal acclimation on average than previously

described for other fishes and can increase their thermal lim-

its at a mean of 0.56°C per 1°C acclimation (Figure 8). While

aquatic ectotherms have been found to have more than twice

the thermal tolerance plasticity of terrestrial ectotherms in late

life stages (Gunderson and Stillman2015; Ruthsatz etal.2024)

and more than three times the thermal tolerance plasticity of

terrestrial ectotherms during development (Pottier etal.2022),

previously reported average ARRs are typically < 0.4. This ca-

pacity for thermal tolerance plasticity is somewhat surprising

as, in general, sturgeon have demonstrated reduced responses

to physiological stressors (e.g., hypoxia, salinity, exhaustive ex-

ercise) in comparison to other fishes (e.g., Kieffer etal. 2014;

Baker, Wood, and Kieffer 2005; Penny and Kieffer 2019). It

should be noted that only three species of North American

sturgeon have been characterized thus far, and more ARR data

is needed to understand if this is truly an Acipenseriformes

trait or a result of polyploidy across sturgeon. More research

is needed to test whether ploidy differences between sturgeon

and other fish could explain differences in acclimation capac-

ity. However, it is an encouraging find that indicates sturgeon

species may have an acclimatory advantage and, importantly,

can better offset changes to their thermal safety margins under

warming scenarios.

Notably, early- life stage sturgeon demonstrated near- perfect

or even overcompensation of thermal acclimation (Earhart,

Blanchard, Morrison, etal.2023). This elevated capacity for accli-

mation exponentially declines in the first year of life (Fig ure9), but

importantly, even with the exclusion of early life stages, sturgeon

overall maintain elevated capacity for thermal acclimation. This

pattern contrasts recent studies in embryonic stages that show

reductions in thermal tolerance at high acclimation temperatures

and low or non- adaptive plasticity (Dahlke et al. 2020; Pottier

etal.2022). This increased plasticity during early life may be ex-

ceptionally critical for a species with long generation times like the

sturgeon (Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison, etal.2023). However, it is

important to note that the early life stages reported here are yolk-

sac larvae, and as such, it is possible that embryonic life stages are

less plastic than their hatched counterparts. Finally, data beyond

the three reports for sturgeon > 400 days old are needed to investi-

gate this potential connection between ontogeny and acclimation

capacity and to better understand the impacts of elevated tempera-

tures on adult physiology and spawning.

Yet even with their impressive thermal acclimation capac-

ity, sturgeon do display limits to this tolerance. Earhart,

Blanchard, Morrison, etal.(2023) reported a decrease in ARR

between subsequent acclimations for early- life white sturgeon,

and other sturgeon species similarly demonstrate a nonlin-

ear relationship, resulting in a decline in acclimation capac-

ity under higher temperatures (Bugg et al. 2020; Zhang and

FIGURE  | Relationship between upper thermal limits, plasticity

in heat tolerance, and thermal safety margins of North American

sturgeon. (a) Changes in thermal safety margin given changes in

acclimation temperature, where a slope of 0 demonstrates perfect

compensation and a slope of −1 demonstrates no plasticity. (b) Changes

in thermal safety margin given changes in acclimation response ratio,

where a thermal safety margin of 0 demonstrates perfect compensation

and an accli mation response ratio of 1 demonstrat es perfect acclim ation.

and thermal safety margin based on acclimation treatment (control

represented in blue and warm acclimation represented in red). The

dashed line and surrounding gray area indicate linear regression and

a 95% confidence interval and are overlaid with individual data points

(light circles).

15 of 24

Kieffer2014). Any decrease in ARR is inherently accompanied

by a reduction in thermal safety margin (Figure10), increasing

sturgeon's vulnerability to warming. While the reported ARRs

here are calculated between control temperatures and warm

acclimations, we must acknowledge that characterizing the

limits of an organism's acclimation capacity across multiple,

increasing acclimation temperatures is likely more valuable

for understanding how species will be impacted by warming

than pairwise comparisons alone.

4.4 | Implications and Future Research Needs

for Sturgeon Success in the Face of Climate Change

As sturgeon are long- lived species with relatively few genomic

changes occurring through millions of years of evolution

(Brownstein et al.2024), individuals likely rely on their abil-

ity to acclimate to environmental changes in real time, which

necessitates their impressive plasticity in the face of increased

environmental temperatures. During early development, stur-

geon appear to have higher acclimation capacities compared

to later life stages, which may aid during a period of limited

mobility when effective behavioral thermoregulation (e.g.,

swimming far distances to avoid high temperatures) is not

feasible (Allen, Hodge, etal.2006; Verhille etal.2 014; Brandt

etal.2021). However, early life stages are also more vulnera-

ble to mortality with warming, with yolk- sac larvae especially

susceptible (Earhart, Blanchard, Morrison, et al. 2023). This

suggests that thermal plasticity may be inversely related to ther-

mal sensitivity in sturgeons. For juvenile and adult life stages,

critical temperatures for presence and spawning are typically

much lower than CTmax, suggesting that while sturgeon may

be able to withstand these temperatures acutely in a laboratory

trial, in their natural habitat, they favor behavioral thermo-

regulation to reduce the temperatures that they are exposed to

(e.g., Breece etal.2016; Jetter, Crossman, and Martins2023).

While beneficial for mitigating mortality, behavioral thermo-

regulation can also lead to abandonment of spawning grounds

if environmental temperatures exceed thresholds, similar to

spawning ground abandonment seen during periods of sub-

optimal flow rates (Paragamian and Kruse 20 01). This would

then reduce reproductive success and limit future recruit-

ment. Conversely, behavioral thermoregulation can be limited

during extreme summer temperatures (Moore, Paukert, and

Moore2021), which may prove quite challenging for sturgeons

to cope with and require reliance on physiological thermal

plasticity. With this delicate balance between movement and

habitat occupancy, there is a great need to identify, protect, and

promote access to areas of thermal refuge (Sullivan, Jager, and

Myers2003; Caissie2006; Amat- Trigo etal.2023) during peri-

ods where environmental temperatures exceed the sturgeon's

thermal capacity.

Critically, more studies investig ating the physiological impacts of

warming are needed for almost all life stages of North American

sturgeon, but especially in combination with co- occurring

stressors, as these impacts are predicted to be more challenging

for fish to cope with than warming alone (Earhart etal.2022).

To assist with future sturgeon conservation research, we have

identified the following data gaps and provided areas for future

research:

1. How do thermal effects, limits, and plasticity change with

age? Different life stages are inherently more suitable for

certain metrics, where laboratory- based experiments favor

small- bodied individuals and field measurements allow the

investigation of large adults. However, siloing thermal as-

sessments by which measurements are easiest to perform

for each life stage hinders our understanding of how vul-

nerability changes with ontogeny. The free- embryo (YSL)

and feeding stage are known to be the most stressful part of

a sturgeon's development (e.g., highest mortality and large

morphometric changes), yet there is only one thermal tol-

erance study conducted at this life stage. In addition, only

three studies included in the effect size and thermal toler-

ance plasticity analyses were conducted on sturgeon past

the first year of life. If not space- , time- , or cost- prohibitive,

experimental work with life stages outside the YoY group

would provide useful vulnerability assessments.

2. What is the relationship between measures of lab- based

thermal tolerance and plasticity and habitat utilization?

Thermal tolerance has only been measured for five species

of sturgeon, and acclimation capacity has only been charac-

terized for three. Paired with the limited information on life

stage- specific characterizations, we do not yet have enough

data to understand how lab- based measures of thermal

tolerance translate into habitat preference and avoidance.

While we know that there is the potential for population-

specific thermal plasticity (Bugg et al. 2020, 2023), more

evaluations are needed, especially for populations of con-

cern, to best inform management efforts. Including studies

on avoidance and escape behavior in the lab, as well as sen-

sitive thermal profiles via implantable temperature loggers

in the field, could help reconcile the difference between lab-

and field- based measurements. In addition, bioindicators of

thermal stress, particularly those obtained using non- lethal

sampling methods (e.g., blood samples for biochemical

stress markers and transcriptomics; Spear and Kieffer2016;

Penny etal.2023) are a promising avenue for comparative

analyses, connecting physiology in the lab and field.

3. How do sturgeon cope with stressors representative of the

natural environment (in duration, magnitude, variation,

predictability, asynchrony, etc.)? Climate change stresses

do not act individually, and co- occurring stressors will con-

tinue to be more severe as global warming progresses. Yet,

multi- stressor studies conducted on sturgeon are scarce,

and the few that have assessed the impacts of warming with

an additional stressor exhibit variable responses. Long- term

studies that evaluate the impacts of prolonged exposures

to elevated temperatures, or those that are repeated across

years, are few and far between. Furthermore, differences

in thermal history profiles may arise in the wild depending

on the timing of spawning and how that aligns with sea-

sonal changes, but little is known about the impact of early

life exposure on thermal tolerance and plasticity. Thus, it

is difficult to predict the physiological impacts of chronic

and repeated temperature increases associated with climate

change. Together, despite their notable plasticity, uncer-

tainty still remains concerning the fate of sturgeons as cli-

mate change intensifies, and physiological impacts across

life stages likely limit their survival and long- term repro-

ductive potential.

16 of 24 Global Change Biology, 2024

Author Contributions

Angelina M. Dichiera: conceptualization, data curation, formal

analysis, investigation, methodology, visualization, writing – original

draft. Madison L. Earhart: data curation, investigation, visualization,

writing – original draft. Will iam S. Bugg: data curation, investigation,

writing – original draft. Colin J. Brauner: funding acquisition, project

administration, resources, supervision, writing – review and editing.

Patricia M. Schulte: funding acquisition, project administration, re-

sources, supervision, writing – review and editing.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in

figshare at: https:// figsh are. com/ proje cts/ Meta- analy tical_ review_ of_

the_ therm al_ toler ance_ and_ adapt ive_ capac ity_ of_ North_ Ameri can_

sturg eon/ 201795.

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Acclimation capacity to global warming of amphibians and freshwater fishes: Drivers, patterns, and data limitations

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May 2024
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOL

Amphibians and fishes play a central role in shaping the structure and function of freshwater environments. These organisms have a limited capacity to disperse across different habitats and the thermal buffer offered by freshwater systems is small. Understanding determinants and patterns of their physiological sensitivity across life history is, therefore, imperative to predicting the impacts of climate change in freshwater systems. Based on a systematic literature review including 345 experiments with 998 estimates on 96 amphibian (Anura/Caudata) and 93 freshwater fish species (Teleostei), we conducted a quantitative synthesis to explore phylogenetic, ontogenetic, and biogeographic (thermal adaptation) patterns in upper thermal tolerance (CT max ) and thermal acclimation capacity (acclimation response ratio, ARR) as well as the influence of the methodology used to assess these thermal traits using a conditional inference tree analysis. We found globally consistent patterns in CT max and ARR, with phylogeny (taxa/order), experimental methodology, climatic origin, and life stage as significant determinants of thermal traits. The analysis demonstrated that CT max does not primarily depend on the climatic origin but on experimental acclimation temperature and duration, and life stage. Higher acclimation temperatures and longer acclimation times led to higher CT max values, whereby Anuran larvae revealed a higher CT max than older life stages. The ARR of freshwater fishes was more than twice that of amphibians. Differences in ARR between life stages were not significant. In addition to phylogenetic differences, we found that ARR also depended on acclimation duration, ramping rate, and adaptation to local temperature variability. However, the amount of data on early life stages is too small, methodologically inconsistent, and phylogenetically unbalanced to identify potential life cycle bottlenecks in thermal traits. We, therefore, propose methods to improve the robustness and comparability of CT max /ARR data across species and life stages, which is crucial for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity under climate change.

The genomic signatures of evolutionary stasis

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EVOLUTION

Evolutionary stasis characterizes lineages that seldom speciate and show little phenotypic change over long stretches of geological time. Although lineages that appear to exhibit evolutionary stasis are often called living fossils, no single mechanism is thought to be responsible for their slow rates of morphological evolution and low species diversity. Some analyses of molecular evolutionary rates in a handful of living fossil lineages have indicated that they exhibit slow rates of genomic change. Here, we investigate mechanisms of evolutionary stasis using a dataset of 1,105 exons for 481 vertebrate species. We demonstrate that two ancient clades of ray-finned fishes classically called living fossils, gars and sturgeons, exhibit the lowest rates of molecular substitution in protein-coding genes among all jawed vertebrates. Comparably low rates of evolution are observed at fourfold degenerate sites in gars and sturgeons, implying a mechanism of stasis decoupled from selection that we speculate is linked to a highly effective DNA repair apparatus. We show that two gar species last sharing common ancestry over 100 million years ago produce morphologically intermediate and fertile hybrids in the wild. This makes gars the oldest naturally hybridizing divergence among eukaryotes and supports a theoretical prediction that slow rates of nucleotide substitution across the genome slow the accumulation of genetic incompatibilities, enabling hybridization across deeply divergent lineages and slowing the rate of speciation over geological timescales. Our results help establish molecular stasis as a barrier to speciation and phenotypic innovation and provide a mechanism to explain the low species diversity in living fossil lineages.

The genomic signatures of evolutionary stasis

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2024
EVOLUTION

Evolutionary stasis characterizes lineages that seldom speciate and show little phenotypic change over long stretches of geological time. Although lineages that appear to exhibit evolutionary stasis are often called living fossils, no single mechanism is thought responsible for their slow rates of morphological evolution and low species diversity. Some analyses of molecular evolutionary rates in a handful of living fossil lineages have indicated they exhibit slow rates of genomic change. Here, we investigate mechanisms of evolutionary stasis using a dataset of 1,105 exons for 481 vertebrate species. We demonstrate that two ancient clades of ray-finned fishes classically called living fossils, gars and sturgeons, exhibit the lowest rates of molecular substitution in protein coding genes among all jawed vertebrates. Comparably low rates of evolution are observed at four-fold degenerate sites in gars and sturgeons, implying a mechanism of stasis decoupled from selection that we speculate is linked to a highly effective DNA repair apparatus. We show that two gar species last sharing common ancestry over 100 million years ago naturally produce morphologically intermediate and fertile hybrids. This makes gars the oldest naturally hybridizing divergence among eukaryotes and supports a theoretical prediction that slow rates of nucleotide substitution across the genome slows the accumulation of genetic incompatibilities, enabling hybridization across deeply divergent lineages and perhaps slowing the rate of speciation. Our results help establish molecular stasis as a barrier to speciation and phenotypic innovation and provide a mechanism to explain the low species diversity in living fossil lineages.

Heatwave resilience of juvenile white sturgeon is associated with epigenetic and transcriptional alterations

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Heatwaves are increasing in frequency and severity, posing a significant threat to organisms globally. In aquatic environments heatwaves are often associated with low environmental oxygen, which is a deadly combination for fish. However, surprisingly little is known about the capacity of fishes to withstand these interacting stressors. This issue is particularly critical for species of extreme conservation concern such as sturgeon. We assessed the tolerance of juvenile white sturgeon from an endangered population to heatwave exposure and investigated how this exposure affects tolerance to additional acute stressors. We measured whole-animal thermal and hypoxic performance and underlying epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms. Sturgeon exposed to a simulated heatwave had increased thermal tolerance and exhibited complete compensation for the effects of acute hypoxia. These changes were associated with an increase in mRNA levels involved in thermal and hypoxic stress (hsp90a, hsp90b, hsp70 and hif1a) following these stressors. Global DNA methylation was sensitive to heatwave exposure and rapidly responded to acute thermal and hypoxia stress over the course of an hour. These data demonstrate that juvenile white sturgeon exhibit substantial resilience to heatwaves, associated with improved cross-tolerance to additional acute stressors and involving rapid responses in both epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms.

orchaRd 2.0: An R package for visualising meta‐analyses with orchard plots

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2023
Methods Ecol. Evol.

Although meta‐analysis has become an essential tool in ecology and evolution, reporting of meta‐analytic results can still be much improved. To aid this, we have introduced the orchard plot, which presents not only overall estimates and their confidence intervals, but also shows corresponding heterogeneity (as prediction intervals) and individual effect sizes. Here, we have added significant enhancements by integrating many new functionalities into orchaRd 2.0. This updated version allows the visualisation of heteroscedasticity (different variances across levels of a categorical moderator), marginal estimates (e.g. marginalising out effects other than the one visualised), conditional estimates (i.e. estimates of different groups conditioned upon specific values of a continuous variable) and visualisations of all types of interactions between two categorical/continuous moderators. orchaRd 2.0 has additional functions which calculate key statistics from multilevel meta‐analytic models such as I² and R². Importantly, orchaRd 2.0 contributes to better reporting by complying with PRISMA‐EcoEvo (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta‐analyses in ecology and evolution). Taken together, orchaRd 2.0 can improve the presentation of meta‐analytic results and facilitate the exploration of previously neglected patterns. In addition, as a part of a literature survey, we found that graphical packages are rarely cited (~3%). We plea that researchers credit developers and maintainers of graphical packages, for example, by citations in a figure legend, acknowledging the use of relevant packages.

Identification of upper thermal thresholds during development in the endangered Nechako white sturgeon with management implications for a regulated river

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

Climate change-induced warming effects are already evident in river ecosystems, and projected increases in temperature will continue to amplify stress on fish communities. In addition, many rivers globally are impacted by dams, which have many negative effects on fishes by altering flow, blocking fish passage, and changing sediment composition. However, in some systems, dams present an opportunity to manage river temperature through regulated releases of cooler water. For example, there is a government mandate for Kenney dam operators in the Nechako river, British Columbia, Canada, to maintain river temperature <20°C in July and August to protect migrating sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). However, there is another endangered fish species inhabiting the same river, Nechako white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), and it is unclear if these current temperature regulations, or timing of the regulations, are suitable for spawning and developing sturgeon. In this study, we aimed to identify upper thermal thresholds in white sturgeon embryos and larvae to investigate if exposure to current river temperatures are playing a role in recruitment failure. We incubated embryos and yolk-sac larvae in three environmentally relevant temperatures (14, 18 and 21°C) throughout development to identify thermal thresholds across different levels of biological organization. Our results demonstrate upper thermal thresholds at 21°C across physiological measurements in embryo and yolk-sac larvae white sturgeon. Before hatch, both embryo survival and metabolic rate were reduced at 21°C. After hatch, sublethal consequences continued at 21°C because larval sturgeon had decreased thermal plasticity and a dampened transcriptional response during development. In recent years, the Nechako river has reached 21°C by the end of June, and at this temperature, a decrease in sturgeon performance is evident in most of the traits measured. As such, the thermal thresholds identified here suggest current temperature regulations may not be suitable for developing white sturgeon and future recruitment.

Movement behaviour of endangered white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus responds to changing environmental conditions below a dam

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2023

Acoustic telemetry allows for fine-scale, or positional, tracking of fish in localised environments, and advancement in analytical techniques allows for quantifiable patterns in fish movement and behaviour. White sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus in the regulated Upper Columbia River are listed as endangered in Canada due to their considerable decline over the last century. An improved understanding of where, when, and why white sturgeon move in relation to river regulation is important for species recovery. A VEMCO Positioning System was used to collect the positions of white sturgeon in critical habitats immediately downstream of a dam on the Upper Columbia River over a 1 yr period. We applied hidden Markov models and generalised linear mixed models to (1) identify ecologically meaningful movement behaviours within the positions dataset; and (2) investigate the relationships between movement behaviour and biological (sex) and environmental (e.g. discharge, temperature, habitat) factors. Two behaviour states were identified: ‘residential’, characterised by short movements with less frequent turns, and ‘exploratory’, characterised by longer movements with more frequent turns. Water temperature largely influenced the mean weekly probability of a behaviour state, while discharge influenced the spatial distribution of movement behaviours. Changes in movement patterns were also apparent across seasons, with a higher occurrence of residential behaviour in the winter and spring and exploratory behaviour in the summer and fall. Results will help inform species recovery measures, such as overall flow management and optimization of operations to reduce impacts of river regulation.

Resetting thermal limits: 10-year-old white sturgeon display pronounced but reversible thermal plasticity

Article

Feb 2024
J THERM BIOL

Slow heating rates increase thermal tolerance and alter mRNA HSP expression in juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus)

Article

Jun 2023
J THERM BIOL

Freshwater fish such as white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) are particularly vulnerable to the effects of anthropogenically induced global warming. Critical thermal maximum tests (CTmax) are often conducted to provide insight into the impacts of changing temperatures; however, little is known about how the rate of temperature increase in these assays affects thermal tolerance. To assess the effect of heating rate (0.3 °C/min, 0.03 °C/min, 0.003 °C/min) we measured thermal tolerance, somatic indices, and gill Hsp mRNA expression. Contrary to what has been observed in most other fish species, white sturgeon thermal tolerance was highest at the slowest heating rate of 0.003 °C/min (34.2 °C, and CTmax of 31.3 and 29.2 °C, for rates 0.03 and 0.3 °C/min, respectively) suggesting an ability to rapidly acclimate to slowly increasing temperatures. Hepatosomatic index decreased in all heating rates relative to control fish, indicative of the metabolic costs of thermal stress. At the transcriptional level, slower heating rates resulted in higher gill mRNA expression of Hsp90a, Hsp90b, and Hsp70. Hsp70 mRNA expression was increased in all heating rates relative to controls, whereas expression of Hsp90a and Hsp90b mRNA only increased in the two slower trials. Together these data indicate that white sturgeon have a very plastic thermal response, which is likely energetically costly to induce. Acute temperature changes may be more detrimental to sturgeon as they struggle to acclimate to rapid changes in their environment, however under slower warming rates they demonstrate strong thermal plasticity to warming.

Elevated temperatures dampen the innate immune capacity of developing lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens)

Article

Apr 2023
J EXP BIOL

Chronic exposure to high temperatures may leave freshwater fishes vulnerable to opportunistic pathogens, particularly during early life stages. Lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, populations within the northern expanse of their range in Manitoba, Canada, may be susceptible to high temperature stress and pathogenic infection. We acclimated developing lake sturgeon for 21 days to two ecologically-relevant, summer temperatures (16 and 20°C). Individuals from both acclimation treatments were then exposed to 0, 30, and 60 µg.ml-1 bacterial lipopolysaccharides (endotoxins), as an immune stimulus, for 48 h and sampled 4 and 48 h during trial exposures and following a 7-day recovery period. We then measured whole body transcriptional (mRNA) responses involved in the innate immune, stress, and fatty acid responses following acute exposure to the bacterial endotoxins. Data revealed that overall levels of mRNA transcript abundance were higher in 20°C reared sturgeon under control conditions. However, following exposure to a bacterial stimulus, lake sturgeon acclimated to 16°C produced a more robust and persistent transcriptional response with higher mRNA transcript abundance across innate immune, stress, and fatty acid responses than their 20°C acclimated counterparts. Additional whole-animal performance metrics (critical thermal maximum, metabolic rate, cortisol concentration, and whole-body and mucosal lysozyme activity) demonstrated acclimation-specific responses, indicating compromised metabolic, stress, and enzymatic capacity following the initiation of immune related responses. Our study showed that acclimation to 20°C during early development impaired the immune capacity of developing lake sturgeon as well as the activation of molecular pathways involved in the immune, stress, and fatty acid responses. The present study highlights the effects of ecologically-relevant, chronic thermal stress on seasonal pathogen susceptibility in this endangered species.

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