Global macroecological patterns of larval size in decapods are governed by temperature and dissolved oxygen
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- 2Onagawa Research Field Center, Tohoku University
- 3State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- 4Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University
- 5Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Abstract
Macroecological patterns of life history traits, such as larval size, are fundamental to understanding the biogeography and diversity of marine invertebrates. The long-established Thorson’s Rule hypothesizes an increase in maternal energy allocation per offspring with increasing latitude, primarily as an adaptation to offset slower development in cold, food-limited waters. Here, we conduct the largest analysis to date on decapod crustaceans using the size of the first larval instar as a proxy for per offspring investment, to test whether reproductive and developmental patterns are governed by environmental factors on an evolutionary timescale. Our results confirm a strong phylogenetic signal in larval size and reveal that it systematically increases with latitude and greater water depth. This pattern aligns with ambient habitat conditions of lower temperature and higher dissolved oxygen. As expected, we found a strong inverse relationship between larval size and the number of larval stages, confirming that larger, provisioned offspring undergo abbreviated development. In addition, our findings support the hypothesis that increased per offspring investment and larval abbreviation represent a conservative, bet-hedging evolutionary strategy to minimize the vulnerable planktonic duration in cold, high-latitude and deep-sea environments. The deep-sea trend is, therefore, a conceptual extension of the latitudinal gradient into the vertical dimension. This study consolidates the notion that temperature, oxygen and developmental constraint, are the overriding global drivers of offspring investment strategies in decapod crustaceans, shaping their evolutionary pathways and global macroecological patterns.
Related
- Differences in larval survival and development among three Chilean decapods are consistent with their southern range limits
- Macroecological analysis of Coxiella burnetii occurrence in livestock in the Republic of Korea
- Temperature affects growth allometry and development patterns in brown trout ( Salmo trutta ) fry: a multitrait approach
- Developmental temperature induces consistent patterns of plasticity in lower, but not upper, critical thermal limits in threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)
- Thermal resilience at the sand-air interface: linking metabolism, habitat suitability, and activity patterns in Ocypode cursor under natural temperature fluctuations
BibTeX
@article{landeira2026global,
title = {{Global macroecological patterns of larval size in decapods are governed by temperature and dissolved oxygen}},
author = {José M. Landeira and Diego Deville and Effrosyni Fatira and Zhixin Zhang and Yuanning Li and Sven Thatje},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-56568-5},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-56568-5},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Global macroecological patterns of larval size in decapods are governed by temperature and dissolved oxygen
AU - José M. Landeira
AU - Diego Deville
AU - Effrosyni Fatira
AU - Zhixin Zhang
AU - Yuanning Li
AU - Sven Thatje
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-56568-5
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-56568-5
AB - Macroecological patterns of life history traits, such as larval size, are fundamental to understanding the biogeography and diversity of marine invertebrates. The long-established Thorson’s Rule hypothesizes an increase in maternal energy allocation per offspring with increasing latitude, primarily as an adaptation to offset slower development in cold, food-limited waters. Here, we conduct the largest analysis to date on decapod crustaceans using the size of the first larval instar as a proxy for per offspring investment, to test whether reproductive and developmental patterns are governed by environmental factors on an evolutionary timescale. Our results confirm a strong phylogenetic signal in larval size and reveal that it systematically increases with latitude and greater water depth. This pattern aligns with ambient habitat conditions of lower temperature and higher dissolved oxygen. As expected, we found a strong inverse relationship between larval size and the number of larval stages, confirming that larger, provisioned offspring undergo abbreviated development. In addition, our findings support the hypothesis that increased per offspring investment and larval abbreviation represent a conservative, bet-hedging evolutionary strategy to minimize the vulnerable planktonic duration in cold, high-latitude and deep-sea environments. The deep-sea trend is, therefore, a conceptual extension of the latitudinal gradient into the vertical dimension. This study consolidates the notion that temperature, oxygen and developmental constraint, are the overriding global drivers of offspring investment strategies in decapod crustaceans, shaping their evolutionary pathways and global macroecological patterns.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -