New project launched: climate change and fish performance

In the last decade, predictions of impacts of climate change on biodiversity, and how to model changes in species distributions have gained relatively more attention than the importance of understanding physiological principles of an organism in predicting its response to climate change. Therefore, we recently launched a PhD research project into the combined effects of climate change factors (thermal stress, hypoxia, acidification) on (skeletal) development in early fish developmental stages. The investigation will increase our insights in the effects and interactions of climate change-induced environmental changes on fish development and vulnerability.

Image shows the developing skeleton in a zebrafish larva. Mineralized (bone) tissue in red, cartilage in blue. Image taken by Juriaan Metz.