Ectothermic animals are strongly influenced by temperature. It is speculated that species face a trade-off between increased performance at a specific temperature versus being able to function over a broader range of temperatures but at a lower peak level. The balance of this trade-off – if it exists – may influence the environments that fish and other ectotherms inhabit and how they respond to climate change. A new paper by Julie Nati, Jan Lindstrom, Lewis Halsey and Shaun Killen shows that, across fish species, peak performance for aerobic scope is not linked to performance across a range of temperatures, suggesting that links between peak and thermal breadth for the capacity for aerobic metabolism may not affect responses to climate warming. Read more in on access paper here!:
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/12/9/20160191
Nati, JH, Lindstrom, J, Halsey, LG, & Killen, SS. 2016. Is there a trade-off between peak performance and performance breadth across temperatures for aerobic scope in teleost fishes? Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0191