Anthropogenic temperature fluctuations and their effect on aquaculture: A comprehensive review

Abstract

The reliance of aquaculture production on the ambient environment suggests its vulnerability to climate change. Global warming has led to the increase in water temperatures hence exerting a direct and indirect effect on several aquaculture species. Temperature is one of the major abiotic driving factors of the growth and survival of aquatic organisms. Extreme temperatures above their thermal threshold tend to lower their performance, health, and productivity. This paper, therefore, aims to give a detailed and comprehensive review on the influence of anthropogenic temperature increase on the general animal physiology, growth performance, survival, reproduction, digestive enzyme activity, immunity, differential expression of microRNAs and apoptosis-associated genes as well as gut and skin microbiome of aquaculture species. Likewise, the impacts of increasing water temperature on aquatic ecosystems with regards to pathogen-associated disease outbreaks, aquatic parasites, vaccine efficacy as well as toxicity, and uptake of heavy metals and pesticides are presented. To provide examples of how increasing water temperatures will impact the global trends of aquaculture production, a couple of freshwater, euryhaline, and marine species, as well as cold-water and warm water species, have been chosen to give a broader perspective on how different aquaculture species respond to temperature fluctuations above their thermal threshold. In the same regard, mitigation strategies for climate change adaptation in the context of global warming such as nutrition, genetics, selective breeding, aquaculture biotechnology, aquaculture nanotechnology, and bacteriophage therapy as well as management and husbandry practices are discussed to ensure a sustainable and continued aquaculture productivity.

Keywords

• Global warming
• Aquaculture development
• Sustainability
• Production
• Food safety
• Environmental stress