Endocrine disruption from plastic pollution and warming interact to increase the energetic cost of growth in a fish

Energetic cost of growth determines how much food-derived energy is needed to produce a given amount of new biomass, and thereby influences energy transduction between trophic levels. Growth and development are regulated by hormones and are therefore sensitive to changes in temperature and environmental endocrine disruption. Here we show that the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A at an environmentally relevant concentration (BPA; 10 µg l⁻¹) decreased fish (Danio rerio) size at 30 oC water temperature. Under the same conditions, it significantly increased metabolic rates and the energetic cost of growth across development. In contrast, BPA decreased cost of growth at cooler temperatures (24 °C). BPA-mediated changes in cost of growth were not associated with mitochondrial efficiency (P/O ratios [i.e., ADP used/oxygen consumed] and respiratory control ratios) although BPA did increase mitochondrial proton leak. In females, BPA decreased age at maturity at 24 oC but increased it at 30 oC, an...