Impacts of ocean warming on the settlement success and post-settlement survival of Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris)

In this study we aimed to (1) establish the effect of warming on settlement success and metamorphosis in crown-of-thorns starfish (2) establish how prior thermal exposure of the settlement substrate (CCA) affects settlement success (3) determine how warming influences post-settlement survival of early juveniles. The data for (1) and (2) consists of a single line for each well at both 24 and 48 hrs, containing the counts of the number of settled and non-settled larvae, the number of completely metamorphosed settlers and partially metamorphosed settlers and the number of settlers on CCA and not on CCA. The CCA pre-treatment and surface area of the CCA for each well is also included. The survival data consists of a single line for each individual within every well, indicating the time of death, or the final timepoint, if the individual survived, and the status i.e. whether the individual died or survived. The surface area of the CCA in each well is also provided. The effect of temperature on settlement success, metamorphosis and CCA treatment was tested using various binomial generalised linear models, and cox regression was used to analyse post-settlement survival.
Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data: R v.4.1.2 for Mac (R Core Team, 2021)

本研究旨在达成三项研究目标：(1) 明确升温对长棘海星（crown-of-thorns starfish）附着成功率与变态过程的影响；(2) 阐明附着基质钙化藻（CCA）的前期热暴露对附着成功率的调控作用；(3) 解析升温对早期幼体附着后存活率的影响。针对目标(1)与(2)的数据集，每块培养孔在24小时与48小时观测时点各对应一行数据，内容涵盖已附着幼虫与未附着幼虫的数量、完全变态附着个体与不完全变态附着个体的数量，以及附着于CCA与未附着于CCA的个体数量。此外，每份数据还包含对应培养孔的CCA预处理信息及CCA表面积。生存数据集则为每块培养孔内每个个体对应一行数据，记录其死亡时间；若个体存活，则记录最终观测时点，同时标注个体状态（死亡或存活）。此外，每份数据亦提供对应培养孔内的CCA表面积。本研究采用多种二项式广义线性模型，检验温度对附着成功率、变态过程及CCA处理的影响，并通过Cox回归（Cox regression）分析附着后存活率。用于数据处理与分析的软件/设备：适用于Mac系统的R v.4.1.2（R核心团队，2021）