Oxygen supersaturation has negligible effects on warming tolerance in aquatic ectotherms

Under the midday sun when photosynthesizers are producing oxygen, shallow aquatic ecosystems can become supersaturated with oxygen (>100% air saturation) while they simultaneously peak in water temperature. It has been suggested that oxygen supersaturation could protect water-breathing animals from mortality during heatwaves because of the potential role of oxygen in governing thermal tolerance. Here, we conducted a circumglobal assessment of the effects of ecologically relevant oxygen supersaturation (150%, hyperoxia) on warming tolerance (CTmax) in 14 aquatic ectotherms from diverse marine and freshwater environments (ten fishes, four decapod crustaceans), in a series of 24 experiments that included 147 CTmax trials and 1451 animals using two different warming rates (0.3°C min-1 and 1°C h-1). In 10 of 14 species, there was no effect of oxygen supersaturation relative to normoxic controls. In four species (two tropical reef fishes and two marine decapod crustaceans) we found mixed evidence for effects of oxygen saturation, with most of the effects being small (ca. 0.2–0.3°C). Thus, contrary to predictions, we conclude that oxygen supersaturation is unlikely to protect most water breathers from heatwaves and therefore few species distribution models or thermal risk assessments will benefit from incorporating oxygen supersaturation.