Daytime heat exposure increases nighttime predation risk in a mangrove gastropod

The frequency and intensity of heat events is increasing across marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Within the same ecological community, the relative exposure and sensitivity to heat stress may vary considerably among interacting species, like predators and prey. This can be especially true for species that interact at the aquatic-terrestrial interface, as well as for interactions between primarily nocturnal and diurnal species, making it difficult to predict how such communities will respond to habitat warming.

Thermal limit metrics such as CT _max are often assumed to equate with ‘ecological death’ because such temperatures impair behavioral activity and/or physiological functioning. Prey that are diurnally active can be more frequently exposed to temperatures that approach CT _max compared to their nocturnal predators, which may use thermal refuges during the day. Yet the impacts of daytime heat exposure on nighttime predation risk remain unknown.

Here, we compared the thermal environment, performance, and heat tolerance between the predatory blue crab, Callinectus sapidus and one of its prey species, the mangrove periwinkle Littoraria anguilifera in a tropical mangrove ecosystem. We examined how exposing prey to heat stress at and below their CT _max affected their capacity to avoid predation in the field at night when predation risk is highest.

We found that acute exposure to temperatures near CT _max during the day increased the prey species’ susceptibility to predation during recovery at night. Although both interacting predator and prey have high thermal tolerance, prey are exposed to conditions that already reach CT _max , suggesting that current extremes in temperatures may already be influencing vulnerability to predation in this ecosystem.

Our results suggest that differential exposure to sublethal heat stress in diurnal prey relative to their predator, along with the subsequent impact of these exposures on predation risk, will play a role in shaping these interacting as climate warms.