DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f1c11
title: Data from: Temperature-related variation in growth rate, size, maturation, and lifespan in a marine herbivorous fish over a latitudinal gradient

description: 1. In ectotherms, growth rate, body size, and maturation rate co-vary with
 temperature, with the direction and magnitude of variation predicted by
 the Temperature-Size Rule (TSR). Nutritional quality or availability of
 food, however, may vary over latitudinal gradients, resulting in ambiguous
 effects on body size and maturation rate. The Temperature-Constraint
 Hypothesis (TCH) predicts that marine herbivorous ectotherms are
 nutritionally compromised at latitudes exceeding 30o. This provides an
 opportunity to resolve the contrasting demographic responses of ectotherms
 to variation in temperature and nutritional status over latitudinal
 gradients. 2. This study uses analysis of demographic rates to evaluate
 the predictions of the TSR in a marine herbivorous ectotherm sampled over
 a significant latitudinal gradient. 3. The direction and magnitude of
 demographic variation was established in the marine herbivorous fish, Odax
 pullus (the butterfish), and compared with that of a phylogenetically
 related but trophically distinct species, the carnivorous Notolabrus
 fucicola (the banded wrasse). Both species were sampled at three locations
 across the length of New Zealand covering latitudes between 35oS and 49oS.
 Growth rate, mean size-at-age, age- and size-at-maturity, lifespan, and
 abundance were estimated for each species at each location. 4. Demographic
 traits of both taxa varied with latitude. Both species showed slower
 initial growth rates, and matured later at a larger body size at higher
 latitudes than populations sampled at lower latitudes. In addition,
 abundances increased significantly at higher latitudes in both species. 5.
 These results were consistent with the TSR but not the TCH, confirming
 that nutritional ecology (herbivore vs. carnivory) did not determine
 demographic patterns over a biologically significant latitudinal gradient.
 Results from this study suggest that the absence of herbivorous reef
 fishes from the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere may not
 reflect a general physiological mechanism as suggested by the TCH, and
 highlights the need to clarify the evolutionary histories of the marine
 biotas of each hemisphere.
description: Abundance
 dataCount data of Odax
 pullus and Notolabrus fucicola at three locations across New Zealand: the
 Hauraki Gulf, D'Urville Island and Stewart Island. Count data was
 obtained from 30x10m belt transects.Ovary weight vs body
 sizeOvary weight data of
 Odax pullus in the Hauraki Gulf and at Stewart Island (New Zealand). Ovary
 weight is wet weight of whole gonads.Sea surface temperature
 dataSatellite-derived sea
 surface temperature data retrieved for the Hauraki Gulf, D'Urville
 Island, and Stewart Island (New Zealand). Temperature data presented is
 mean monthly sea surface temperature from January 1985 to December 2007,
 and was retrieved from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
 Administration (NOAA) CoastWatch Program.Size and age
 dataSize and age data of
 Odax pullus and Notolabrus fucicola individuals sampled in the Hauraki
 Gulf, D'Urville Island, and Stewart Island (New Zealand). Age was
 estimated from sectioned sagittal otoliths, and size was measured as Fork
 Length.Size
 and age.xlsxSize- and
 age-at-maturity dataSize, age, and sexual
 maturity (immature / mature) of females Odax pullus and Notolabrus
 fucicola in the Hauraki Gulf and at Stewart Island. Size was measured as
 Fork Length, age was estimated from sectioned sagittal otoliths, and
 sexual maturity was established from gonad histology.