Variation in the effects of larval history on juvenile performance of a temperate reef fish

For organisms with complex life cycles, the transition between life stages can act as a significant demographic and selective bottleneck. Variation in developmental and growth rates among individuals present in one stage (e.g. larvae), due to initial differences in parental input and/or environmental conditions experienced, can propagate to future stages (e.g. juveniles), and such ‘carry‐over effects’ can shape fitness and phenotypic distributions within a population. However, variation in the strength of carry‐over effects between life stages and the intensity of selective mortality acting on intrinsic variation, and how these might be mediated by environmental variability in natural systems, is poorly known. Here, we evaluate variation in the strength to which larval growth histories can mediate juvenile performance (growth and survival), for a reef fish (Forsterygion lapillum) common to rocky reefs of New Zealand. We used otoliths to reconstruct demographic histories of recently settled fish that were sampled across cohorts, sites and microhabitats. We quantified sources of variation in the strength of carry‐over effects and selective mortality that operate on larval growth histories. We found overall that individuals that grew fast as larvae tended to experience proportional growth advantages as juveniles. However, the strength of growth advantages being maintained into the juvenile period varied among cohorts, sites and microhabitats. Specifically, a stronger growth advantage was found on some microhabitats (e.g. mixed stands of macroalgae) relative to others (e.g. monocultures of Carpophyllum maschalocarpum) for some cohorts and sites only. For other cohorts and sites, the degree of coupling between larval and juvenile growth rates was either indistinguishable between microhabitats or else not evident. Similarly, the intensity of growth‐based selective mortality varied among cohorts, sites and microhabitats: for the cohort and site where carry‐over effects differed between microhabitats, we also observed difference in the intensity to which fish with rapid larval growth rates were favoured. Overall, our results highlight how this spatial and temporal patchiness in extrinsic factors can interact with intrinsic variation of recruiting individuals to have a major influence on the resulting distribution of juveniles and their phenotypic traits.