For ectothermic marine invertebrates living in temperate regions, impacts of ocean warming will vary considerably by season. In many species, reproductive and metabolic processes are tightly linked to the seasonal change from winter to spring, yet we know little about how these processes will shift as winters become milder. This study examined latent effects of winter warming on spring reproduction in the Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida. Adults were collected in autumn from central Puget Sound, WA, USA, and exposed to two winter temperatures (7 °C, 10 °C) in the presence of food limited (5 k algal cells/mL) and food abundant (50 k algal cells/mL) environments. Following treatments, adults exposed to elevated winter temperature contained larger oocytes regardless of feeding regime, and those also fed abundant food contained more developed sperm. Adults then spawned in common conditions, and larvae were reared through settlement to assess carryover effects of winter treatments on larval viability. Adults previously exposed to elevated winter temperature (10 °C) produced larger larvae, particularly if they were also fed high food levels. More developed gametes and larger larvae suggest that gametogenesis occurred at low levels throughout the winter, possibly resulting in increased maternal provisioning to influence larval size. Interestingly, winter temperature did not impact larval survival, or the timing or magnitude of larval production. In the wild, more developed gametes and larger larvae following milder winters could greatly impact recruitment patterns, possibly benefitting O. lurida populations. In the hatchery setting, larval production and survival is not contingent upon winter conditions, and larval survival does not correlate with oocyte and larval size. Our results suggest that O. lurida reproduction is resilient to winter warming. Furthermore, as global temperature continues to rise, winter conditions should not be overlooked when examining reproduction in O. lurida and other temperate marine invertebrates with similar reproductive cycles.

对于生活在温带地区的变温海洋无脊椎动物，海洋变暖的影响因季节而异。在许多物种中，生殖和代谢过程与从冬季到春季的季节性变化密切相关，但我们对随着冬季变得更温和这些过程将如何变化知之甚少。本研究调查了冬季变暖对 Olympia 牡蛎、Ostrea lurida春季繁殖的潜在影响. 秋季从美国华盛顿州普吉特海湾中部收集成虫，并在食物有限（5 k 藻细胞/mL）和食物丰富（50 k 藻类细胞）存在的情况下暴露于两个冬季温度（7 °C、10 °C）。细胞/毫升）环境。治疗后，无论喂食方式如何，暴露在冬季高温下的成虫都含有较大的卵母细胞，而那些喂食丰富食物的成虫含有更发达的精子。然后成虫在普通条件下产卵，幼虫通过定居饲养，以评估冬季处理对幼虫生存力的结转影响。先前暴露于升高的冬季温度 (10 °C) 的成虫会产生较大的幼虫，特别是如果它们也被喂食高水平的食物。更发达的配子和较大的幼虫表明配子发生在整个冬季都处于低水平，可能导致母体供应增加以影响幼虫大小。有趣的是，冬季温度并没有影响幼虫的存活，也不会影响幼虫生产的时间或数量。在野外，更发达的配子和更大的幼虫在温暖的冬天之后会极大地影响招募模式，可能使O. lurida种群受益。在孵化场环境中，幼体的产量和存活率并不取决于冬季条件，而且幼体的存活率与卵母细胞和幼体大小无关。我们的结果表明O. lurida繁殖能够抵御冬季变暖。此外，随着全球气温持续上升，在检查O. lurida和其他具有相似生殖周期的温带海洋无脊椎动物的繁殖时，不应忽视冬季条件。