Interactive effects of temperature and habitat complexity on freshwater communities

Experimental evidence for adaptive divergence in response to a warmed habitat reveals roles for morphology, allometry and parasite resistance

Ectotherms are expected to be particularly vulnerable to climate change-driven increases in temperature. Understanding how populations adapt to novel thermal environments will be key for informing mitigation plans. We took advantage of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations inhabiting adjacent geothermal (warm) and ambient (cold) habitats to test for adaptive evolutionary divergence using a field reciprocal transplant experiment. We found evidence for adaptive morphological divergence, as growth (length change) in non-native habitats related to head, posterior and total body shape. Higher growth in fish transplanted to a non-native habitat was associated with morphological shape closer to native fish. The consequences of transplantation were asymmetric with cold sourced fish transplanted to the warm habitat suffering from lower survival rates and greater parasite prevalence than warm sourced fish transplanted to the cold habitat. We also found divergent shape allometries that related to growth. Our findings suggest that wild populations can adapt quickly to thermal conditions, but immediate transitions to warmer conditions may be particularly difficult.

Review of the Effects of Enclosure Complexity and Design on the Behaviour and Physiology of Zoo Animals

The complexity of the habitat refers to its physical geometry, which includes abiotic and biotic elements. Habitat complexity is important because it allows more species to coexist and, consequently, more interactions to be established among them. The complexity of the habitat links the physical structure of the enclosure to the biological interactions, which occur within its limits. Enclosure complexity should vary temporally, to be able to influence the animals in different ways, depending on the period of the day and season and throughout the year. In the present paper, we discuss how habitat complexity is important, and how it can positively influence the physical and mental states of zoo animals. We show how habitat complexity can ultimately affect educational projects. Finally, we discuss how we can add complexity to enclosures and, thus, make the lives of animals more interesting and functional.

Interactive effects of temperature and habitat complexity on freshwater communities

Warming can lead to increased growth of plants or algae at the base of the food web, which may increase the overall complexity of habitat available for other organisms. Temperature and habitat complexity have both been shown to alter the structure and functioning of communities, but they may also have interactive effects, for example, if the shade provided by additional habitat negates the positive effect of temperature on understory plant or algal growth. This study explored the interactive effects of these two major environmental factors in a manipulative field experiment, by assessing changes in ecosystem functioning (primary production and decomposition) and community structure in the presence and absence of artificial plants along a natural stream temperature gradient of 5-18°C. There was no effect of temperature or habitat complexity on benthic primary production, but epiphytic production increased with temperature in the more complex habitat. Cellulose decomposition rate increased with temperature, but was unaffected by habitat complexity. Macroinvertebrate communities were less similar to each other as temperature increased, while habitat complexity only altered community composition in the coldest streams. There was also an overall increase in macroinvertebrate abundance, body mass, and biomass in the warmest streams, driven by increasing dominance of snails and blackfly larvae. Presence of habitat complexity, however, dampened the strength of this temperature effect on the abundance of macroinvertebrates in the benthos. The interactive effects that were observed suggest that habitat complexity can modify the effects of temperature on important ecosystem functions and community structure, which may alter energy flow through the food web. Given that warming is likely to increase habitat complexity, particularly at higher latitudes, more studies should investigate these two major environmental factors in combination to improve our ability to predict the impacts of future global change.