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David GM, Pimentel IM, Rehsen PM, Vermiert AM, Leese F, Gessner MO. Multiple stressors affecting microbial decomposer and litter decomposition in restored urban streams: Assessing effects of salinization, increased temperature, and reduced flow velocity in a field mesocosm experiment. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 943:173669. [PMID: 38839005 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 05/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
A multitude of anthropogenic stressors impact biological communities and ecosystem processes in urban streams. Prominent among them are salinization, increased temperature, and altered flow regimes, all of which can affect microbial decomposer communities and litter decomposition, a fundamental ecosystem process in streams. Impairments caused by these stressors individually or in combination and recovery of communities and ecosystem processes after release from these stressors are not well understood. To improve our understanding of multiple stressors impacts we performed an outdoor stream mesocosm experiment with 64 experimental units to assess the response of microbial litter decomposers and decomposition. The three stressors we applied in a full-factorial design were increased salinity (NaCl addition, 0.53 mS cm-1 above ambient), elevated temperature (3.5 °C above ambient), and reduced flow velocity (3.5 vs 14.2 cm s-1). After two weeks of stressor exposure (first sampling) and two subsequent weeks of recovery (second sampling), we determined leaf-associated microbial respiration, fungal biomass, and the sporulation activity and community composition of aquatic hyphomycetes in addition to decomposition rates of black alder (Alnus glutinosa) leaves confined in fine-mesh litter bags. Microbial colonization of the litter was accompanied by significant mass loss in all mesocosms. However, there was little indication that mass loss, microbial respiration, fungal biomass, sporulation rate or community composition of aquatic hyphomycetes was strongly affected by either single stressors or their interactions. Two exceptions were temperature effects on sporulation and decomposition rate. Similarly, no notable differences among mesocosms were observed after the recovery phase. These results suggest that microbial decomposers and leaf litter decomposition are either barely impaired by exposure to the tested stressors at the levels applied in our experiment, or that communities in restored urban streams are well adapted to cope with these stressor levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gwendoline M David
- Department of Plankton and Microbial Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin, Germany.
| | - Iris Madge Pimentel
- Aquatic Ecosystem Research, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Philipp M Rehsen
- Aquatic Ecosystem Research, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Anna-Maria Vermiert
- Department of Animal Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Florian Leese
- Aquatic Ecosystem Research, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Mark O Gessner
- Department of Plankton and Microbial Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin, Germany; Department of Ecology, Berlin Institute of Technology (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany
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2
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García-Astillero A, Polazzo F, Rico A. Combined effects of heat waves and pesticide pollution on zooplankton communities: Does the timing of stressor matter? ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 2024; 282:116751. [PMID: 39024950 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2024] [Accepted: 07/15/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Most studies assessing the combined effects of chemical and non-chemical stressors on aquatic ecosystems have been based on synchronous stressor applications. However, asynchronous exposure scenarios may be more common in nature, particularly for pulsed stressors such as heatwaves and pesticide concentration peaks. In this study, we investigated the single and combined effects of the insecticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) and a heatwave (HW) on a zooplankton community representative of a Mediterranean coastal wetland using synchronous (CPF+HW) and asynchronous (HW→CPF and CPF→HW) exposure scenarios. CPF was applied at a concentration of 0.8 µg/L (single pulse), and the HW was simulated by a temperature increase of 8°C above the control temperature (20°C) for 7 days in freshwater microcosms. The interaction between stressors in synchrony resulted in synergistic effects at the population level (Daphnia magna) and additive at the community level. The partial reduction of sensitive species resulted in an abundance increase of competing species that were more tolerant to the evaluated stressors (e.g. Moina sp.). The asynchronous exposure scenarios resulted in a similar abundance decline of sensitive populations as compared to the synchronous one; however, the timing of stressor resulted in different responses in the long term. In the HW→CPF treatment, the D. magna population recovered at least one month faster than in the CPF+HW treatment, probably due to survival selection and cross-tolerance mechanisms. In the CPF→HW treatment, the effects lasted longer than in the CPF+HW, and the population did not recover within the experimental period, most likely due to the energetic costs of detoxification and effects on internal damage recovery. The different timing and magnitude of indirect effects among the tested asynchronous scenarios resulted in more severe effects on the structure of the zooplankton community in the CPF→HW treatment. Our study highlights the relevance of considering the order of stressors to predict the long-term effects of chemicals and heatwaves both at the population and community levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariadna García-Astillero
- IMDEA Water Institute, Science and Technology Campus of the University of Alcalá, Punto Com 2, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid 28805, Spain; Biodiversity and Conservation Area, Department of Biology and Geology, Fisics and Inorganic Chemistry, University Rey Juan Carlos, Av. del Alcalde de Móstoles, Móstoles 28933, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Francesco Polazzo
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich 8057, Switzerland.
| | - Andreu Rico
- IMDEA Water Institute, Science and Technology Campus of the University of Alcalá, Punto Com 2, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid 28805, Spain; Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, c/ Catedrático José Beltrán 2, Paterna, Valencia 46980, Spain.
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3
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Hird C, Lundsgaard NU, Downie AT, Cramp RL, Franklin CE. Considering ultraviolet radiation in experimental biology: a neglected pervasive stressor. J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb247231. [PMID: 39140251 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.247231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/15/2024]
Abstract
Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a pervasive factor that has shaped the evolution of life on Earth. Ambient levels of UVR mediate key biological functions but can also cause severe lethal and sublethal effects in a wide range of organisms. Furthermore, UVR is a powerful modulator of the effects of other environmental factors on organismal physiology, such as temperature, disease, toxicology and pH, among others. This is critically important in the context of global change, where understanding the effects of multiple stressors is a key challenge for experimental biologists. Ecological physiologists rarely afford UVR discussion or include UVR in experimental design, even when it is directly relevant to their study system. In this Commentary, we provide a guide for experimental biologists to better understand if, when, and how UVR can be integrated into experimental designs to improve the ecological realism of their experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Coen Hird
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Magandjin (Brisbane) 4072, Queensland, Australia
| | - Niclas U Lundsgaard
- Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Dutton Park, Magandjin (Brisbane) 4102, Queensland, Australia
| | - Adam T Downie
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Magandjin (Brisbane) 4072, Queensland, Australia
| | - Rebecca L Cramp
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Magandjin (Brisbane) 4072, Queensland, Australia
| | - Craig E Franklin
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Magandjin (Brisbane) 4072, Queensland, Australia
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Starko S, van der Mheen M, Pessarrodona A, Wood GV, Filbee-Dexter K, Neufeld CJ, Montie S, Coleman MA, Wernberg T. Impacts of marine heatwaves in coastal ecosystems depend on local environmental conditions. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17469. [PMID: 39155748 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2024] [Revised: 07/29/2024] [Accepted: 07/30/2024] [Indexed: 08/20/2024]
Abstract
Marine heatwaves (MHWs), increasing in duration and intensity because of climate change, are now a major threat to marine life and can have lasting effects on the structure and function of ecosystems. However, the responses of marine taxa and ecosystems to MHWs can be highly variable, making predicting and interpreting biological outcomes a challenge. Here, we review how biological responses to MHWs, from individuals to ecosystems, are mediated by fine-scale spatial variability in the coastal marine environment (hereafter, local gradients). Viewing observed responses through a lens of ecological theory, we present a simple framework of three 'resilience processes' (RPs) by which local gradients can influence the responses of marine taxa to MHWs. Local gradients (1) influence the amount of stress directly experienced by individuals, (2) facilitate local adaptation and acclimatization of individuals and populations, and (3) shape community composition which then influences responses to MHWs. We then synthesize known examples of fine-scale gradients that have affected responses of benthic foundation species to MHWs, including kelp forests, coral reefs, and seagrass meadows and link these varying responses to the RPs. We present a series of case studies from various marine ecosystems to illustrate the differential impacts of MHWs mediated by gradients in both temperature and other co-occurring drivers. In many cases, these gradients had large effect sizes with several examples of local gradients causing a 10-fold difference in impacts or more (e.g., survival, coverage). This review highlights the need for high-resolution environmental data to accurately predict and manage the consequences of MHWs in the context of ongoing climate change. While current tools may capture some of these gradients already, we advocate for enhanced monitoring and finer scale integration of local environmental heterogeneity into climate models. This will be essential for developing effective conservation strategies and mitigating future marine biodiversity loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Starko
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Mirjam van der Mheen
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Albert Pessarrodona
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Georgina V Wood
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Karen Filbee-Dexter
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
- Institute of Marine Research, Flødevigen Research Station, His, Norway
| | | | - Shinae Montie
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Melinda A Coleman
- Department of Primary Industries New South Wales, National Marine Sciences Centre, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Thomas Wernberg
- UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
- Institute of Marine Research, Flødevigen Research Station, His, Norway
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5
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Ortiz-Ross X, Blumstein DT. Cumulative adversity and survival in the wild. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14485. [PMID: 39140409 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Revised: 07/11/2024] [Accepted: 07/12/2024] [Indexed: 08/15/2024]
Abstract
Protecting populations contending with co-occurring stressors requires a better understanding of how multiple early-life stressors affect the fitness of natural systems. However, the complexity of such research has limited its advancement and prevented us from answering new questions. In human studies, cumulative risk models predict adult health risk based on early adversity exposure. We apply a similar framework in wild yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer). We tested cumulative adversity indices (CAIs) across different adversity types and time windows. All CAIs were associated with decreased pup survival and were well supported. Moderate and acute, but not standardized CAIs were associated with decreased lifespan, supporting the cumulative stress hypothesis and the endurance of early adversity. Multivariate models showed that differences in lifespan were driven by weaning date, precipitation, and maternal loss, but they performed poorly compared with CAI models. We highlight the development, utility, and insights of CAI approaches for ecology and conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xochitl Ortiz-Ross
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, Colorado, USA
| | - Daniel T Blumstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, Colorado, USA
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6
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Reemeyer JE, Chapman LJ. Effects of acute hypoxia exposure and acclimation on the thermal tolerance of an imperiled Canadian minnow. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART A, ECOLOGICAL AND INTEGRATIVE PHYSIOLOGY 2024. [PMID: 38966932 DOI: 10.1002/jez.2847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 07/06/2024]
Abstract
Elevated water temperatures and low dissolved oxygen (hypoxia) are pervasive stressors in aquatic systems that can be exacerbated by climate change and anthropogenic activities, and there is growing interest in their interactive effects. To explore this interaction, we quantified the effects of acute and long-term hypoxia exposure on the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) of Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongatus), a small-bodied freshwater minnow with sparse populations in the Great Lakes Basin of Canada and designated as Endangered under Canada's Species at Risk Act. Fish were held at 18°C and acclimated to four levels of dissolved oxygen (>90%, 60%, 40%, and 20% air saturation). CTmax was measured after 2 and 10 weeks of acclimation and after 3.5 weeks of reoxygenation, and agitation behavior was quantified during CTmax trials. Aquatic surface respiration behavior was also quantified at 14 weeks of acclimation to oxygen treatments. Acute hypoxia exposure decreased CTmax in fish acclimated to normoxia (>90% air saturation), but acclimation to hypoxia reduced this effect. There was no effect of acclimation oxygen level on CTmax when measured in normoxia, and there was no effect of exposure time to hypoxia on CTmax. Residual effects of hypoxia acclimation on CTmax were not seen after reoxygenation. Agitation behavior varied greatly among individuals and was not affected by oxygen conditions. Fish performed aquatic surface respiration with low frequency, but performed it earlier when acclimated to higher levels of oxygen. Overall, this work sheds light on the vulnerability of fish experiencing acute hypoxia and heat waves concurrently.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lauren J Chapman
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Quebec, Montreal, Canada
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7
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Dearlove EL, Chandler D, Edgington S, Berry SD, Martin G, Svendsen C, Hesketh H. Improved control of Trialeurodes vaporariorum using mixture combinations of entomopathogenic fungi and the chemical insecticide spiromesifen. Sci Rep 2024; 14:15259. [PMID: 38956259 PMCID: PMC11219850 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66051-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) is a major global pest, causing direct damage to plants and transmitting viral plant diseases. Management of T. vaporariorum is problematic because of widespread pesticide resistance, and many greenhouse growers rely on biological control agents to regulate T. vaporariorum populations. However, these are often slow and vary in efficacy, leading to subsequent application of chemical insecticides when pest populations exceed threshold levels. Combining chemical and biological pesticides has great potential but can result in different outcomes, from positive to negative interactions. In this study, we evaluated co-applications of the entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) Beauveria bassiana and Cordyceps farinosa and the chemical insecticide spiromesifen in laboratory bioassays. Complex interactions between the EPFs and insecticide were described using an ecotoxicological mixtures model, the MixTox analysis. Depending on the EPF and chemical concentrations applied, mixtures resulted in additivity, synergism, or antagonism in terms of total whitefly mortality. Combinations of B. bassiana and spiromesifen, compared to single treatments, increased the rate of kill by 5 days. Results indicate the potential for combined applications of EPF and spiromesifen as an effective integrated pest management strategy and demonstrate the applicability of the MixTox model to describe complex mixture interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor L Dearlove
- UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK.
- RSK ADAS Ltd. ADAS Gleadthorpe, Meden Vale, Mansfield, NG20 9PD, UK.
| | - David Chandler
- Warwick Crop Centre, School of Life Sciences, Wellesbourne Campus, The University of Warwick, Warwick, UK
| | | | | | | | - Claus Svendsen
- UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK
| | - Helen Hesketh
- UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK.
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8
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Montory JA, Cubillos VM, Chaparro OR, Gebauer P, Lee MR, Ramírez-Kuschel E, Paredes-Molina F, Lara-Sandoval V, Cumillaf JP, Salas-Yanquin LP, Büchner-Miranda JA. The Interactive Effects of the Anti-Sea Lice Pesticide Azamethiphos and Temperature on Oxidative Damage and Antioxidant Responses in the Oyster Ostrea chilensis. Antioxidants (Basel) 2024; 13:737. [PMID: 38929176 PMCID: PMC11200689 DOI: 10.3390/antiox13060737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/31/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Azamethiphos is used in the salmon industry to treat sea lice and is subsequently discharged into the sea, which may affect non-target species (NTS). A rise in seawater temperature could enhance the sensitivity of NTS. Thus, in the present investigation, the combined effects of azamethiphos (0 µg L-1, 15 µg L-1 and 100 µg L-1) and temperature (12 °C and 15 °C) was assessed over time (7 days) in the gonads and gills of the oyster Ostrea chilensis, assessing its oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation and protein carbonyls) and total antioxidant capacity. Our results indicated that in gonads and gills, lipid peroxidation levels increased over time during exposure to both pesticide concentrations. Protein carbonyl levels in gills increased significantly in all experimental treatments; however, in gonads, only pesticide concentration and exposure time effected a significant increase in protein damage. In both, gill and gonad temperature did not influence oxidative damage levels. Total antioxidant capacity in gonads was influenced only by temperature treatment, whereas in the gills, neither temperature nor azamethiphos concentration influenced defensive responses. In conclusion, our results indicated the time of pesticide exposure (both concentrations) had a greater influence than temperature on the cellular damage in this oyster.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaime A. Montory
- Centro i~mar, Universidad de los Lagos, Casilla 557, Puerto Montt 5480000, Chile; (P.G.); (M.R.L.); (V.L.-S.)
| | - Victor M. Cubillos
- Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5090000, Chile; (V.M.C.); (O.R.C.); (E.R.-K.); (F.P.-M.); (J.A.B.-M.)
| | - Oscar R. Chaparro
- Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5090000, Chile; (V.M.C.); (O.R.C.); (E.R.-K.); (F.P.-M.); (J.A.B.-M.)
| | - Paulina Gebauer
- Centro i~mar, Universidad de los Lagos, Casilla 557, Puerto Montt 5480000, Chile; (P.G.); (M.R.L.); (V.L.-S.)
| | - Matthew R. Lee
- Centro i~mar, Universidad de los Lagos, Casilla 557, Puerto Montt 5480000, Chile; (P.G.); (M.R.L.); (V.L.-S.)
| | - Eduardo Ramírez-Kuschel
- Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5090000, Chile; (V.M.C.); (O.R.C.); (E.R.-K.); (F.P.-M.); (J.A.B.-M.)
| | - Francisco Paredes-Molina
- Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5090000, Chile; (V.M.C.); (O.R.C.); (E.R.-K.); (F.P.-M.); (J.A.B.-M.)
| | - Valentina Lara-Sandoval
- Centro i~mar, Universidad de los Lagos, Casilla 557, Puerto Montt 5480000, Chile; (P.G.); (M.R.L.); (V.L.-S.)
| | - Juan P. Cumillaf
- Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias de la Acuicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, Los Pinos s/n, Balneario Pelluco, Puerto Montt 5480000, Chile;
| | - Luis P. Salas-Yanquin
- Facultad de Ciencias, Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigación, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto de Abrigo s/n, Sisal 97356, Mexico;
| | - Joseline A. Büchner-Miranda
- Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5090000, Chile; (V.M.C.); (O.R.C.); (E.R.-K.); (F.P.-M.); (J.A.B.-M.)
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9
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Orr JA, Macaulay SJ, Mordente A, Burgess B, Albini D, Hunn JG, Restrepo-Sulez K, Wilson R, Schechner A, Robertson AM, Lee B, Stuparyk BR, Singh D, O'Loughlin I, Piggott JJ, Zhu J, Dinh KV, Archer LC, Penk M, Vu MTT, Juvigny-Khenafou NPD, Zhang P, Sanders P, Schäfer RB, Vinebrooke RD, Hilt S, Reed T, Jackson MC. Studying interactions among anthropogenic stressors in freshwater ecosystems: A systematic review of 2396 multiple-stressor experiments. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14463. [PMID: 38924275 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2024] [Revised: 05/26/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Understanding the interactions among anthropogenic stressors is critical for effective conservation and management of ecosystems. Freshwater scientists have invested considerable resources in conducting factorial experiments to disentangle stressor interactions by testing their individual and combined effects. However, the diversity of stressors and systems studied has hindered previous syntheses of this body of research. To overcome this challenge, we used a novel machine learning framework to identify relevant studies from over 235,000 publications. Our synthesis resulted in a new dataset of 2396 multiple-stressor experiments in freshwater systems. By summarizing the methods used in these studies, quantifying trends in the popularity of the investigated stressors, and performing co-occurrence analysis, we produce the most comprehensive overview of this diverse field of research to date. We provide both a taxonomy grouping the 909 investigated stressors into 31 classes and an open-source and interactive version of the dataset (https://jamesaorr.shinyapps.io/freshwater-multiple-stressors/). Inspired by our results, we provide a framework to help clarify whether statistical interactions detected by factorial experiments align with stressor interactions of interest, and we outline general guidelines for the design of multiple-stressor experiments relevant to any system. We conclude by highlighting the research directions required to better understand freshwater ecosystems facing multiple stressors.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A Orr
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- School of the Environment, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | | | | | - Benjamin Burgess
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK
| | - Dania Albini
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Julia G Hunn
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | | | - Ramesh Wilson
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Anne Schechner
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
- Ruumi ApS, Svendborg, Denmark
| | - Aoife M Robertson
- Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Bethany Lee
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Blake R Stuparyk
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Delezia Singh
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
| | | | - Jeremy J Piggott
- Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Jiangqiu Zhu
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Khuong V Dinh
- Section for Aquatic Biology and Toxicology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Louise C Archer
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Marcin Penk
- Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Minh Thi Thuy Vu
- Section for Aquatic Biology and Toxicology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Noël P D Juvigny-Khenafou
- Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Scotland, UK
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
| | - Peiyu Zhang
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | | | - Ralf B Schäfer
- Research Center One Health Ruhr, University Alliance Ruhr
- Faculty of Biology, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Rolf D Vinebrooke
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Sabine Hilt
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Thomas Reed
- School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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10
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Zanghi C, Penry-Williams IL, Genner MJ, Deacon AE, Ioannou CC. Multiple environmental stressors affect predation pressure in a tropical freshwater system. Commun Biol 2024; 7:663. [PMID: 38811776 PMCID: PMC11137014 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06364-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024] Open
Abstract
Environmental change can alter predator-prey dynamics. However, studying predators in the context of co-occurring environmental stressors remains rare, especially under field conditions. Using in situ filming, we examined how multiple stressors, including temperature and turbidity, impact the distribution and behaviour of wild fish predators of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata). The measured environmental variables accounted for 17.6% of variance in predator species composition. While predator species differed in their associations with environmental variables, the overall prevalence of predators was greatest in slow flowing, deeper, warmer and less turbid habitats. Moreover, these warmer and less turbid habitats were associated with earlier visits to the prey stimulus by predators, and more frequent predator visits and attacks. Our findings highlight the need to consider ecological complexity, such as co-occurring stressors, to better understand how environmental change affects predator-prey interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Costanza Zanghi
- University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK.
| | - Iestyn L Penry-Williams
- University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Martin J Genner
- University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Amy E Deacon
- The University of The West Indies, Department of Life Sciences, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
| | - Christos C Ioannou
- University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
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11
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Séguigne M, Leroy C, Carrias JF, Corbara B, Lafont Rapnouil T, Céréghino R. Interactive effects of drought and deforestation on multitrophic communities and aquatic ecosystem functions in the Neotropics-a test using tank bromeliads. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17346. [PMID: 38737739 PMCID: PMC11088369 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Together with the intensification of dry seasons in Neotropical regions, increasing deforestation is expected to exacerbate species extinctions, something that could lead to dramatic shifts in multitrophic communities and ecosystem functions. Recent studies suggest that the effects of habitat loss are greater where precipitation has decreased. Yet, experimental studies of the pure and interactive effects of drought and deforestation at ecosystem level remain scarce. Methods Here, we used rainshelters and transplantation from rainforest to open areas of natural microcosms (the aquatic ecosystem and microbial-faunal food web found within the rainwater-filled leaves of tank bromeliads) to emulate drought and deforestation in a full factorial experimental design. We analysed the pure and interactive effects of our treatments on functional community structure (including microorganisms, detritivore and predatory invertebrates), and on leaf litter decomposition in tank bromeliad ecosystems. Results Drought or deforestation alone had a moderate impact on biomass at the various trophic level, but did not eliminate species. However, their interaction synergistically reduced the biomass of all invertebrate functional groups and bacteria. Predators were the most impacted trophic group as they were totally eliminated, while detritivore biomass was reduced by about 95%. Fungal biomass was either unaffected or boosted by our treatments. Decomposition was essentially driven by microbial activity, and did not change across treatments involving deforestation and/or drought. Conclusions Our results suggest that highly resistant microorganisms such as fungi (plus a few detritivores) maintain key ecosystem functions in the face of drought and habitat change. We conclude that habitat destruction compounds the problems of climate change, that the impacts of the two phenomena on food webs are mutually reinforcing, and that the stability of ecosystem functions depends on the resistance of a core group of organisms. Assuming that taking global action is more challenging than taking local-regional actions, policy-makers should be encouraged to implement environmental action plans that will halt habitat destruction, to dampen any detrimental interactive effect with the impacts of global climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Séguigne
- Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l’Environnement (CRBE), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3—Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France
| | - Céline Leroy
- AMAP, Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France
- EcoFoG, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, Université des Antilles, Université de Guyane, Campus agronomique, Kourou, France
| | - Jean-François Carrias
- Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnement (LMGE), Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, F-63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Bruno Corbara
- Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnement (LMGE), Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, F-63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Tristan Lafont Rapnouil
- Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l’Environnement (CRBE), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3—Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France
- AMAP, Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France
- EcoFoG, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, Université des Antilles, Université de Guyane, Campus agronomique, Kourou, France
| | - Régis Céréghino
- Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l’Environnement (CRBE), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3—Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France
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12
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Hu N, Bourdeau PE, Hollander J. Responses of marine trophic levels to the combined effects of ocean acidification and warming. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3400. [PMID: 38649374 PMCID: PMC11035698 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47563-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Marine organisms are simultaneously exposed to anthropogenic stressors associated with ocean acidification and ocean warming, with expected interactive effects. Species from different trophic levels with dissimilar characteristics and evolutionary histories are likely to respond differently. Here, we perform a meta-analysis of controlled experiments including both ocean acidification and ocean warming factors to investigate single and interactive effects of these stressors on marine species. Contrary to expectations, we find that synergistic interactions are less common (16%) than additive (40%) and antagonistic (44%) interactions overall and their proportion decreases with increasing trophic level. Predators are the most tolerant trophic level to both individual and combined effects. For interactive effects, calcifying and non-calcifying species show similar patterns. We also identify climate region-specific patterns, with interactive effects ranging from synergistic in temperate regions to compensatory in subtropical regions, to positive in tropical regions. Our findings improve understanding of how ocean warming, and acidification affect marine trophic levels and highlight the need for deeper consideration of multiple stressors in conservation efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Hu
- Department of Biology- Aquatic Ecology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Paul E Bourdeau
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, Arcata, CA, USA
| | - Johan Hollander
- World Maritime University, Ocean Sustainability, Governance & Management Unit, 211 18, Malmö, Sweden.
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13
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de Bruin T, De Laender F, Jadoul J, Schtickzelle N. Intraspecific demographic and trait responses to environmental change drivers are linked in two species of ciliate. BMC Ecol Evol 2024; 24:47. [PMID: 38632521 PMCID: PMC11022343 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-024-02241-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Over the past decade, theory and observations have suggested intraspecific variation, trait-based differences within species, as a buffer against biodiversity loss from multiple environmental changes. This buffering effect can only occur when different populations of the same species respond differently to environmental change. More specifically, variation of demographic responses fosters buffering of demography, while variation of trait responses fosters buffering of functioning. Understanding how both responses are related is important for predicting biodiversity loss and its consequences. In this study, we aimed to empirically assess whether population-level trait responses to multiple environmental change drivers are related to the demographic response to these drivers. To this end, we measured demographic and trait responses in microcosm experiments with two species of ciliated protists. For three clonal strains of each species, we measured responses to two environmental change drivers (climate change and pollution) and their combination. We also examined if relationships between demographic and trait responses existed across treatments and strains. RESULTS We found different demographic responses across strains of the same species but hardly any interactive effects between the two environmental change drivers. Also, trait responses (summarized in a survival strategy index) varied among strains within a species, again with no driver interactions. Demographic and trait responses were related across all strains of both species tested in this study: Increasing intrinsic growth and self-limitation were associated with a shift in survival strategy from sit-and-wait towards flee. CONCLUSIONS Our results support the existence of a link between a population's demographic and trait responses to environmental change drivers in two species of ciliate. Future work could dive deeper into the specifics of phenotypical trait values, and changes therein, related to specific life strategies in different species of ciliate and other zooplankton grazers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessa de Bruin
- Earth and Life Institute (ELI), Biodiversity Research Center (BDIV), Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain‑La‑Neuve, Belgium.
| | - Frederik De Laender
- Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology (URBE), Institute of Life-Earth-Environment (ILEE), Namur Institute for Complex Systems (NAXYS), Université de Namur, Namur, Belgium
| | - Julie Jadoul
- Earth and Life Institute (ELI), Biodiversity Research Center (BDIV), Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain‑La‑Neuve, Belgium
| | - Nicolas Schtickzelle
- Earth and Life Institute (ELI), Biodiversity Research Center (BDIV), Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain‑La‑Neuve, Belgium
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14
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Chodkowski JL, Shade A. Bioactive exometabolites drive maintenance competition in simple bacterial communities. mSystems 2024; 9:e0006424. [PMID: 38470039 PMCID: PMC11019792 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00064-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Abstract
During prolonged resource limitation, bacterial cells can persist in metabolically active states of non-growth. These maintenance periods, such as those experienced in stationary phase, can include upregulation of secondary metabolism and release of exometabolites into the local environment. As resource limitation is common in many environmental microbial habitats, we hypothesized that neighboring bacterial populations employ exometabolites to compete or cooperate during maintenance and that these exometabolite-facilitated interactions can drive community outcomes. Here, we evaluated the consequences of exometabolite interactions over the stationary phase among three environmental strains: Burkholderia thailandensis E264, Chromobacterium subtsugae ATCC 31532, and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. We assembled them into synthetic communities that only permitted chemical interactions. We compared the responses (transcripts) and outputs (exometabolites) of each member with and without neighbors. We found that transcriptional dynamics were changed with different neighbors and that some of these changes were coordinated between members. The dominant competitor B. thailandensis consistently upregulated biosynthetic gene clusters to produce bioactive exometabolites for both exploitative and interference competition. These results demonstrate that competition strategies during maintenance can contribute to community-level outcomes. It also suggests that the traditional concept of defining competitiveness by growth outcomes may be narrow and that maintenance competition could be an additional or alternative measure. IMPORTANCE Free-living microbial populations often persist and engage in environments that offer few or inconsistently available resources. Thus, it is important to investigate microbial interactions in this common and ecologically relevant condition of non-growth. This work investigates the consequences of resource limitation for community metabolic output and for population interactions in simple synthetic bacterial communities. Despite non-growth, we observed active, exometabolite-mediated competition among the bacterial populations. Many of these interactions and produced exometabolites were dependent on the community composition but we also observed that one dominant competitor consistently produced interfering exometabolites regardless. These results are important for predicting and understanding microbial interactions in resource-limited environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- John L. Chodkowski
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Ashley Shade
- Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne, UMR CNRS 5557, UMR INRAE 1418, VetAgro Sup, Villeurbanne, France
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15
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Smith TP, Clegg T, Ransome E, Martin-Lilley T, Rosindell J, Woodward G, Pawar S, Bell T. High-throughput characterization of bacterial responses to complex mixtures of chemical pollutants. Nat Microbiol 2024; 9:938-948. [PMID: 38499812 PMCID: PMC10994839 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-024-01626-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
Our understanding of how microbes respond to micropollutants, such as pesticides, is almost wholly based on single-species responses to individual chemicals. However, in natural environments, microbes experience multiple pollutants simultaneously. Here we perform a matrix of multi-stressor experiments by assaying the growth of model and non-model strains of bacteria in all 255 combinations of 8 chemical stressors (antibiotics, herbicides, fungicides and pesticides). We found that bacterial strains responded in different ways to stressor mixtures, which could not be predicted simply from their phylogenetic relatedness. Increasingly complex chemical mixtures were both more likely to negatively impact bacterial growth in monoculture and more likely to reveal net interactive effects. A mixed co-culture of strains proved more resilient to increasingly complex mixtures and revealed fewer interactions in the growth response. These results show predictability in microbial population responses to chemical stressors and could increase the utility of next-generation eco-toxicological assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas P Smith
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK.
| | - Tom Clegg
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
| | - Emma Ransome
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
| | - Thomas Martin-Lilley
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
| | - James Rosindell
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
| | - Guy Woodward
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
| | - Samraat Pawar
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
| | - Thomas Bell
- The Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
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16
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Simplifying the complexity of microbial responses to chemical mixtures. Nat Microbiol 2024; 9:889-890. [PMID: 38499813 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-024-01633-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
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17
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McGrath AH, Lema K, Egan S, Wood G, Gonzalez SV, Kjelleberg S, Steinberg PD, Marzinelli EM. Disentangling direct vs indirect effects of microbiome manipulations in a habitat-forming marine holobiont. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes 2024; 10:33. [PMID: 38553475 PMCID: PMC10980776 DOI: 10.1038/s41522-024-00503-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Host-associated microbiota are critical for eukaryotic host functioning, to the extent that hosts and their associated microbial communities are often considered "holobionts". Most studies of holobionts have focused on descriptive approaches or have used model systems, usually in the laboratory, to understand host-microbiome interactions. To advance our understanding of host-microbiota interactions and their wider ecological impacts, we need experimental frameworks that can explore causation in non-model hosts, which often have highly diverse microbiota, and in their natural ecological setting (i.e. in the field). We used a dominant habitat-forming seaweed, Hormosira banksii, to explore these issues and to experimentally test host-microbiota interactions in a non-model holobiont. The experimental protocols were aimed at trying to disentangle microbially mediated effects on hosts from direct effects on hosts associated with the methods employed to manipulate host-microbiota. This was done by disrupting the microbiome, either through removal/disruption using a combination of antimicrobial treatments, or additions of specific taxa via inoculations, or a combination of thew two. The experiments were done in mesocosms and in the field. Three different antibiotic treatments were used to disrupt seaweed-associated microbiota to test whether disturbances of microbiota, particularly bacteria, would negatively affect host performance. Responses of bacteria to these disturbances were complex and differed substantially among treatments, with some antibacterial treatments having little discernible effect. However, the temporal sequence of responses antibiotic treatments, changes in bacterial diversity and subsequent decreases in host performance, strongly suggested an effect of the microbiota on host performance in some treatments, as opposed to direct effects of the antibiotics. To further test these effects, we used 16S-rRNA-gene sequencing to identify bacterial taxa that were either correlated, or uncorrelated, with poor host performance following antibiotic treatment. These were then isolated and used in inoculation experiments, independently or in combination with the previously used antibiotic treatments. Negative effects on host performance were strongest where specific microbial antimicrobials treatments were combined with inoculations of strains that were correlated with poor host performance. For these treatments, negative host effects persisted the entire experimental period (12 days), even though treatments were only applied at the beginning of the experiment. Host performance recovered in all other treatments. These experiments provide a framework for exploring causation and disentangling microbially mediated vs. direct effects on hosts for ecologically important, non-model holobionts in the field. This should allow for better predictions of how these systems will respond to, and potentially mitigate, environmental disturbances in their natural context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Harry McGrath
- The University of Sydney, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia.
| | - Kimberley Lema
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Suhelen Egan
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Georgina Wood
- The University of Sydney, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia
- UWA Oceans Institute & School of Biological Sciences, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, The University of Western Australia, Sydney, Australia
| | - Sebastian Vadillo Gonzalez
- The University of Sydney, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia
| | - Staffan Kjelleberg
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, SBS-01N-27, Singapore, 637551, Singapore
| | - Peter D Steinberg
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, SBS-01N-27, Singapore, 637551, Singapore
| | - Ezequiel M Marzinelli
- The University of Sydney, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, SBS-01N-27, Singapore, 637551, Singapore
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18
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Little AG, Seebacher F. Endocrine responses to environmental variation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220515. [PMID: 38310937 PMCID: PMC10838640 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Hormones regulate most physiological functions and life history from embryonic development to reproduction. In addition to their roles in growth and development, hormones also mediate responses to the abiotic, social and nutritional environments. Hormone signalling is responsive to environmental changes to adjust phenotypes to prevailing conditions. Both hormone levels and receptor densities can change to provide a flexible system of regulation. Endocrine flexibility connects the environment to organismal function, and it is central to understanding environmental impacts and their effect on individuals and populations. Hormones may also act as a 'sensor' to link environmental signals to epigenetic processes and thereby effect phenotypic plasticity within and across generations. Many environmental parameters are now changing in unprecedented ways as a result of human activity. The knowledge base of organism-environmental interactions was established in environments that differ in many ways from current conditions as a result of ongoing human impacts. It is an urgent contemporary challenge to understand how evolved endocrine responses will modulate phenotypes in response to anthropogenic environmental impacts including climate change, light-at-night and chemical pollution. Endocrine responses play a central role in ecology, and their integration into conservation can lead to more effective outcomes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Endocrine responses to environmental variation: conceptual approaches and recent developments'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander G. Little
- Department of Biology, Life Sciences Building, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1
| | - Frank Seebacher
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences A08, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
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19
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Rillig MC, Lehmann A, Orr JA, Rongstock R. Factors of global change affecting plants act at different levels of the ecological hierarchy. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2024; 117:1781-1785. [PMID: 37873939 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Plants and ecosystems worldwide are exposed to a wide range of chemical, physical, and biological factors of global change, many of which act concurrently. As bringing order to the array of factors is required in order to generate an enhanced understanding of simultaneous impacts, classification schemes have been developed. One such classification scheme is dedicated to capturing the different targets of global change factors along the ecological hierarchy. We build on this pioneering work, and refine the conceptual framework in several ways, focusing on plants and terrestrial systems: (i) we more strictly define the target level of the hierarchy, such that every factor typically has just one target level, and not many; (ii) we include effects above the level of the community, that is, there are effects also at the ecosystem scale that cannot be reduced to any level below this; (iii) we introduce the level of the landscape to capture certain land use change effects while abandoning the level below the individual. We discuss how effects can propagate along the levels of the ecological hierarchy, upwards and downwards, presenting opportunities for explaining non-additivity of effects of multiple factors. We hope that this updated conceptual framework will help inform the next generation of plant-focused global change experiments, specifically aimed at non-additivity of effects at the confluence of many factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias C Rillig
- Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anika Lehmann
- Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - James A Orr
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Rebecca Rongstock
- Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195, Berlin, Germany
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20
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Juvigny-Khenafou NPD, Burgazzi G, Steiner N, Harvey E, Terui A, Piggott J, Manfrin A, Feckler A, Leese F, Schäfer RB. Effects of flow reduction and artificial light at night (ALAN) on litter decomposition and invertebrate communities in streams: A flume experiment. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 912:168836. [PMID: 38016568 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Revised: 11/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023]
Abstract
River ecosystems are heavily impacted by multiple stressors, where effects can cascade downstream of point sources. However, a spatial approach to assess the effects of multiple stressors is missing. We assessed the local and downstream effects on litter decomposition, and associated invertebrate communities of two stressors: flow reduction and artificial light at night (ALAN). We used an 18-flow-through mesocosm system consisting of two tributaries, where we applied the stressors, merging in a downstream section. We assessed the changes in decomposition rate and invertebrate community structure in leaf bags. We found no effect of ALAN or its interaction with flow reduction on the litter decomposition or the invertebrate community in the tributaries. Flow reduction alone led to a 14.8 % reduction in decomposition rate in the tributaries. We recorded no effect of flow reduction on the macroinvertebrates community composition in the litter bags. We also observed no effects of the spatial arrangement of the stressors on the litter decomposition and macroinvertebrate community structure downstream. Overall, our results suggest the impact of stressors on litter decomposition and macroinvertebrate communities remained local in our experiment. Our work thus calls for further studies to identify the mechanisms and the conditions under which spatial effects dominate over local processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noël P D Juvigny-Khenafou
- iES, Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany.
| | - Gemma Burgazzi
- iES, Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Nikita Steiner
- iES, Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Eric Harvey
- Centre de Recherche sur les Interactions Bassins-Versants, Écosystèmes Aquatiques (RIVE) Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada
| | - Akira Terui
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, USA
| | - Jeremy Piggott
- Trinity Centre for the Environment & Discipline of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Alessandro Manfrin
- iES, Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Alexander Feckler
- iES, Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany; Eußerthal Ecosystem Research Station, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Florian Leese
- Aquatic Ecosystem Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Ralf B Schäfer
- iES, Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
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Kefford BJ, Hyne RV, Brooks AJ, Shenton MD, Hills K, Nichols SJ, Bray JP. Do magnesium and chloride ameliorate high sodium bicarbonate concentrations? A comparison between laboratory and mesocosm toxicity experiments. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 912:169003. [PMID: 38043815 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
Increasing salinity is a concern for biodiversity in many freshwater ecosystems globally. Single species laboratory toxicity tests show major differences in freshwater organism survival depending on the specific ions that comprise salinity types and/or their ion ratios. Toxicity has been shown to be reduced by altering ionic composition, despite increasing (total) salinity. For insistence, single species tests show the toxicity of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3, which commonly is a large proportion of the salts from coalbeds) to freshwater invertebrates is reduced by adding magnesium (Mg2+) or chloride (Cl-). However, it is uncertain whether reductions in mortality observed in single-species laboratory tests predict effects within populations, communities and to ecosystem processes in more complex multi-species systems both natural and semi-natural. Here we report the results of an outdoor multi-species mesocosm experiment to determine if the effects of NaHCO3 are reduced by increasing the concentrations of Mg2+ or Cl- on: a) stream macroinvertebrate populations and communities; b) benthic chlorophyll-a and; c) the ecosystem process of leaf litter decomposition. We found a large effect of a high NaHCO3 concentration (≈4.45 mS/cm) with reduced abundances of multiple taxa, reduced emergence of adult insects and reduced species richness, altered community structure and increased leaf litter breakdown rates but no effect on benthic chlorophyll-a. However, despite predictions based on laboratory findings, we found no evidence that the addition of either Mg2+ or Cl- altered the effect of NaHCO3. In semi-natural environments such as mesocosms, and natural environments, organisms are subject to varying temperature and habitat factors, while also interacting with other species and trophic levels (e.g. predation, competition, facilitation), which are absent in single species laboratory tests. Thus, it should not be assumed single-species tests are good predictors of the effects of changing ionic compositions on stream biota in more natural environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben J Kefford
- Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia.
| | - Ross V Hyne
- Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Environment Protection Science, Lidcombe Laboratories, NSW 2141, Australia
| | - Andrew J Brooks
- Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia; Department of Planning and Environment - Water, 53, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia
| | - Mark D Shenton
- Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
| | - Kasey Hills
- Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia; New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority, Locked Bag 5022, Parramatta, NSW 2124, Australia
| | - Susan J Nichols
- Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
| | - Jonathan P Bray
- Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia; Department of Pest Management and Conservation, Lincoln University, 85084, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
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22
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Lloren JI, McCune JL. Testing for synergistic effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbance on ecological communities at a landscape scale. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY 2024; 39:40. [PMID: 38410171 PMCID: PMC10895711 DOI: 10.1007/s10980-024-01844-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
Context Anthropogenic and natural disturbances may interact synergistically, magnifying their individual effects on biodiversity. However, few studies have measured responses of ecological communities to multiple stressors at landscape scales. Objectives We use a long-term dataset to test for synergistic effects of anthropogenic and natural disturbance on plant community diversity and composition in a large protected area. Methods We quantified changes in plant communities over two decades in 98 plots in Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada. Fifty-three plots burned in a wildfire in the interim. We modeled the effects of wildfire, proximity to trails or roads, and their interaction on changes in species richness, community composition, relative abundance of disturbance-associated species, and colonization by exotic species. Results Interactions between wildfire and proximity to roads and trails affected all metrics except species richness. Only one interaction was synergistic: the relative abundance of disturbance-associated species following wildfire was magnified closer to recreational corridors. The other community metrics showed unexpected patterns. For example, plots with no exotic species in the baseline survey that burned in the wildfire were more likely to gain exotic species than unburned plots only when they were distant from recreational corridors. Conclusions Our study demonstrates interactive effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbance at landscape scales within a protected area. Plant community response to wildfire was influenced by proximity to recreational corridors, sometimes in surprising ways. As the frequency and severity of anthropogenic and natural disturbances both continue to rise, documenting the prevalence and magnitude of interactions between them is key to predicting long-term effects and designing mitigation strategies. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-024-01844-w.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jed I. Lloren
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4 Canada
| | - J. L. McCune
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4 Canada
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23
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Thomas MK, Ranjan R. Designing More Informative Multiple-Driver Experiments. ANNUAL REVIEW OF MARINE SCIENCE 2024; 16:513-536. [PMID: 37625127 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-041823-095913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/27/2023]
Abstract
For decades, multiple-driver/stressor research has examined interactions among drivers that will undergo large changes in the future: temperature, pH, nutrients, oxygen, pathogens, and more. However, the most commonly used experimental designs-present-versus-future and ANOVA-fail to contribute to general understanding or predictive power. Linking experimental design to process-based mathematical models would help us predict how ecosystems will behave in novel environmental conditions. We review a range of experimental designs and assess the best experimental path toward a predictive ecology. Full factorial response surface, fractional factorial, quadratic response surface, custom, space-filling, and especially optimal and sequential/adaptive designs can help us achieve more valuable scientific goals. Experiments using these designs are challenging to perform with long-lived organisms or at the community and ecosystem levels. But they remain our most promising path toward linking experiments and theory in multiple-driver research and making accurate, useful predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mridul K Thomas
- Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences and Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;
| | - Ravi Ranjan
- Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany;
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
- Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, Germany
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24
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Sun X, Arnott SE, Little AG. Impacts of sequential salinity and heat stress are recovery time-specific in freshwater crustacean, Daphnia pulicaria. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 2024; 269:115899. [PMID: 38171229 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Stressors can interact to affect animal fitness, but we have limited knowledge about how temporal variation in stressors may impact their combined effect. This limits our ability to predict the outcomes of pollutants and future dynamic environmental changes. Elevated salinity in freshwater ecosystems has been observed worldwide. Meanwhile, heatwaves have become more frequent and intensified as an outcome of climate change. These two stressors can jointly affect organisms; however, their interaction has rarely been explored in the context of freshwater ecosystems. We conducted lab experiments using Daphnia pulicaria, a key species in lakes, to investigate how elevated salinity and heatwave conditions collectively affect freshwater organisms. We also monitored the impacts of various recovery times between the two stressors. Daphnia physiological conditions (metabolic rate, Na+-K+-ATPase (NKA) activity, and lipid peroxidation level) and life history traits (survival, fecundity, and growth) in response to salt stress as well as mortality in heat treatment were examined. We found that Daphnia responded to elevated salinity by upregulating NKA activity and increasing metabolic rate, causing a high lipid peroxidation level. Survival, fecundity, and growth were all negatively affected by this stressor. These impacts on physiological conditions and life history traits persisted for a few days after the end of the exposure. Heat treatments caused mortality in Daphnia, which increased with rising temperature. Results also showed that individuals that experienced salt exposure were more susceptible to subsequent heat stress, but this effect decreased with increasing recovery time between stressors. Findings from this work suggest that the legacy effects from a previous stressor can reduce individual resistance to a subsequent stressor, adding great difficulties to the prediction of outcomes of multiple stressors. Our work also demonstrates that cross-tolerance/susceptibility and the associated mechanisms remain unclear, necessitating further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyu Sun
- Biology Department, Queen's University, 116 Barrie St., Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
| | - Shelley E Arnott
- Biology Department, Queen's University, 116 Barrie St., Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Alexander G Little
- Department of Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, L8S 4K1 ON, Canada
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25
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González-Olalla JM, Powell JA, Brahney J. Dust storms increase the tolerance of phytoplankton to thermal and pH changes. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17055. [PMID: 38273543 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Aquatic communities are increasingly subjected to multiple stressors through global change, including warming, pH shifts, and elevated nutrient concentrations. These stressors often surpass species tolerance range, leading to unpredictable consequences for aquatic communities and ecosystem functioning. Phytoplankton, as the foundation of the aquatic food web, play a crucial role in controlling water quality and the transfer of nutrients and energy to higher trophic levels. Despite the significance in understanding the effect of multiple stressors, further research is required to explore the combined impact of multiple stressors on phytoplankton. In this study, we used a combination of crossed experiment and mechanistic model to analyze the ecological and biogeochemical effects of global change on aquatic ecosystems and to forecast phytoplankton dynamics. We examined the effect of dust (0-75 mg L-1 ), temperature (19-27°C), and pH (6.3-7.3) on the growth rate of the algal species Scenedesmus obliquus. Furthermore, we carried out a geospatial analysis to identify regions of the planet where aquatic systems could be most affected by atmospheric dust deposition. Our mechanistic model and our empirical data show that dust exerts a positive effect on phytoplankton growth rate, broadening its thermal and pH tolerance range. Finally, our geospatial analysis identifies several high-risk areas including the highlands of the Tibetan Plateau, western United States, South America, central and southern Africa, central Australia as well as the Mediterranean region where dust-induced changes are expected to have the greatest impacts. Overall, our study shows that increasing dust storms associated with a more arid climate and land degradation can reverse the negative effects of high temperatures and low pH on phytoplankton growth, affecting the biogeochemistry of aquatic ecosystems and their role in the cycles of the elements and tolerance to global change.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - James A Powell
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
| | - Janice Brahney
- Department of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
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26
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Jarvis L, Rosenfeld J, Gonzalez-Espinosa PC, Enders EC. A process framework for integrating stressor-response functions into cumulative effects models. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 906:167456. [PMID: 37839475 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 09/24/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Stressor-response (SR) functions quantify ecological responses to natural environmental variation or anthropogenic stressors. They are also core drivers of cumulative effects (CE) models, which are increasingly recognized as essential management tools to grapple with the diffuse footprint of human impacts. Here, we provide a process framework for the identification, development, and integration of SR functions into CE models, and highlight their consequential properties, behaviour, criteria for selecting appropriate stressors and responses, and general approaches for deriving them. Management objectives (and causal effect pathways) will determine the ultimate stressor and target response variables of interest (i.e., individual growth/survival, population size, community structure, ecosystem processes), but data availability will constrain whether proxies need to be used for the target stressor or response variables. Available data and confidence in underlying mechanisms will determine whether empirical or mechanistic (theoretical) SR functions are optimal. Uncertainty in underlying SR functions is often the primary source of error in CE modelling, and monitoring outcomes through adaptive management to iteratively refine parameterization of SR functions is a key element of model application. Dealing with stressor interactions is an additional challenge, and in the absence of known or suspected interaction mechanisms, controlling main effects should remain the primary focus. Indicators of suspected interaction presence (i.e., much larger or smaller responses to stressor reduction than expected during monitoring) should be confirmed through adaptive management cycles or targeted stressor manipulations. Where possible, management decisions should selectively take advantage of interactions to strategically mitigate stressor impacts (i.e., by using antagonisms to suppress stressor impacts, and by using synergisms to efficiently reduce them).
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Jarvis
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ontario & Prairie Region, Freshwater Institute, 501 University Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada.
| | - Jordan Rosenfeld
- UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; B.C. Ministry of Environment, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
| | - Pedro C Gonzalez-Espinosa
- Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus, Simon Fraser University, School of Resource and Environmental Management, Technology and Science Complex 1, 643A Science Rd, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Eva C Enders
- Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre, 490 de la Couronne Street, Quebec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada.
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27
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Dinh KV, Albini D, Orr JA, Macaulay SJ, Rillig MC, Borgå K, Jackson MC. Winter is coming: Interactions of multiple stressors in winter and implications for the natural world. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:6834-6845. [PMID: 37776127 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/01/2023]
Abstract
Winter is a key driver of ecological processes in freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in higher latitudes. Species have evolved various adaptive strategies to cope with food limitations and the cold and dark wintertime. However, human-induced climate change and other anthropogenic stressors are impacting organisms in winter in unpredictable ways. In this paper, we show that global change experiments investigating multiple stressors have predominantly been conducted during summer months. However, effects of anthropogenic stressors sometimes differ between winter and other seasons, necessitating comprehensive investigations. Here, we outline a framework for understanding the different effects of anthropogenic stressors in winter compared to other seasons and discuss the primary mechanisms that will alter ecological responses of organisms (microbes, animals and plants). For instance, while the magnitude of some anthropogenic stressors can be greater in winter than in other seasons (e.g. some pollutants), others may alleviate natural winter stress (e.g. warmer temperatures). These changes can have immediate, delayed or carry-over effects on organisms during winter or later seasons. Interactions between stressors may also vary with season. We call for a renewed research direction focusing on multiple stressor effects on winter ecology and evolution to fully understand, and predict, how ecosystems will fare under changing winters. We also argue the importance of incorporating the interactions of anthropogenic stressors with winter into ecological risk assessments, management and conservation efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khuong V Dinh
- Section for Aquatic Biology and Toxicology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Dania Albini
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - James A Orr
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Matthias C Rillig
- Plant Ecology, Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg-Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany
| | - Katrine Borgå
- Section for Aquatic Biology and Toxicology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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28
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Ostrowski A, Connolly RM, Brown CJ, Sievers M. Stressor fluctuations alter mechanisms of seagrass community responses relative to static stressors. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 900:165865. [PMID: 37516181 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/31/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystems are increasingly affected by multiple anthropogenic stressors that contribute to habitat degradation and loss. Natural ecosystems are highly dynamic, yet multiple stressor experiments often ignore variability in stressor intensity and do not consider how effects could be mediated across trophic levels, with implications for models that underpin stressor management. Here, we investigated the in situ effects of changes in stressor intensity (i.e., fluctuations) and synchronicity (i.e., timing of fluctuations) on a seagrass community, applying the stressors reduced light and physical disturbance to the sediment. We used structural equation models (SEMs) to identify causal effects of dynamic multiple stressors on seagrass shoot density and leaf surface area, and abundance of associated crustaceans. Responses depended on whether stressor intensities fluctuated or remained static. Relative to static stressor exposure at the end of the experiment, shoot density, leaf surface area, and crustacean abundance all declined under in-phase (synchronous; 17, 33, and 30 % less, respectively) and out-of-phase (asynchronous; 11, 28, and 39 % less, respectively) fluctuating treatments. Static treatment increased seagrass leaf surface area and crustacean abundance relative to the control group. We hypothesised that crustacean responses are mediated by changes in seagrass; however, causal analysis found only weak evidence for a mediation effect via leaf surface area. Changes in crustacean abundance, therefore, were primarily a direct response to stressors. Our results suggest that the mechanisms underpinning stress responses change when stressors fluctuate. For instance, increased leaf surface area under static stress could be caused by seagrass acclimating to low light, whereas no response under fluctuating stressors suggests an acclimation response was not triggered. The SEMs also revealed that community responses to the stressors can be independent of one another. Therefore, models based on static experiments may be representing ecological mechanisms not observed in natural ecosystems, and underestimating the impacts of stressors on ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andria Ostrowski
- Coastal and Marine Research Centre, Australian Rivers Institute, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia.
| | - Rod M Connolly
- Coastal and Marine Research Centre, Australian Rivers Institute, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia
| | - Christopher J Brown
- Coastal and Marine Research Centre, Australian Rivers Institute, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia
| | - Michael Sievers
- Coastal and Marine Research Centre, Australian Rivers Institute, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia
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29
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Volery L, Vaz Fernandez M, Wegmann D, Bacher S. A general framework to quantify and compare ecological impacts under temporal dynamics. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:1726-1739. [PMID: 37515418 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
Biodiversity is diminishing at alarming rates due to multiple anthropogenic drivers. To mitigate these drivers, their impacts must be quantified accurately and comparably across drivers. To enable that, we present a generally applicable framework introducing fundamental principles of ecological impact quantification, including the quantification of interactions between multiple drivers. The framework contrasts biodiversity variables in impacted against those in unimpacted or other reference situations while accounting for their temporal dynamics through modelling. Properly accounting for temporal dynamics reduces biases in impact quantification and comparison. The framework addresses key questions around ecological impacts in global change science, namely, how to compare impacts under temporal dynamics across stressors, how to account for stressor interactions in such comparisons, and how to compare the success of management actions over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Volery
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Margarida Vaz Fernandez
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Wegmann
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Sven Bacher
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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30
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De Laender F, Carpentier C, Carletti T, Song C, Rumschlag SL, Mahon MB, Simonin M, Meszéna G, Barabás G. Mean species responses predict effects of environmental change on coexistence. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:1535-1547. [PMID: 37337910 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
Environmental change research is plagued by the curse of dimensionality: the number of communities at risk and the number of environmental drivers are both large. This raises the pressing question if a general understanding of ecological effects is achievable. Here, we show evidence that this is indeed possible. Using theoretical and simulation-based evidence for bi- and tritrophic communities, we show that environmental change effects on coexistence are proportional to mean species responses and depend on how trophic levels on average interact prior to environmental change. We then benchmark our findings using relevant cases of environmental change, showing that means of temperature optima and of species sensitivities to pollution predict concomitant effects on coexistence. Finally, we demonstrate how to apply our theory to the analysis of field data, finding support for effects of land use change on coexistence in natural invertebrate communities.
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Grants
- 2.5020.11, GEQ U.G006.15, 1610468, RW/GEQ2016 et U FNRS-FRFC
- NKFI-123796 Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Offi
- 2.5020.11, GEQ U.G006.15, 1610468, RW/GEQ2016 et U Université de Namur
- NARC fellowsh Université de Namur
- 2.5020.11, GEQ U.G006.15, 1610468, RW/GEQ2016 et U Waalse Gewest
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederik De Laender
- Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, naXys, ILEE, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
| | - Camille Carpentier
- Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, naXys, ILEE, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
| | - Timoteo Carletti
- Department of Mathematics and naXys, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
| | - Chuliang Song
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
| | - Samantha L Rumschlag
- Department of Biological Sciences, Environmental Change Initiative, and Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
| | - Michael B Mahon
- Department of Biological Sciences, Environmental Change Initiative, and Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
| | - Marie Simonin
- University of Angers, Institut Agro, INRAE, IRHS, SFR QUASAV, Angers, France
| | - Géza Meszéna
- Department of Biological Physics, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary
| | - György Barabás
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary
- Division of Ecological and Environmental Modeling, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
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31
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Schäfer RB, Jackson M, Juvigny-Khenafou N, Osakpolor SE, Posthuma L, Schneeweiss A, Spaak J, Vinebrooke R. Chemical Mixtures and Multiple Stressors: Same but Different? ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY 2023; 42:1915-1936. [PMID: 37036219 DOI: 10.1002/etc.5629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystems are strongly influenced by multiple anthropogenic stressors, including a wide range of chemicals and their mixtures. Studies on the effects of multiple stressors have largely focussed on nonchemical stressors, whereas studies on chemical mixtures have largely ignored other stressors. However, both research areas face similar challenges and require similar tools and methods to predict the joint effects of chemicals or nonchemical stressors, and frameworks to integrate multiple chemical and nonchemical stressors are missing. We provide an overview of the research paradigms, tools, and methods commonly used in multiple stressor and chemical mixture research and discuss potential domains of cross-fertilization and joint challenges. First, we compare the general paradigms of ecotoxicology and (applied) ecology to explain the historical divide. Subsequently, we compare methods and approaches for the identification of interactions, stressor characterization, and designing experiments. We suggest that both multiple stressor and chemical mixture research are too focused on interactions and would benefit from integration regarding null model selection. Stressor characterization is typically more costly for chemical mixtures. While for chemical mixtures comprehensive classification systems at suborganismal level have been developed, recent classification systems for multiple stressors account for environmental context. Both research areas suffer from rather simplified experimental designs that focus on only a limited number of stressors, chemicals, and treatments. We discuss concepts that can guide more realistic designs capturing spatiotemporal stressor dynamics. We suggest that process-based and data-driven models are particularly promising to tackle the challenge of prediction of effects of chemical mixtures and nonchemical stressors on (meta-)communities and (meta-)food webs. We propose a framework to integrate the assessment of effects for multiple stressors and chemical mixtures. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:1915-1936. © 2023 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralf B Schäfer
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Univerität Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany
| | | | - Noel Juvigny-Khenafou
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Univerität Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany
| | - Stephen E Osakpolor
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Univerität Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany
| | - Leo Posthuma
- Centre for Sustainability, Environment and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- Department of Environmental Science, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Anke Schneeweiss
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Univerität Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany
| | - Jürg Spaak
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Univerität Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany
| | - Rolf Vinebrooke
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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32
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Cedergreen N, Pedersen KE, Fredensborg BL. Quantifying synergistic interactions: a meta-analysis of joint effects of chemical and parasitic stressors. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13641. [PMID: 37608060 PMCID: PMC10444819 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40847-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The global biodiversity crisis emphasizes our need to understand how different stressors (climatic, chemical, parasitic, etc.) interact and affect biological communities. We provide a comprehensive meta-analysis investigating joint effects of chemical and parasitic stressors for 1064 chemical-parasitic combinations using the Multiplicative model on mortality of arthropods. We tested both features of the experimental setup (control mortality, stressor effect level) and the chemical mode of action, host and parasite phylogeny, and parasite-host interaction traits as explanatory factors for deviations from the reference model. Synergistic interactions, defined as higher mortality than predicted, were significantly more frequent than no interactions or antagony. Experimental setup significantly affected the results, with studies reporting high (> 10%) control mortality or using low stressor effects (< 20%) being more synergistic. Chemical mode of action played a significant role for synergy, but there was no effects of host and parasite phylogeny, or parasite-host interaction traits. The finding that experimental design played a greater role in finding synergy than biological factors, emphasize the need to standardize the design of mixed stressor studies across scientific disciplines. In addition, combinations testing more biological traits e.g. avoidance, coping, and repair processes are needed to test biology-based hypotheses for synergistic interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Cedergreen
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg, Denmark
| | - Kathrine Eggers Pedersen
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg, Denmark
| | - Brian Lund Fredensborg
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
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33
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Lopez LK, Gil MA, Crowley PH, Trimmer PC, Munson A, Ligocki IY, Michelangeli M, Sih A. Integrating animal behaviour into research on multiple environmental stressors: a conceptual framework. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1345-1364. [PMID: 37004993 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 03/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023]
Abstract
While a large body of research has focused on the physiological effects of multiple environmental stressors, how behavioural and life-history plasticity mediate multiple-stressor effects remains underexplored. Behavioural plasticity can not only drive organism-level responses to stressors directly but can also mediate physiological responses. Here, we provide a conceptual framework incorporating four fundamental trade-offs that explicitly link animal behaviour to life-history-based pathways for energy allocation, shaping the impact of multiple stressors on fitness. We first address how small-scale behavioural changes can either mediate or drive conflicts between the effects of multiple stressors and alternative physiological responses. We then discuss how animal behaviour gives rise to three additional understudied and interrelated trade-offs: balancing the benefits and risks of obtaining the energy needed to cope with stressors, allocation of energy between life-history traits and stressor responses, and larger-scale escape from stressors in space or time via large-scale movement or dormancy. Finally, we outline how these trade-offs interactively affect fitness and qualitative ecological outcomes resulting from multiple stressors. Our framework suggests that explicitly considering animal behaviour should enrich our mechanistic understanding of stressor effects, help explain extensive context dependence observed in these effects, and highlight promising avenues for future empirical and theoretical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura K Lopez
- Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, 2132 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
- National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Kids Research, Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Corner Hawkesbury Road & Hainsworth Street, Westmead, New South Wales, 2145, Australia
| | - Michael A Gil
- Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, 2132 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Ramaley N122/Campus Box 334, Boulder, CO, 80309-0334, USA
| | - Philip H Crowley
- Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, 195 Huguelet Drive, 101 Thomas Hunt Morgan Building, Lexington, KY, 40506-0225, USA
| | - Pete C Trimmer
- Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, 2132 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, University Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Amelia Munson
- Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, 2132 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Isaac Y Ligocki
- Department of Biology, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Roddy Science Hall, PO Box 1002, Millersville, PA, 17551, USA
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, 318 W. 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Marcus Michelangeli
- Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, 2132 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
- Department of Wildlife, Fish & Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, Umeå, SE-907 36, Sweden
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, 2132 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
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Pile B, Warren D, Hassall C, Brown LE, Dunn AM. Biological Invasions Affect Resource Processing in Aquatic Ecosystems: The Invasive Amphipod Dikerogammarus villosus Impacts Detritus Processing through High Abundance Rather than Differential Response to Temperature. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:830. [PMID: 37372115 DOI: 10.3390/biology12060830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic stressors such as climate warming and invasive species and natural stressors such as parasites exert pressures that can interact to impact the function of ecosystems. This study investigated how these stressors interact to impact the vital ecosystem process of shredding by keystone species in temperate freshwater ecosystems. We compared metabolic rates and rates of shredding at a range of temperatures up to extreme levels, from 5 °C to 30 °C, between invasive and native amphipods that were unparasitised or parasitised by a common acanthocephalan, Echinorhynchus truttae. Shredding results were compared using the relative impact potential (RIP) metric to investigate how they impacted the scale with a numerical response. Although per capita shredding was higher for the native amphipod at all temperatures, the higher abundance of the invader led to higher relative impact scores; hence, the replacement of the native by the invasive amphipod is predicted to drive an increase in shredding. This could be interpreted as a positive effect on the ecosystem function, leading to a faster accumulation of amphipod biomass and a greater rate of fine particulate organic matter (FPOM) provisioning for the ecosystem. However, the high density of invaders compared with natives may lead to the exhaustion of the resource in sites with relatively low leaf detritus levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Pile
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, West Yorkshire, UK
| | - Daniel Warren
- Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Sand Hutton YO41 1LZ, York, UK
| | | | - Lee E Brown
- School of Geography and Water@Leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, West Yorkshire, UK
| | - Alison M Dunn
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, West Yorkshire, UK
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Wear B, O'Connor NE, Schmid MJ, Jackson MC. What does the future look like for kelp when facing multiple stressors? Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10203. [PMID: 37384243 PMCID: PMC10293785 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Revised: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023] Open
Abstract
As primary producers and ecosystem engineers, kelp (generally Order Laminariales) are ecologically important, and their decline could have far-reaching consequences. Kelp are valuable in forming habitats for fish and invertebrates and are crucial for adaptation to climate change by creating coastal defenses and in providing key functions, such as carbon sequestration and food provision. Kelp are threatened by multiple stressors, such as climate change, over-harvesting of predators, and pollution. In this opinion paper, we discuss how these stressors may interact to affect kelp, and how this varies under different contexts. We argue that more research that bridges kelp conservation and multiple stressor theory is needed and outline key questions that should be addressed as a priority. For instance, it is important to understand how previous exposure (either to earlier generations or life stages) determines responses to emerging stressors, and how responses in kelp scale up to alter food webs and ecosystem functioning. By increasing the temporal and biological complexity of kelp research in this way, we will improve our understanding allowing better predictions. This research is essential for the effective conservation and potential restoration of kelp in our rapidly changing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Wear
- Department of BiologyUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
- Somerville CollegeOxfordUK
| | - Nessa E. O'Connor
- School of Natural Sciences, Discipline of ZoologyTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Matthias J. Schmid
- School of Natural Sciences, Discipline of ZoologyTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- School of Natural ScienceUniversity of GalwayGalwayIreland
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36
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Theys C, Verheyen J, Janssens L, Tüzün N, Stoks R. Effects of heat and pesticide stress on life history, physiology and the gut microbiome of two congeneric damselflies that differ in stressor tolerance. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 875:162617. [PMID: 36871721 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The combined impact of toxicants and warming on organisms is getting increased attention in ecotoxicology, but is still hard to predict, especially with regard to heat waves. Recent studies suggested that the gut microbiome may provide mechanistic insights into the single and combined stressor effects on their host. We therefore investigated effects of sequential exposure to a heat spike and a pesticide on both the phenotype (life history and physiology) and the gut microbiome composition of damselfly larvae. We compared the fast-paced Ischnura pumilio, which is more tolerant to both stressors, with the slow-paced I. elegans, to obtain mechanistic insights into species-specific stressor effects. The two species differed in gut microbiome composition, potentially contributing to their pace-of-life differences. Intriguingly, there was a general resemblance between the stressor response patterns in the phenotype and in the gut microbiome, whereby both species responded broadly similar to the single and combined stressors. The heat spike negatively affected the life history of both species (increased mortality, reduced growth rate), which could be explained not only by shared negative effects on physiology (inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, increase of malondialdehyde), but also by shared effects on gut bacterial species' abundances. The pesticide only had negative effects (reduced growth rate, reduced net energy budget) in I. elegans. The pesticide generated shifts in the bacterial community composition (e.g. increased abundance of Sphaerotilus and Enterobacteriaceae in the gut microbiome of I. pumilio), which potentially contributed to the relatively higher pesticide tolerance of I. pumilio. Moreover, in line with the response patterns in the host phenotype, the effects of the heat spike and the pesticide on the gut microbiome were mainly additive. By contrasting two species differing in stress tolerance, our results suggest that response patterns in the gut microbiome may improve our mechanistic understanding of single and combined stressor effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Theys
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Julie Verheyen
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lizanne Janssens
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Nedim Tüzün
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Evolutionary and Integrative Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm 301, 12587 Berlin, Germany
| | - Robby Stoks
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
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Dawson MN, Duffin PJ, Giakoumis M, Schiebelhut LM, Beas-Luna R, Bosley KL, Castilho R, Ewers-Saucedo C, Gavenus KA, Keller A, Konar B, Largier JL, Lorda J, Miner CM, Moritsch MM, Navarrete SA, Traiger SB, Turner MS, Wares JP. A Decade of Death and Other Dynamics: Deepening Perspectives on the Diversity and Distribution of Sea Stars and Wasting. THE BIOLOGICAL BULLETIN 2023; 244:143-163. [PMID: 38457680 DOI: 10.1086/727969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/10/2024]
Abstract
AbstractMass mortality events provide valuable insight into biological extremes and also ecological interactions more generally. The sea star wasting epidemic that began in 2013 catalyzed study of the microbiome, genetics, population dynamics, and community ecology of several high-profile species inhabiting the northeastern Pacific but exposed a dearth of information on the diversity, distributions, and impacts of sea star wasting for many lesser-known sea stars and a need for integration across scales. Here, we combine datasets from single-site to coast-wide studies, across time lines from weeks to decades, for 65 species. We evaluated the impacts of abiotic characteristics hypothetically associated with sea star wasting (sea surface temperature, pelagic primary productivity, upwelling wind forcing, wave exposure, freshwater runoff) and species characteristics (depth distribution, developmental mode, diet, habitat, reproductive period). We find that the 2010s sea star wasting outbreak clearly affected a little over a dozen species, primarily intertidal and shallow subtidal taxa, causing instantaneous wasting prevalence rates of 5%-80%. Despite the collapse of some populations within weeks, environmental and species variation protracted the outbreak, which lasted 2-3 years from onset until declining to chronic background rates of ∼2% sea star wasting prevalence. Recruitment began immediately in many species, and in general, sea star assemblages trended toward recovery; however, recovery was heterogeneous, and a marine heatwave in 2019 raised concerns of a second decline. The abiotic stressors most associated with the 2010s sea star wasting outbreak were elevated sea surface temperature and low wave exposure, as well as freshwater discharge in the north. However, detailed data speaking directly to the biological, ecological, and environmental cause(s) and consequences of the sea star wasting outbreak remain limited in scope, unavoidably retrospective, and perhaps always indeterminate. Redressing this shortfall for the future will require a broad spectrum of monitoring studies not less than the taxonomically broad cross-scale framework we have modeled in this synthesis.
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Rillig MC, van der Heijden MG, Berdugo M, Liu YR, Riedo J, Sanz-Lazaro C, Moreno-Jiménez E, Romero F, Tedersoo L, Delgado-Baquerizo M. Increasing the number of stressors reduces soil ecosystem services worldwide. NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE 2023; 13:478-483. [PMID: 37193246 PMCID: PMC7614524 DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01627-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Increasing the number of environmental stressors could decrease ecosystem functioning in soils. Yet this relationship has never been globally assessed outside laboratory experiments. Here, using two independent global standardized field surveys, and a range of natural and human factors, we test the relationship between the number of environmental stressors exceeding different critical thresholds and the maintenance of multiple ecosystem services across biomes. Our analysis shows that, multiple stressors, from medium levels (>50%), negatively and significantly correlates with impacts on ecosystem services, and that multiple stressors crossing a high-level critical threshold (over 75% of maximum observed levels), reduces soil biodiversity and functioning globally. The number of environmental stressors >75% threshold was consistently seen as an important predictor of multiple ecosystem services, therefore improving prediction of ecosystem functioning. Our findings highlight the need to reduce the dimensionality of the human footprint on ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and function.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marcel G.A. van der Heijden
- Agroscope, Plant-Soil Interactions Group, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland
- University of Zurich, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Miguel Berdugo
- Institute of Integrative Biology, Department of Environment Systems Science, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
- Complutense University of Madrid, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Madrid, Spain
| | - Yu-Rong Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Judith Riedo
- Agroscope, Plant-Soil Interactions Group, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Carlos Sanz-Lazaro
- Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Studies (MIES), Universidad de Alicante, P.O. Box 99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain
- Department of Ecology, University of Alicante, PO Box 99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain
| | - Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ferran Romero
- Agroscope, Plant-Soil Interactions Group, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Leho Tedersoo
- Mycology and Microbiology Center, University of Tartu, 14a Ravila, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
- Laboratorio de Biodiversidad y Funcionamiento Ecosistémico. Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, Av. Reina Mercedes 10, E-41012, Sevilla, Spain
- Unidad Asociada CSIC-UPO (BioFun). Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Sevilla, Spain
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Maucieri DG, Starko S, Baum JK. Tipping points and interactive effects of chronic human disturbance and acute heat stress on coral diversity. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230209. [PMID: 37040801 PMCID: PMC10089722 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Multiple anthropogenic stressors co-occur ubiquitously in natural ecosystems. However, multiple stressor studies often produce conflicting results, potentially because the nature and direction of stressor interactions depends upon the strength of the underlying stressors. Here, we first examine how coral α- and β-diversities vary across sites spanning a gradient of chronic local anthropogenic stress before and after a prolonged marine heatwave. Developing a multiple stressor framework that encompasses non-discrete stressors, we then examine interactions between the continuous and discrete stressors. We provide evidence of additive effects, antagonistic interactions (with heatwave-driven turnover in coral community composition diminishing as the continuous stressor increased), and tipping points (at which the response of coral Hill-richness to stressors changed from additive to near synergistic). We show that community-level responses to multiple stressors can vary, and even change qualitatively, with stressor intensity, underscoring the importance of examining complex, but realistic continuous stressors to understand stressor interactions and their ecological impacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominique G. Maucieri
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8P 5C2
| | - Samuel Starko
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8P 5C2
- UWA Oceans Institute, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Julia K. Baum
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8P 5C2
- Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, Kaneohe, HI, 96744, USA
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40
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Santos A, Gómez-Espinoza O, Núñez-Montero K, Zárate A, Andreote FD, Pylro VS, Bravo L, Barrientos L. Measuring the effect of climate change in Antarctic microbial communities: toward novel experimental approaches. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2023; 81:102918. [PMID: 36972633 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2023.102918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 02/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023]
Abstract
The Antarctic continent is undergoing a rapid warming, affecting microbial communities throughout its ecosystems. This continent is a natural laboratory for studying the effect of climate change, however, assessing the microbial communities' responses to environmental changes is challenging from a methodological point of view. We suggest novel experimental designs, including multivariable assessments that apply multiomics methods in combination with continuous environmental data recording and new warming simulation systems. Moreover, we propose that climate change studies in Antarctica should consider three main objectives, including descriptive studies, short-term temporary adaptation studies, and long-term adaptive evolution studies. This will help us to understand and manage the effects of climate change on the Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Santos
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | - Olman Gómez-Espinoza
- Biotechnology Research Center, Department of Biology, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - Kattia Núñez-Montero
- Biotechnology Research Center, Department of Biology, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - Ana Zárate
- Extreme Environments Biotechnology Lab, Center of Excellence in Translational Medicine, Universidad de La Frontera, Avenida Alemania 0458, Temuco 4810296, Chile
| | - Fernando D Andreote
- Department of Soil Science, "Luiz de Queiroz" College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Victor S Pylro
- Department of Biology, Federal University of Lavras - UFLA, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - León Bravo
- Soil Interaction and Natural Resources Biotechnology, Scientific and Technological Bioresource Nucleus, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
| | - Leticia Barrientos
- Extreme Environments Biotechnology Lab, Center of Excellence in Translational Medicine, Universidad de La Frontera, Avenida Alemania 0458, Temuco 4810296, Chile; Núcleo Científico y Tecnológico en Biorecursos (BIOREN), Universidad de La Frontera, Avenida Francisco Salazar 01145, Temuco 4811230, Chile.
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41
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Cooke SJ, Madliger CL, Lennox RJ, Olden JD, Eliason EJ, Cramp RL, Fuller A, Franklin CE, Seebacher F. Biological mechanisms matter in contemporary wildlife conservation. iScience 2023; 26:106192. [PMID: 36895647 PMCID: PMC9988666 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Given limited resources for wildlife conservation paired with an urgency to halt declines and rebuild populations, it is imperative that management actions are tactical and effective. Mechanisms are about how a system works and can inform threat identification and mitigation such that conservation actions that work can be identified. Here, we call for a more mechanistic approach to wildlife conservation and management where behavioral and physiological tools and knowledge are used to characterize drivers of decline, identify environmental thresholds, reveal strategies that would restore populations, and prioritize conservation actions. With a growing toolbox for doing mechanistic conservation research as well as a suite of decision-support tools (e.g., mechanistic models), the time is now to fully embrace the concept that mechanisms matter in conservation ensuring that management actions are tactical and focus on actions that have the potential to directly benefit and restore wildlife populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven J. Cooke
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
- Corresponding author
| | - Christine L. Madliger
- Department of Biology, Algoma University, 1520 Queen St. East, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2G4, Canada
| | - Robert J. Lennox
- Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE), Laboratory for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 5008 Bergen, Norway
| | - Julian D. Olden
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-5020, USA
| | - Erika J. Eliason
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Rebecca L. Cramp
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Andrea Fuller
- Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Parktown 2193, South Africa
| | - Craig E. Franklin
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Frank Seebacher
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences A08, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
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Qin-Yuan Z, Quan-Min D, Fang-Cao W, Yu-Zhen L, Bin F, Xiao-Xia Y, Yang Y, Chun-Ping Z, Quan C, Wen-ting L. Cascading effects of seed-stem-individual spatial patterns along a grazing gradient. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1137726. [PMID: 37008474 PMCID: PMC10050678 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1137726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 03/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Studying the seed trait-stem trait-individual spatial pattern system is helpful for understanding the developmental direction of plant dynamics and populations under grazing disturbance as well as the antagonistic relationship between animals and plants, but few systematic analyses of this spatial pattern system have been carried out. Kobresia humilis is the dominant species in alpine grasslands. We studied K. humilis seed traits and their relationship with K. humilis reproductive individuals, the relationship between reproductive and vegetative stems, and the weights and spatial patterns of reproductive and nonreproductive individuals under four grazing treatments: no grazing (control), light grazing, moderate grazing and heavy grazing. We explored the relationship among seed size and seed number with reproductive stems and vegetative stems along the grazing gradient and assessed the spatial pattern changes between reproductive and nonreproductive individuals. The results showed the following: (1) Seed size increased with increasing grazing intensity, and the coefficient of variation for seed size and seed number in the heavy grazing treatment was greater than 0.6. (2) The structural equation model showed that grazing treatment had a positive effect on seed number, seed size and reproductive stem number and a negative effect on reproductive stem weight. (3) Grazing treatment did not affect the resource allocation to reproductive stems and vegetative stems per unit length of reproductive K. humilis individuals. (4) Compared with the number of reproductive individuals in the no grazing treatment, the number in the heavy grazing treatment decreased significantly, and the negative correlation between reproductive individuals and nonreproductive individuals changed from a full-scale negative correlation to a small-scale negative correlation and a large-scale positive correlation. Our study showed that grazing could activate and change the resource allocation pattern of dominant species in a grassland and have significant positive effects on reproductive stem number, reproductive stem weight, seed number and seed size. Along a grazing intensity gradient, with the increase in distance between reproductive and nonreproductive individuals, the transformation of intraspecific relationships from a negative correlation to a positive correlation is an ecological strategy conducive to population survival.
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Allibhai I, Zanghi C, How MJ, Ioannou CC. Increased water temperature and turbidity act independently to alter social behavior in guppies (
Poecilia reticulata
). Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9958. [PMID: 37006888 PMCID: PMC10049887 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 03/04/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Changes in environmental conditions can shift the costs and benefits of aggregation or interfere with the sensory perception of near neighbors. This affects group cohesion with potential impacts on the benefits of collective behavior such as reduced predation risk. Organisms are rarely exposed to one stressor in isolation, yet there are only a few studies exploring the interactions between multiple stressors and their effects on social behavior. Here, we tested the effects of increased water temperature and turbidity on refuge use and three measures of aggregation in guppies (Poecilia reticulata), increasing temperature and turbidity in isolation or in combination. When stressors were elevated in isolation, the distribution of fish within the arena as measured by the index of dispersion became more aggregated at higher temperatures but less aggregated when turbidity was increased. Another measure of cohesion at the global scale, the mean inter-individual distance, also indicated that fish were less aggregated in turbid water. This is likely due to turbidity acting as a visual constraint, as there was no evidence of a change in risk perception as refuge use was not affected by turbidity. Fish decreased refuge use and were closer to their nearest neighbor at higher temperatures. However, the nearest neighbor distance was not affected by turbidity, suggesting that local-scale interactions can be robust to the moderate increase in turbidity used here (5 NTU) compared with other studies that show a decline in shoal cohesion at higher turbidity (>100 NTU). We did not observe any significant interaction terms between the two stressors, indicating no synergistic or antagonistic effects. Our study suggests that the effects of environmental stressors on social behavior may be unpredictable and dependent on the metric used to measure cohesion, highlighting the need for mechanistic studies to link behavior to the physiology and sensory effects of environmental stressors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Martin J. How
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of BristolBristolUK
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44
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van Moorsel SJ, Thébault E, Radchuk V, Narwani A, Montoya JM, Dakos V, Holmes M, De Laender F, Pennekamp F. Predicting effects of multiple interacting global change drivers across trophic levels. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:1223-1238. [PMID: 36461630 PMCID: PMC7614140 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Global change encompasses many co-occurring anthropogenic drivers, which can act synergistically or antagonistically on ecological systems. Predicting how different global change drivers simultaneously contribute to observed biodiversity change is a key challenge for ecology and conservation. However, we lack the mechanistic understanding of how multiple global change drivers influence the vital rates of multiple interacting species. We propose that reaction norms, the relationships between a driver and vital rates like growth, mortality, and consumption, provide insights to the underlying mechanisms of community responses to multiple drivers. Understanding how multiple drivers interact to affect demographic rates using a reaction-norm perspective can improve our ability to make predictions of interactions at higher levels of organization-that is, community and food web. Building on the framework of consumer-resource interactions and widely studied thermal performance curves, we illustrate how joint driver impacts can be scaled up from the population to the community level. A simple proof-of-concept model demonstrates how reaction norms of vital rates predict the prevalence of driver interactions at the community level. A literature search suggests that our proposed approach is not yet used in multiple driver research. We outline how realistic response surfaces (i.e., multidimensional reaction norms) can be inferred by parametric and nonparametric approaches. Response surfaces have the potential to strengthen our understanding of how multiple drivers affect communities as well as improve our ability to predict when interactive effects emerge, two of the major challenges of ecology today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia J. van Moorsel
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Department of GeographyUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Elisa Thébault
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Université Paris Est Créteil, Université Paris Cité, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris (iEES‐Paris)ParisFrance
| | - Viktoriia Radchuk
- Department of Ecological DynamicsLeibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife ResearchBerlinGermany
| | - Anita Narwani
- Department of Aquatic EcologyEawagDübendorfSwitzerland
| | - José M. Montoya
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology StationCNRSMoulisFrance
| | - Vasilis Dakos
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM)Université de Montpellier, IRD, EPHEMontpellierFrance
| | - Mark Holmes
- Namur Institute for Complex Systems (naXys), Institute of Life, Earth, and Environment (ILEE), Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of NamurNamurBelgium
| | - Frederik De Laender
- Namur Institute for Complex Systems (naXys), Institute of Life, Earth, and Environment (ILEE), Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of NamurNamurBelgium
| | - Frank Pennekamp
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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Verheyen J, Stoks R. Thermal Performance Curves in a Polluted World: Too Cold and Too Hot Temperatures Synergistically Increase Pesticide Toxicity. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:3270-3279. [PMID: 36787409 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Ecotoxicological studies typically cover only a limited part of the natural thermal range of populations and ignore daily temperature fluctuations (DTFs). Therefore, we may miss important stressor interaction patterns and have poor knowledge on how pollutants affect thermal performance curves (TPCs), which is needed to improve insights into the fate of populations to warming in a polluted world. We tested the single and combined effects of pesticide exposure and DTFs on the TPCs of low- and high-latitude populations of Ischnura elegans damselfly larvae. While chlorpyrifos did not have any effect at the intermediate mean temperatures (20-24 °C), it became toxic (reflecting synergisms) at lower (≤16 °C, reduced growth) and especially at higher (≥28 °C, reduced survival and growth) mean temperatures, resulting in more concave-shaped TPCs. Remarkably, these toxicity patterns were largely consistent at both latitudes and hence across a natural thermal gradient. Moreover, DTFs magnified the pesticide-induced survival reductions at 34 °C. The TPC perspective allowed us to identify different toxicity patterns and interaction types (mainly additive vs synergistic) across the thermal gradient. This highlights the importance of using thermal gradients to make more realistic predictions about the impact of pesticides in a warming world and of warming in a polluted world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Verheyen
- Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Robby Stoks
- Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
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Grunst AS, Grunst ML, Grémillet D, Kato A, Bustamante P, Albert C, Brisson-Curadeau É, Clairbaux M, Cruz-Flores M, Gentès S, Perret S, Ste-Marie E, Wojczulanis-Jakubas K, Fort J. Mercury Contamination Challenges the Behavioral Response of a Keystone Species to Arctic Climate Change. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:2054-2063. [PMID: 36652233 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c08893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Combined effects of multiple, climate change-associated stressors are of mounting concern, especially in Arctic ecosystems. Elevated mercury (Hg) exposure in Arctic animals could affect behavioral responses to changes in foraging landscapes caused by climate change, generating interactive effects on behavior and population resilience. We investigated this hypothesis in little auks (Alle alle), a keystone Arctic seabird. We compiled behavioral data for 44 birds across 5 years using accelerometers while also quantifying blood Hg and environmental conditions. Warm sea surface temperature (SST) and low sea ice coverage reshaped time activity budgets (TABs) and diving patterns, causing decreased resting, increased flight, and longer dives. Mercury contamination was not associated with TABs. However, highly contaminated birds lengthened interdive breaks when making long dives, suggesting Hg-induced physiological limitations. As dive durations increased with warm SST, subtle toxicological effects threaten to increasingly constrain diving and foraging efficiency as climate change progresses, with ecosystem-wide repercussions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea S Grunst
- Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, La Rochelle FR-17000, France
| | - Melissa L Grunst
- Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, La Rochelle FR-17000, France
| | - David Grémillet
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS─Université de Montpellier─Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier─EPHE, Montpellier 34090, France
- Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa
| | - Akiko Kato
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), UMR 7372 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France
| | - Paco Bustamante
- Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, La Rochelle FR-17000, France
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), 1 rue Descartes, Paris 75005, France
| | - Céline Albert
- Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, La Rochelle FR-17000, France
| | - Émile Brisson-Curadeau
- McGill University─Macdonald Campus, 21111 Lakeshore Dr, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec H9X 3V9, Canada
| | - Manon Clairbaux
- School of Biological, Environmental and Earth Sciences, University College Cork, Cork T23 N73K, Ireland
- MaREI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork P43 C573, Ireland
| | - Marta Cruz-Flores
- Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, La Rochelle FR-17000, France
| | - Sophie Gentès
- Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, La Rochelle FR-17000, France
| | - Samuel Perret
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS─Université de Montpellier─Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier─EPHE, Montpellier 34090, France
| | - Eric Ste-Marie
- McGill University─Macdonald Campus, 21111 Lakeshore Dr, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec H9X 3V9, Canada
| | | | - Jérôme Fort
- Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 Rue Olympe de Gouges, La Rochelle FR-17000, France
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47
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Sun S, Dziuba MK, Jaye RN, Duffy MA. Transgenerational plasticity in a zooplankton in response to elevated temperature and parasitism. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9767. [PMID: 36760704 PMCID: PMC9897957 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Organisms are increasingly facing multiple stressors, which can simultaneously interact to cause unpredictable impacts compared with a single stressor alone. Recent evidence suggests that phenotypic plasticity can allow for rapid responses to altered environments, including biotic and abiotic stressors, both within a generation and across generations (transgenerational plasticity). Parents can potentially "prime" their offspring to better cope with similar stressors or, alternatively, might produce offspring that are less fit because of energetic constraints. At present, it remains unclear exactly how biotic and abiotic stressors jointly mediate the responses of transgenerational plasticity and whether this plasticity is adaptive. Here, we test the effects of biotic and abiotic environmental changes on within- and transgenerational plasticity using a Daphnia-Metschnikowia zooplankton-fungal parasite system. By exposing parents and their offspring consecutively to the single and combined effects of elevated temperature and parasite infection, we showed that transgenerational plasticity induced by temperature and parasite stress influenced host fecundity and lifespan; offsprings of mothers who were exposed to one of the stressors were better able to tolerate elevated temperature, compared with the offspring of mothers who were exposed to neither or both stressors. Yet, the negative effects caused by parasite infection were much stronger, and this greater reduction in host fitness was not mitigated by transgenerational plasticity. We also showed that elevated temperature led to a lower average immune response, and that the relationship between immune response and lifetime fecundity reversed under elevated temperature: the daughters of exposed mothers showed decreased fecundity with increased hemocyte production at ambient temperature but the opposite relationship at elevated temperature. Together, our results highlight the need to address questions at the interface of multiple stressors and transgenerational plasticity and the importance of considering multiple fitness-associated traits when evaluating the adaptive value of transgenerational plasticity under changing environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Syuan‐Jyun Sun
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA,International Degree Program in Climate Change and Sustainable DevelopmentNational Taiwan UniversityTaipeiTaiwan
| | - Marcin K. Dziuba
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
| | - Riley N. Jaye
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
| | - Meghan A. Duffy
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
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48
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Wood CL, Vanhove MPM. Is the world wormier than it used to be? We'll never know without natural history collections. J Anim Ecol 2023; 92:250-262. [PMID: 35959636 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Many disease ecologists and conservation biologists believe that the world is wormier than it used to be-that is, that parasites are increasing in abundance through time. This argument is intuitively appealing. Ecologists typically see parasitic infections, through their association with disease, as a negative endpoint, and are accustomed to attributing negative outcomes to human interference in the environment, so it slots neatly into our worldview that habitat destruction, biodiversity loss and climate change should have the collateral consequence of causing outbreaks of parasites. But surprisingly, the hypothesis that parasites are increasing in abundance through time remains entirely untested for the vast majority of wildlife parasite species. Historical data on parasites are nearly impossible to find, which leaves no baseline against which to compare contemporary parasite burdens. If we want to know whether the world is wormier than it used to be, there is only one major research avenue that will lead to an answer: parasitological examination of specimens preserved in natural history collections. Recent advances demonstrate that, for many specimen types, it is possible to extract reliable data on parasite presence and abundance. There are millions of suitable specimens that exist in collections around the world. When paired with contemporaneous environmental data, these parasitological data could even point to potential drivers of change in parasite abundance, including climate, pollution or host density change. We explain how to use preserved specimens to address pressing questions in parasite ecology, give a few key examples of how collections-based parasite ecology can resolve these questions, identify some pitfalls and workarounds, and suggest promising areas for research. Natural history specimens are 'parasite time capsules' that give ecologists the opportunity to test whether infectious disease is on the rise and to identify what forces might be driving these changes over time. This approach will facilitate major advances in a new sub-discipline: the historical ecology of parasitism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea L Wood
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Maarten P M Vanhove
- Centre for Environmental Sciences, Research Group Zoology: Biodiversity & Toxicology, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
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49
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Beckerman AP. The context dependency of multiple stressor effects on biodiversity: A commentary on Kefford et al. (2022). GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:563-565. [PMID: 36300879 PMCID: PMC10091756 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew P. Beckerman
- School of Biosciences, Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyThe University of SheffieldSheffieldUK
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50
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Kefford BJ, Nichols SJ, Duncan RP. The cumulative impacts of anthropogenic stressors vary markedly along environmental gradients. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:590-602. [PMID: 36114730 PMCID: PMC10087255 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Revised: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the cumulative effects of multiple stressors on biodiversity is key to managing their impacts. Stressor interactions are often studied using an additive/antagonistic/synergistic typology, aimed at identifying situations where individual stressor effects are reduced or amplified when they act in combination. Here, we analysed variation in the family richness of stream macroinvertebrates in the groups Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) at 4658 sites spanning a 32° latitudinal range in eastern Australia in relation to two largely human-induced stressors, salinity and turbidity, and two environmental gradients, temperature and slope. The cumulative and interactive effect of salinity and turbidity on EPT family richness varied across the landscape and by habitat (edge or riffle) such that we observed additive, antagonistic and synergistic outcomes depending on the environmental context. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the consistency of multiple stressor impacts, which will involve higher-order interactions between multiple stressors and environmental factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben J. Kefford
- Centre for Applied Water ScienceInstitute for Applied Ecology, University of CanberraCanberraAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
| | - Susan J. Nichols
- Centre for Applied Water ScienceInstitute for Applied Ecology, University of CanberraCanberraAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
| | - Richard P. Duncan
- Centre for Conservation Ecology and GenomicsInstitute for Applied Ecology, University of CanberraCanberraAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
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