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Wilkes LN, Barner AK, Keyes AA, Morton D, Byrnes JEK, Dee LE. Quantifying co-extinctions and ecosystem service vulnerability in coastal ecosystems experiencing climate warming. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17422. [PMID: 39034898 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17422] [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: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 06/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Climate change is negatively impacting ecosystems and their contributions to human well-being, known as ecosystem services. Previous research has mainly focused on the direct effects of climate change on species and ecosystem services, leaving a gap in understanding the indirect impacts resulting from changes in species interactions within complex ecosystems. This knowledge gap is significant because the loss of a species in a food web can lead to additional species losses or "co-extinctions," particularly when the species most impacted by climate change are also the species that play critical roles in food web persistence or provide ecosystem services. Here, we present a framework to investigate the relationships among species vulnerability to climate change, their roles within the food web, their contributions to ecosystem services, and the overall persistence of these systems and services in the face of climate-induced species losses. To do this, we assess the robustness of food webs and their associated ecosystem services to climate-driven species extinctions in eight empirical rocky intertidal food webs. Across food webs, we find that highly connected species are not the most vulnerable to climate change. However, we find species that directly provide ecosystem services are more vulnerable to climate change and more connected than species that do not directly provide services, which results in ecosystem service provision collapsing before food webs. Overall, we find that food webs are more robust to climate change than the ecosystem services they provide and show that combining species roles in food webs and services with their vulnerability to climate change offer predictions about the impacts of co-extinctions for future food web and ecosystem service persistence. However, these conclusions are limited by data availability and quality, underscoring the need for more comprehensive data collection on linking species roles in interaction networks and their vulnerabilities to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lexi N Wilkes
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Aislyn A Keyes
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Boothbay, Maine, USA
| | - Dana Morton
- Department of Biology, Colby College, Waterville, Maine, USA
| | - Jarrett E K Byrnes
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Laura E Dee
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
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2
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Kristiansen T, Butenschön M, Peck MA. Statistically downscaled CMIP6 ocean variables for European waters. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1209. [PMID: 38216604 PMCID: PMC10786869 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51160-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/01/2024] [Indexed: 01/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Climate change impact studies need climate projections for different scenarios and at scales relevant to planning and management, preferably for a variety of models and realizations to capture the uncertainty in these models. To address current gaps, we statistically downscaled (SD) 3-7 CMIP6 models for five key indicators of marine habitat conditions: temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen, and chlorophyll across European waters for three climate scenarios SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5. Results provide ensemble averages and uncertainty estimates that can serve as input data for projecting the potential success of a range of Nature-based Solutions, including the restoration of habitat-forming species such as seagrass in the Mediterranean and kelp in coastal areas of Portugal and Norway. Evaluation of the ensemble with observations from four European regions (North Sea, Baltic Sea, Bay of Biscay, and Mediterranean Sea) indicates that the SD projections realistically capture the climatological conditions of the historical period 1993-2020. Model skill (Liu-mean efficiency, Pearson correlation) clearly improves for both surface temperature and oxygen across all regions with respect to the original ESMs demonstrating a higher skill for temperature compared to oxygen. Warming is evident across all areas and large differences among scenarios fully emerge from the background uncertainties related to internal variability and model differences in the second half of the century. Scenario-specific differences in acidification significantly emerge from model uncertainty and internal variability leading to distinct trajectories in surface pH starting before mid-century (in some cases starting from present day). Deoxygenation is also present across all domains, but the climate signal was significantly weaker compared to the other two indicators when compared to model uncertainty and internal variability, and the impact of different greenhouse gas trajectories is less distinct. The substantial regional and local heterogeneity in these three abiotic indicators underscores the need for highly spatially resolved physical and biogeochemical projections to understand how climate change may impact marine ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trond Kristiansen
- Farallon Institute, Petaluma, CA, USA.
- Actea Inc, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway.
| | - Momme Butenschön
- CMCC Foundation-Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Bologna, Italy
| | - Myron A Peck
- Department of Coastal Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, The Netherlands
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Dosi A, Meziti A, Tounta E, Koemtzopoulos K, Komnenou A, Dendrinos P, Kormas K. Fecal and skin microbiota of two rescued Mediterranean monk seal pups during rehabilitation. Microbiol Spectr 2024; 12:e0280523. [PMID: 38084980 PMCID: PMC10783143 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02805-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE This study showed that during the rehabilitation of two rescued Mediterranean monk seal pups (Monachus monachus), the skin and fecal bacterial communities showed similar succession patterns between the two individuals. This finding means that co-housed pups share their microbiomes, and this needs to be considered in cases of infection outbreaks and their treatment. The housing conditions, along with the feeding scheme and care protocols, including the admission of antibiotics as prophylaxis, probiotics, and essential food supplements, resulted in bacterial communities with no apparent pathogenic bacteria. This is the first contribution to the microbiome of the protected seal species of M. monachus and contributes to the animal's conservation practices through its microbiome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aggeliki Dosi
- Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
| | - Alexandra Meziti
- Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
| | - Eleni Tounta
- MOm/Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal, Athens, Greece
| | - Kimon Koemtzopoulos
- MOm/Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal, Athens, Greece
| | - Anastasia Komnenou
- School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Panagiotis Dendrinos
- MOm/Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal, Athens, Greece
| | - Konstantinos Kormas
- Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
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Corregidor-Castro A, Morinay J, McKinlay SE, Ramellini S, Assandri G, Bazzi G, Glavaschi A, De Capua EL, Grapputo A, Romano A, Morganti M, Cecere JG, Pilastro A, Rubolini D. Experimental nest cooling reveals dramatic effects of heatwaves on reproduction in a Mediterranean bird of prey. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:5552-5567. [PMID: 37469036 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16888] [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: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Future climatic scenarios forecast increases in average temperatures as well as in the frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme events, such as heatwaves. Whereas behavioral adjustments can buffer direct physiological and fitness costs of exposure to excessive temperature in wild animals, these may prove more difficult during specific life stages when vagility is reduced (e.g., early developmental stages). By means of a nest cooling experiment, we tested the effects of extreme temperatures on different stages of reproduction in a cavity-nesting Mediterranean bird of prey, the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), facing a recent increase in the frequency of heatwaves during its breeding season. Nest temperature in a group of nest boxes placed on roof terraces was reduced by shading them from direct sunlight in 2 consecutive years (2021 and 2022). We then compared hatching failure, mortality, and nestling morphology between shaded and non-shaded (control) nest boxes. Nest temperature in control nest boxes was on average 3.9°C higher than in shaded ones during heatwaves, that is, spells of extreme air temperature (>37°C for ≥2 consecutive days) which hit the study area during the nestling-rearing phase in both years. Hatching failure markedly increased with increasing nest temperature, rising above 50% when maximum nest temperatures exceeded 44°C. Nestlings from control nest boxes showed higher mortality during heatwaves (55% vs. 10% in shaded nest boxes) and those that survived further showed impaired morphological growth (body mass and skeletal size). Hence, heatwaves occurring during the breeding period can have both strong lethal and sublethal impacts on different components of avian reproduction, from egg hatching to nestling growth. More broadly, these findings suggest that the projected future increases of summer temperatures and heatwave frequency in the Mediterranean basin and elsewhere in temperate areas may threaten the local persistence of even relatively warm-adapted species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Corregidor-Castro
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio, Italy
| | - Jennifer Morinay
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Bologna, Italy
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Institutt for Biologi, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Susan E McKinlay
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Samuele Ramellini
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Giacomo Assandri
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Bologna, Italy
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Gaia Bazzi
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Bologna, Italy
| | | | | | - Alessandro Grapputo
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Centre, Palermo, Italy
| | - Andrea Romano
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Michelangelo Morganti
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio, Italy
| | - Jacopo G Cecere
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Bologna, Italy
| | - Andrea Pilastro
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Centre, Palermo, Italy
| | - Diego Rubolini
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque (CNR-IRSA), Brugherio, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
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Tignat-Perrier R, van de Water JAJM, Allemand D, Ferrier-Pagès C. Holobiont responses of mesophotic precious red coral Corallium rubrum to thermal anomalies. ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME 2023; 18:70. [PMID: 37580830 PMCID: PMC10424431 DOI: 10.1186/s40793-023-00525-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
Marine heat waves (MHWs) have increased in frequency and intensity worldwide, causing mass mortality of benthic organisms and loss of biodiversity in shallow waters. The Mediterranean Sea is no exception, with shallow populations of habitat-forming octocorals facing the threat of local extinction. The mesophotic zone, which is less affected by MHWs, may be of ecological importance in conservation strategies for these species. However, our understanding of the response of mesophotic octocoral holobionts to changes in seawater temperature remains limited. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a study on an iconic Mediterranean octocoral, the red coral Corallium rubrum sampled at 60 m depth and 15 °C. We exposed the colonies to temperatures they occasionally experience (18 °C) and temperatures that could occur at the end of the century if global warming continues (21 °C). We also tested their response to extremely cold and warm temperatures (12 °C and 24 °C). Our results show a high tolerance of C. rubrum to a two-month long exposure to temperatures ranging from 12 to 21 °C as no colony showed signs of tissue loss, reduced feeding ability, stress-induced gene expression, or disruption of host-bacterial symbioses. At 24 °C, however, we measured a sharp decrease in the relative abundance of Spirochaetaceae, which are the predominant bacterial symbionts under healthy conditions, along with a relative increase in Vibrionaceae. Tissue loss and overexpression of the tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 gene were also observed after two weeks of exposure. In light of ongoing global warming, our study helps predict the consequences of MHWs on mesophotic coralligenous reefs and the biodiversity that depends on them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romie Tignat-Perrier
- Unité de Recherche sur la Biologie des Coraux Précieux CSM-CHANEL, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1er, 98000, Monaco, Principality of Monaco.
- Coral Ecophysiology Laboratory, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1er, 98000, Monaco, Principality of Monaco.
| | - Jeroen A J M van de Water
- Unité de Recherche sur la Biologie des Coraux Précieux CSM-CHANEL, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1er, 98000, Monaco, Principality of Monaco
- Coral Ecophysiology Laboratory, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1er, 98000, Monaco, Principality of Monaco
- Department of Estuarine and Delta Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Korringaweg 7, 4401 NT, Yerseke, The Netherlands
| | - Denis Allemand
- Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1er, 98000, Monaco, Principality of Monaco
| | - Christine Ferrier-Pagès
- Coral Ecophysiology Laboratory, Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1er, 98000, Monaco, Principality of Monaco
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