Potential for adaptation in response to thermal stress in an intertidal macroalga

Novel high-throughput oxygen saturation measurements for quantifying the physiological performance of macroalgal early life stages

Understanding how macroalgal forests will respond to environmental change is critical for predicting future impacts on coastal ecosystems. Although measures of adult macroalgae physiological responses to environmental stress are advancing, measures of early life-stage physiology are rare, in part due to the methodological difficulties associated with their small size. Here we tested a novel, high-throughput method (rate of oxygen consumption and production;V ̇ O 2 $$ \dot{V}{\mathrm{O}}_2 $$ ) via a sensor dish reader microplate system to rapidly measure physiological rates of the early life stages of three habitat-forming macroalgae, the kelp Ecklonia radiata and the fucoids Hormosira banksii and Phyllospora comosa. We measured the rate of O2 consumption (respiration) and O2 production (net primary production) to then calculate gross primary production (GPP) under temperatures representing their natural thermal range. TheV ̇ O 2 $$ \dot{V}{\mathrm{O}}_2 $$ microplate system was suitable for rapidly measuring physiological rates over a temperature gradient to establish thermal performance curves for all species. TheV ̇ O 2 $$ \dot{V}{\mathrm{O}}_2 $$ microplate system proved efficient for measures of early life stages of macroalgae ranging in size from approximately 50 μm up to 150 mm. This method has the potential for measuring responses of early life stages across a range of environmental factors, species, populations, and developmental stages, vastly increasing the speed, precision, and efficacy of macroalgal physiological measures under future ocean change scenarios.

Genomic vulnerability of a dominant seaweed points to future-proofing pathways for Australia's underwater forests

Globally, critical habitats are in decline, threatening ecological, economic and social values and prompting calls for 'future proofing' efforts that enhance resilience to climate change. Such efforts rely on predicting how neutral and adaptive genomic patterns across a species' distribution will change under future climate scenarios, but data is scant for most species of conservation concern. Here, we use seascape genomics to characterise genetic diversity, structure and gene-environmental associations in a dominant forest-forming seaweed, Phyllospora comosa, along its entire latitudinal (12° latitude), and thermal (~14°C) range. Phyllospora showed high connectivity throughout its central range, with evidence of genetic structure and potential selection associated with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) at its rear and leading edges. Rear and leading-edge populations harboured only half the genetic diversity of central populations. By modelling genetic turnover as a function of SST, we assessed the genomic vulnerability across Phyllospora's distributional range under climate change scenarios. Despite low diversity, range-edge populations were predicted to harbour beneficial adaptations to marginal conditions and overall adaptability of the species may be compromised by their loss. Assisted gene flow from range edge populations may be required to enhance adaptation and increase resilience of central and leading-edge populations under warming oceans. Understanding genomic vulnerability can inform proactive restoration and future-proofing strategies for underwater forests and ensure their persistence in changing oceans.

Acclimation history modulates effect size of calcareous algae (Halimeda opuntia) to herbicide exposure under future climate scenarios

Tropical marine habitat-builders such as calcifying green algae can be susceptible to climate change (warming and acidification). This study evaluated the cumulative effects of ocean warming (OW), ocean acidification (OA) and the herbicide diuron on the calcifying green algae Halimeda opuntia. We also assessed the influence of acclimation history to experimental climate change conditions on physiological responses. H. opuntia were exposed for 15 days to orthogonal combinations of three climate scenarios [ambient (28 °C, pCO₂ = 378 ppm), 2050 (29 °C, pCO₂ = 567 ppm) and 2100 (30 °C, pCO₂ = 721 ppm)] and to six diuron concentrations (up to 29 μg L^-1). Half of the H. opuntia had been acclimated for eight months to the climate scenarios in a mesocosm approach, while the remaining half were not pre-acclimated, as is current practice in most experiments. Climate effects on quantum yield (ΔF/Fm'), photosynthesis and calcification in future climate scenarios were significantly stronger (by -24, -46 and +26%, respectively) in non-acclimated algae, suggesting experimental bias may exaggerate effects in organisms not appropriately acclimated to future-climate conditions. Thus, full analysis was done on acclimated plants only. Interactive effects of future climate scenarios and diuron were observed for ΔF/Fm', while the detrimental effects of climate and diuron on net photosynthesis and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were additive. Calcification-related enzymes were negatively affected only by diuron, with inhibition of Ca-ATPase and upregulation of carbonic anhydrase. The combined and consistent physiological and biochemical evidence of negative impacts (across six indicators) of both herbicide and future-climate conditions on the health of H. opuntia highlights the need to address both climate change and water quality. Guideline values for contaminants may also need to be lowered considering 'climate adjusted thresholds'. Importantly, this study highlights the value of applying substantial future climate acclimation periods in experimental studies to avoid exaggerated organism responses to OW and OA.

Local thermal adaptation and limited gene flow constrain future climate responses of a marine ecosystem engineer

Rising ocean temperatures and extreme temperature events have precipitated declines and local extinctions in many marine species globally, but patterns of loss are often uneven across species ranges for reasons that are poorly understood. Knowledge of the extent of local adaptation and gene flow may explain such patterns and help predict future trajectories under scenarios of climate change. We test the extent to which local differentiation in thermal tolerance is influenced by gene flow and local adaptation using a widely distributed intertidal seaweed (Hormosira banksii) from temperate Australia. Population surveys across ~2,000 km of the species range revealed strong genetic structuring at regional and local scales (global F ST = 0.243) reflecting extremely limited gene flow, while common garden experiments (14-day exposures to 15, 18, 21°C) revealed strong site differences in early development and mortality in response to elevated temperature. Embryos from many sites spanning a longitudinal thermal gradient showed suppressed development and increased mortality to elevated water temperatures, but populations originating from warmer and more variable thermal environments tended to be less susceptible to warming. Notably, there was significant local-scale variation in the thermal responses of embryos within regions which was corroborated by the finding of small-scale genetic differences. We expect the observed genetic and phenotypic differentiation to lead to uneven responses to warming sea surface temperatures in this important marine foundation species. The study highlights the challenges of predicting species responses to thermal stress and the importance of management strategies that incorporate evolutionary potential for "climate-proofing" marine ecosystems.

Thermal plasticity is independent of environmental history in an intertidal seaweed

Organisms inhabiting the intertidal zone have been used to study natural ecophysiological responses and adaptations to thermal stress because these organisms are routinely exposed to high-temperature conditions for hours at a time. While intertidal organisms may be inherently better at withstanding temperature stress due to regular exposure and acclimation, they could be more vulnerable to temperature stress, already living near the edge of their thermal limits. Strong gradients in thermal stress across the intertidal zone present an opportunity to test whether thermal tolerance is a plastic or canalized trait in intertidal organisms. Here, we studied the intertidal pool-dwelling calcified alga, Ellisolandia elongata, under near-future temperature regimes, and the dependence of its thermal acclimatization response on environmental history. Two timescales of environmental history were tested during this experiment. The intertidal pool of origin was representative of long-term environmental history over the alga's life (including settlement and development), while the pool it was transplanted into accounted for recent environmental history (acclimation over many months). Unexpectedly, neither long-term nor short-term environmental history, nor ambient conditions, affected photosynthetic rates in E. elongata. Individuals were plastic in their photosynthetic response to laboratory temperature treatments (mean 13.2°C, 15.7°C, and 17.7°C). Further, replicate ramets from the same individual were not always consistent in their photosynthetic performance from one experimental time point to another or between treatments and exhibited no clear trend in variability over experimental time. High variability in climate change responses between individuals may indicate the potential for resilience to future conditions and, thus, may play a compensatory role at the population or species level over time.

Cellular Responses of Gelidium floridanum (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta) Tetraspores Under Heat Wave and Copper Pollution

Spore settlement and development are bottlenecks for resilience of habitat-forming macroalgal species. These processes are directly related to temperature, a global stressor protagonist of ocean warming. The toxic effects of local pollutants such as copper may be worsened under a global warming scenario. Therefore, in this paper, we investigated the effects of increased temperature combined with elevated concentrations of copper on the viability, photosynthetic pigments, and ultrastructure of Gelidium floridanum tetraspores. Tetraspores were cultivated on slides with sterilized seawater or seawater enriched with CuCl₂ , and incubated under 24°C or 30°C for 24 h. Tetraspores cultivated with copper 3.0 μM under 30°C had lower viability. Both temperature and copper had a significant effect on phycocyanin and phycoerythrin concentrations. Samples cultivated with copper under 30°C presented a heavily altered cellular structure, with vesicles throughout the cytoplasm, chloroplasts with altered structure and cells with degenerated cytoplasm and cell walls. Our findings show that temperature and copper significantly affect the viability, photosynthetic pigments, and ultrastructure of G. floridanum tetraspores, presenting an additive interaction for the physiology of this seaweed's early stages.

Sensitivities to global change drivers may correlate positively or negatively in a foundational marine macroalga

Ecological impact of global change is generated by multiple synchronous or asynchronous drivers which interact with each other and with intraspecific variability of sensitivities. In three near-natural experiments, we explored response correlations of full-sibling germling families of the seaweed Fucus vesiculosus towards four global change drivers: elevated CO2 (ocean acidification, OA), ocean warming (OW), combined OA and warming (OAW), nutrient enrichment and hypoxic upwelling. Among families, performance responses to OA and OW as well as to OAW and nutrient enrichment correlated positively whereas performance responses to OAW and hypoxia anti-correlated. This indicates (i) that families robust to one of the three drivers (OA, OW, nutrients) will also not suffer from the two other shifts, and vice versa and (ii) families benefitting from OAW will more easily succumb to hypoxia. Our results may imply that selection under either OA, OW or eutrophication would enhance performance under the other two drivers but simultaneously render the population more susceptible to hypoxia. We conclude that intraspecific response correlations have a high potential to boost or hinder adaptation to multifactorial global change scenarios.

Family-level variation in early life-cycle traits of kelp

Temperate kelp forests (Laminarians) are threatened by temperature stress due to ocean warming and photoinhibition due to increased light associated with canopy loss. However, the potential for evolutionary adaptation in kelp to rapid climate change is not well known. This study examined family-level variation in physiological and photosynthetic traits in the early life-cycle stages of the ecologically important Australasian kelp Ecklonia radiata and the response of E. radiata families to different temperature and light environments using a family × environment design. There was strong family-level variation in traits relating to morphology (surface area measures, branch length, branch count) and photosynthetic performance (Fv /Fm ) in both haploid (gametophyte) and diploid (sporophyte) stages of the life-cycle. Additionally, the presence of family × environment interactions showed that offspring from different families respond differently to temperature and light in the branch length of male gametophytes and oogonia surface area of female gametophytes. Negative responses to high temperatures were stronger for females vs. males. Our findings suggest E. radiata may be able to respond adaptively to climate change but studies partitioning the narrow vs. broad sense components of heritable variation are needed to establish the evolutionary potential of E. radiata to adapt under climate change.

Shaping up for stress: Physiological flexibility is key to survivorship in a habitat-forming macroalga

Organisms from all domains of life can have highly variable morphologies, with this plasticity suggested to increase fitness and survivability under stressful conditions. Predicting how organisms will adapt to environmental change requires an understanding of how variable morphologies perform under environmental stress. Morphological plasticity has been documented within marine macroalgae inhabiting environmental gradients, however the functional consequences of this variation has been rarely tested. In this study, form-function was assessed in the habitat-forming, intertidal macroalga Hormosira banksii. Morphological variation was quantified on two spatial scales (tidal gradient versus latitudinal gradient) and the performance tested (relative water content and photosynthetic efficiency) of morphological variants during heat and desiccation stress. At regional scales, individuals at the warm distributional edge were overall smaller in size, and had smaller vesicles (higher surface area to volume ratio; SA:VOL) than those from central populations. At local scales, individuals high on the shore were generally shorter and had larger vesicles than those low on the shore. Vesicle morphology (SA:VOL) was found to predict relative water content and photosynthetic performance during desiccation and rehydration. Differences in SA:VOL of vesicles between heights on the shore may reflect water requirements needed to maintain tissue hydration for photosynthesis during low tide. Warm-edge populations showed increased thermal sensitivity as indicated by decreased photosynthetic yield of PSII and delays in recovery after desiccation. Sensitivities to higher temperatures amongst warm-edge populations are potentially due to smaller fluctuations in regional temperatures as well as their morphology. This study provides a mechanistic understanding of the morphological variation among H. banksii populations. It suggests that H. banksii has a high degree of morphological plasticity reflecting local climate, topography and environmental conditions, with this morphological variation having functional consequences. Morphological variation across local and regional scales will be important for resilience of this species to future climate warming.

Genotypic Diversity and Short-term Response to Shading Stress in a Threatened Seagrass: Does Low Diversity Mean Low Resilience?

Seagrasses that are predominantly clonal often have low levels of genetic variation within populations and predicting their response to changing conditions requires an understanding of whether genetic variation confers increased resistance to environmental stressors. A higher level of genetic diversity is assumed to benefit threatened species due to the increased likelihood of those populations having genotypes that can persist under environmental change. To test this idea, we conducted an in situ shading experiment with six geographically distinct meadows of the threatened seagrass Posidonia australis that vary in genetic diversity. Different genotypes within meadows varied widely in their physiological and growth responses to reduced light during a simulated short-term turbidity event. The majority of meadows were resistant to the sudden reduction in light availability, but a small subset of meadows with low genotypic diversity were particularly vulnerable to the early effects of shading, showing substantially reduced growth rates after only 3 weeks. Using the photosynthetic performance (maximum quantum yield) of known genotypes, we simulated meadows of varying genetic diversity to show that higher diversity can increase meadow resilience to stress by ensuring a high probability of including a high-performing genotype. These results support the hypothesis that complementarity among genotypes enhances the adaptive capacity of a population, and have significant implications for the conservation of declining P. australis meadows close to the species range edge on the east coast of Australia, where the genotypic diversity is low.

Acclimatization and Adaptive Capacity of Marine Species in a Changing Ocean

To persist in an ocean changing in temperature, pH and other stressors related to climate change, many marine species will likely need to acclimatize or adapt to avoid extinction. If marine populations possess adequate genetic variation in tolerance to climate change stressors, species might be able to adapt to environmental change. Marine climate change research is moving away from single life stage studies where individuals are directly placed into projected scenarios ('future shock' approach), to focus on the adaptive potential of populations in an ocean that will gradually change over coming decades. This review summarizes studies that consider the adaptive potential of marine invertebrates to climate change stressors and the methods that have been applied to this research, including quantitative genetics, laboratory selection studies and trans- and multigenerational experiments. Phenotypic plasticity is likely to contribute to population persistence providing time for genetic adaptation to occur. Transgenerational and epigenetic effects indicate that the environmental and physiological history of the parents can affect offspring performance. There is a need for long-term, multigenerational experiments to determine the influence of phenotypic plasticity, genetic variation and transgenerational effects on species' capacity to persist in a changing ocean. However, multigenerational studies are only practicable for short generation species. Consideration of multiple morphological and physiological traits, including changes in molecular processes (eg, DNA methylation) and long-term studies that facilitate acclimatization will be essential in making informed predictions of how the seascape and marine communities will be altered by climate change.

A Review on the Valorization of Macroalgal Wastes for Biomethane Production

The increased use of terrestrial crops for biofuel production and the associated environmental, social and ethical issues have led to a search for alternative biomass materials. Terrestrial crops offer excellent biogas recovery, but compete directly with food production, requiring farmland, fresh water and fertilizers. Using marine macroalgae for the production of biogas circumvents these problems. Their potential lies in their chemical composition, their global abundance and knowledge of their growth requirements and occurrence patterns. Such a biomass industry should focus on the use of residual and waste biomass to avoid competition with the biomass requirements of the seaweed food industry, which has occurred in the case of terrestrial biomass. Overabundant seaweeds represent unutilized biomass in shallow water, beach and coastal areas. These eutrophication processes damage marine ecosystems and impair local tourism; this biomass could serve as biogas feedstock material. Residues from biomass processing in the seaweed industry are also of interest. This is a rapidly growing industry with algae now used in the comestible, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors. The simultaneous production of combustible biomethane and disposal of undesirable biomass in a synergistic waste management system is a concept with environmental and resource-conserving advantages.

Revealing hidden evolutionary capacity to cope with global change

The extent to which global change will impact the long-term persistence of species depends on their evolutionary potential to adapt to future conditions. While the number of studies that estimate the standing levels of adaptive genetic variation in populations under predicted global change scenarios is growing all the time, few studies have considered multiple environments simultaneously and even fewer have considered evolutionary potential in multivariate context. Because conditions will not be constant, adaptation to climate change is fundamentally a multivariate process so viewing genetic variances and covariances over multivariate space will always be more informative than relying on bivariate genetic correlations between traits. A multivariate approach to understanding the evolutionary capacity to cope with global change is necessary to avoid misestimating adaptive genetic variation in the dimensions in which selection will act. We assessed the evolutionary capacity of the larval stage of the marine polychaete Galeolaria caespitosa to adapt to warmer water temperatures. Galeolaria is an important habitat-forming species in Australia, and its earlier life-history stages tend to be more susceptible to stress. We used a powerful quantitative genetics design that assessed the impacts of three temperatures on subsequent survival across over 30 000 embryos across 204 unique families. We found adaptive genetic variation in the two cooler temperatures in our study, but none in the warmest temperature. Based on these results, we would have concluded that this species has very little capacity to evolve to the warmest temperature. However, when we explored genetic variation in multivariate space, we found evidence that larval survival has the potential to evolve even in the warmest temperatures via correlated responses to selection across thermal environments. Future studies should take a multivariate approach to estimating evolutionary capacity to cope with global change lest they misestimate a species' true adaptive potential.

Increased temperature, but not acidification, enhances fertilization and development in a tropical urchin: potential for adaptation to a tropicalized eastern Australia

To predict the effects of global change on marine populations, it is important to measure the effects of climate stressors on performance and potential for adaptation. Adaptation depends on heritable genetic variance for stress tolerance being present in populations. We determined the effects of near-future ocean conditions on fertilization success of the sea urchin Pseudoboletia indiana. In 16 multiple dam-sire crosses, we quantified genetic variation in tolerance of warming (+3°C) and acidification (−0.3 to 0.5 pH units) at the gastrulation stage. Ocean acidification decreased fertilization across all dam-sire combinations with effects of pH significantly differing among the pairings. Decreased pH reduced the percentage of normal gastrulae with negative effects alleviated by increased temperature. Significant sire by environment interactions indicated the presence of heritable variation in tolerance of stressors at gastrulation and thus the potential for selection of resistant genotypes, which may enhance population persistence. A low genetic correlation indicated that genotypes that performed well at gastrulation in low pH did not necessarily perform well at higher temperatures. Furthermore, performance at fertilization was not necessarily a good predictor of performance at the later stage of gastrulation. Southern range edge populations of Pseudoboletia indiana may benefit from future warming with potential for extension of their distribution in south-east Australia.