Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes

PeerJ

article

Elena Maggi¹  Mario Cappiello¹  Antonella Del Corso¹  Francesca Lenzarini¹  Eleonora Peroni¹  Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi¹ 

[1] Department of Biology, University of Pisa;CoNISMa, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare

关键词: Extreme climatic events;    Rocky intertidal gastropod;    Antioxidant mechanisms;    Phenotypic plasticity;    Ecological scaling;    Interaction strength;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.2533

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundOrganisms are facing increasing levels of environmental stress under climate change that may severely affect the functioning of biological systems at different levels of organization. Growing evidence suggests that reduction in body size is a universal response of organisms to global warming. However, a clear understanding of whether extreme climate events will impose selection directly on phenotypic plastic responses and how these responses affect ecological interactions has remained elusive.MethodsWe experimentally investigated the effects of extreme desiccation events on antioxidant defense mechanisms of a rocky intertidal gastropod (Patella ulyssiponensis), and evaluated how these effects scaled-up at the population and assemblage levels.ResultsWith increasing levels of desiccation stress, limpets showed significant lower levels of total glutathione, tended to grow less and had reduced per capita interaction strength on their resources.DiscussionResults suggested that phenotypic plasticity (i.e., reduction in adults’ body size) allowed buffering biochemical responses to stress to scale-up at the assemblage level. Unveiling the linkages among different levels of biological organization is key to develop indicators that can anticipate large-scale ecological impacts of climate change.

【 授权许可】

CC BY