Keryn B. Gedan , Whitney C. Hoot , Eduardo Fernández-Pascual
{"title":"Plant competition dominates grass species interactions in a migrating marsh-forest ecotone","authors":"Keryn B. Gedan , Whitney C. Hoot , Eduardo Fernández-Pascual","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100095","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100095","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ecotone communities are areas of high species turnover and steep environmental gradients. We investigated how environmental gradients shape species interactions between upland and tidal wetland grass species to shed light on zonation in these species’ distribution patterns, in the context of understanding how their distributions may change with sea level rise and forest dieback. Across the coastal marsh-forest ecotone, there are stark shifts in two vital conditions for plants: salinity and light availability. We measured these abiotic conditions and plant productivity at sites spanning the ecotone and within a forest clear-cut, where canopy shading had been experimentally removed. In a greenhouse manipulation of plant species neighbor, salinity, and light availability, we hypothesized that plant interactions would become more facilitative in stressful conditions and that more salt tolerant species would also be more light-demanding. Species salt tolerance followed an expected ranking based on species zonation in the field, but all species responded similarly to reductions in light. Plant interactions in all treatments were negative or neutral, never facilitative. Despite low resource availability of light and elevated levels of salinity within the marsh-forest ecotone, plant interactions there reflect a benign stress environment, in which competition is predominant and where resource limitation, stress, and competition have additive, negative effects on plant performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"9 ","pages":"Article 100095"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759142","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Headwinds to understanding stress response physiology: A systematic review reveals mismatch between real and simulated marine heatwaves on coral reefs","authors":"Harmony A. Martell , Simon D. Donner","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100094","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100094","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Laboratory experiments have long been used to guide predictions of organismal stress in response to the rapidly changing climate. However, the ability to simulate real world conditions in the laboratory can be a barrier to prediction accuracy. We performed a systematic review of experimental coral bleaching literature and assembled a database to identify the methods used to measure bleaching in heating experiments and assess how closely heating experiments resembled marine heatwaves (MHWs) on coral reefs. Observations of the maximum photochemical yield of Photosystem II (<em>F</em><sub>V</sub>/<em>F</em><sub>M</sub>), though not a direct measure of dysbiosis, vastly outnumbered Symbiodiniaceae density and chlorophyll observations in the reviewed literature, indicating its widespread misuse as a proxy for coral dysbiosis. Laboratory studies in our database used higher maximum temperatures (∼ 0.9 ×), degree heating times (∼ 1.7 ×) and heating rates (∼ 7.3 ×), and shorter durations (∼ 1.5 ×), than MHWs on coral reefs. We then asked whether exposure differences between laboratory experiments and reef conditions altered the relationship between coral dysbiosis and heating metrics using the example of hormesis. We fit curves on the data both with and without ecologically relevant heating metrics and found hormetic curves in some response variables that were altered with the exclusion of exposures that fell outside of the bounds of MHWs on coral reefs, indicating a high likelihood of prediction error. We recommend that laboratory-based studies of coral dysbiosis use ecologically relevant exposures to improve predictions of the physiological response of corals to our rapidly warming oceans.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"10 ","pages":"Article 100094"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144107235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A year in review: Environmental policy changes in 2024","authors":"Alice C. Hughes","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100093","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100093","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"9 ","pages":"Article 100093"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144088786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roger Bruce Syngkli, Prabhat Kumar Rai, Lalnuntluanga
{"title":"Expanding horizon of invasive alien plants under the interacting effects of global climate change: Multifaceted impacts and management prospects","authors":"Roger Bruce Syngkli, Prabhat Kumar Rai, Lalnuntluanga","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100092","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2025.100092","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anthropogenic disturbances driven introduction of invasive alien plants (IAP) threatened the native biodiversity and environmental sustainability. IAP induced biotic homogenization can also disrupt ecosystem functioning/-services and socio-economy. Multifaceted threats of IAP can further be exacerbated under the interactive effects of climate change. However, IAP-climate change interaction is insufficiently addressed. Therefore, present review attempts to explicitly elucidate this linkage for cross-sectoral invasion ecology and management research. Changes in climatic variables also facilitated IAP to expand their horizon irrespective of the extreme climate and geographical barriers, which enhanced the vulnerability of protected areas rich in endemics. Moreover, IAP-climate change impacted the forestry/agroforestry systems by restricting abiotic resources and influencing forest regeneration, litter stock, and nutrient cycling. Consequently, IAP-climate change can influence ecological economics, livelihood, and human well-being. Implementation of species distribution model (SDM) into management and mitigation strategies is required to control IAP along with the present and future climate change scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"9 ","pages":"Article 100092"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143175447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
James N. Helferich , Richard B. King , Lisa J. Faust , Sarah J. Baker , Michael J. Dreslik , Kenton Otterbein , Jennifer A. Moore , Doug Wynn , Thomas A. Bell , Robyn L. Bailey , Kristin Wildman , Glenn Johnson , Matthew Kleitch , Karen Cedar , Rori A. Paloski , Jonathan D. Choquette , John M. Adamski , Eric T. Hileman
{"title":"Projected climate change effects on individual growth rates and size in a threatened pitviper","authors":"James N. Helferich , Richard B. King , Lisa J. Faust , Sarah J. Baker , Michael J. Dreslik , Kenton Otterbein , Jennifer A. Moore , Doug Wynn , Thomas A. Bell , Robyn L. Bailey , Kristin Wildman , Glenn Johnson , Matthew Kleitch , Karen Cedar , Rori A. Paloski , Jonathan D. Choquette , John M. Adamski , Eric T. Hileman","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100091","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100091","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ectotherms are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they rely on the surrounding environment for thermoregulation. In snakes, prolonged warmer temperatures and precipitation changes may lead to faster growth and smaller body size. Our goal was to assess how climate change may impact future sizes and growth rates on an endangered pitviper species as a model organism. We hypothesized that climate change-induced shifts in growing season temperature, early growing season precipitation, and snow residence time (SRT) would impact growth rate and asymptotic size in the threatened Eastern Massasauga (<em>Sistrurus catenatus</em>) rattlesnake. We used capture-mark-recapture data from eleven sites across the species’ range to fit a set of non-linear models evaluating the effects of these three climate variables on asymptotic size and growth coefficient in a modified von Bertalanffy growth curve. We found that longer SRT resulted in larger asymptotic size. We also found support for both a negative relationship between SRT and growth rate and a positive relationship between precipitation and growth rate. We averaged all supported models and predicted growth and size in the 2080s under a stabilization (RCP 4.5) and a high (RCP 8.5) emission scenario. Under RCP 8.5, predicted increases in female growth rate ranged from 10 % to 33 %, whereas decreases in female size across sites ranged from 9 % to 17 %. Under this scenario female lifetime reproductive success will decrease, as faster growth is associated with increased mortality, early senescence, and poor offspring quality, and smaller body sizes will result in smaller and fewer young.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"9 ","pages":"Article 100091"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143175445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jennifer M. Sneed , Justin E. Campbell , Audrey Looby , Aurora Giorgi , Valerie J. Paul
{"title":"Varying effects of climate change on the photosynthesis and calcification of crustose coralline algae: Implications for settlement of coral larvae","authors":"Jennifer M. Sneed , Justin E. Campbell , Audrey Looby , Aurora Giorgi , Valerie J. Paul","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100090","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100090","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coral recruitment is critical to the maintenance of healthy coral reef ecosystems. Many coral species settle preferentially on certain crustose coralline algae (CCA) (e.g., <em>Hydrolithon boergesenii</em>) over others (e.g., <em>Paragoniolithon solubile</em>). Calcifying organisms like CCA are particularly susceptible to ocean acidification (OA), and settlement behavior of larvae may be compromised as seawater temperatures increase (ocean warming; OW) and pH levels decrease as a result of climate change. Here, we examine the effects of future seawater conditions (OW and OA) on the calcification and photosynthetic efficiency of two CCA species, <em>H. boergesenii</em> and <em>Pa. solubile</em>. We also examine the effects of conditioning CCA in combined OA and OW on the settlement preferences of three coral species, <em>Acropora palmata, A. cervicornis</em> and <em>Porites astreoides. Acropora palmata</em> and <em>Po. astreoides</em> demonstrated a preference for <em>H. boergesenii</em> over <em>Pa. solubile</em> in choice experiments after short-term treatment (7–21 days) and this preference was not affected by future seawater conditions. <em>A. cervicornis</em> did not demonstrate a CCA preference under any treatment. <em>Po. astreoides</em> did not demonstrate a CCA preference in no-choice assays and settlement was unaffected by OW and OA even after the longest exposure (99 days). Both CCA had reduced photosynthetic efficiency after exposure to future seawater conditions. However, net calcification rate was reduced in <em>H. boergesenii</em> but not <em>Pa. solubile</em> after exposure to future seawater conditions. These results demonstrate that while climate change may differentially affect the physiological functioning of various species of CCA, coral settlement preferences are unlikely to be altered.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"9 ","pages":"Article 100090"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143175446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anticipated impacts in habitat of diagnostic species of potential natural vegetations due to climate change at the ecotone between temperate and boreal forests","authors":"Aurélie Chalumeau , Yves Bergeron , Mathieu Bouchard , Pierre Grondin , Marie-Claude Lambert , Catherine Périé","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100089","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100089","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Potential natural vegetations are crucial for forest research, management, and monitoring, especially considering their evolution amidst climate change. In Quebec (Canada), these vegetations were defined in the 2000s but haven't been updated since then. Originally, stability in their composition and dynamics relied on unchanged climate, soil characteristics, and disturbance regimes. However, in the southwestern part of Quebec forests, we have enhanced the description of potential natural vegetations using diagnostic species, based on their indicator values and relative abundance. This improvement prompts a reevaluation of these vegetations, particularly at the transition between temperate and boreal forests, considering climate change. Our study, using tree habitat suitability models, reveals that even under a moderately warming scenario (2041–2070 RCP 4.5 W m<sup>−2</sup>), diagnostic coniferous and boreal hardwood species face habitat suitability declines but the current classification remains adequate. However, a more severe warming scenario (2071–2100 RCP 8.5 W m<sup>−2</sup>) results in significant habitat unsuitability for these diagnostic species, questioning the relevance of the current classification at the ecotone. Given the crucial tool of potential natural vegetations in forest management, updating their classification becomes imperative to guide forestry practices' adaptation to climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100089"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142702152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Oluwafemi A Alaba , Sofiane Bechami , Yu-Ying Chen , Tawanda W Gara , Brian Perkins , Yong-Jiang Zhang
{"title":"Will global warming reduce the nutritional quality of wild blueberries?","authors":"Oluwafemi A Alaba , Sofiane Bechami , Yu-Ying Chen , Tawanda W Gara , Brian Perkins , Yong-Jiang Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100088","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100088","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Anthropogenic climate change may affect the nutritional quality of perennial crops. Wild blueberry is a perennial crop of cultural and economic importance and known for its health-promoting properties. Wild blueberry fields in Maine, USA are experiencing unprecedented warming, which may affect the quality and marketability of the fruit. We examined the biochemistry of wild blueberries grown under active open-top heating that elevated temperatures by 3.3 °C, passive open-top heating by 1.2 °C, and ambient conditions (control). We found that total soluble solids, fructose, total soluble sugars and total soluble protein decreased as temperatures increased. In contrast, anthocyanin, total flavonoid and phenolics were not affected. Additionally, warming weakened the correlation between sugars, total soluble solids, and other components. Our results suggest that future global warming may reduce the nutritional value and marketability of wild blueberries. Potential mitigation techniques will need to be developed for future production.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100088"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666900524000066/pdfft?md5=1a0ff0401fa3667bfba41c56557e779b&pid=1-s2.0-S2666900524000066-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142094846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Experimental exposure to winter thaws reveals tipping point in yellow birch bud mortality and phenology in the northern temperate forest of Québec, Canada","authors":"Benjamin Marquis , Geneviève Lajoie","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100087","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of winter thaws, which could affect leaf phenology. Phenology could either be advanced through the acceleration of forcing accumulation or chilling completion, or be postponed through a reduction in chilling associated with warming air temperature. We tested the influence of winter thaws on budburst phenology by exposing 300 tree cuttings of sugar maple and yellow birch trees to five different frequencies and durations of winter thaws in the lab. In spring, half of the cuttings were exposed to air temperature in two cities representing an air temperature gradient of + 2.0 °C to mimic the ongoing climate warming and bud phenology was monitored three times a week. Irrespective of thaw treatment, yellow birch bud phenology occurred earlier in the warmer city, showing the importance of spring temperature in triggering budburst. The treatment with the highest frequency and duration of thawing increased bud mortality and delayed the onset of spring budburst whereas low frequency treatments did not, thereby identifying a tipping point (3 days twice a month) in the impact of winter thaws on bud phenology. Past this point, winter thaws could slow down bud phenology induced by warmer spring temperature and limit carbon uptake by delaying the closure of the canopy. Climate change simulations projected by the CMIP6 Canadian downscaled climate scenario show that winter thaws will increase in frequency Hence the expected advance in spring leaf emergence associated with warmer spring is not necessarily as straightforward as previously thought.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100087"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666900524000054/pdfft?md5=54ea7491c53cc6e1ffc25516d9af2290&pid=1-s2.0-S2666900524000054-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140643640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Erica J. Newton, Bruce A. Pond, Richard E. Feldman, Erin L. Koen
{"title":"Deerly departed: Using motor-vehicle accidents to determine factors influencing white-tailed deer rut timing in Ontario, Canada","authors":"Erica J. Newton, Bruce A. Pond, Richard E. Feldman, Erin L. Koen","doi":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100086","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecochg.2024.100086","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In seasonal environments conception is timed such that offspring are born at the peak of resource abundance. Although largely determined by photoperiod, reproductive timing can also be modulated by fluctuating environmental conditions. Some studies show that reproduction is occurring earlier, coinciding with an earlier spring as the climate warms. A failure to synchronize parturition with the advancing spring flush of resources can lower reproductive fitness; on the other hand, a longer growing season could be beneficial to some species. We asked whether breeding phenology of white-tailed deer (<em>Odocoileus virginianus</em>) has changed with changing environmental conditions. Using 29 years of wildlife motor-vehicle accident data (1988–2016) as an index of deer rut behaviour in southern Ontario, Canada, we assessed four deer management areas (DMAs) to determine: 1) whether timing of the white-tailed deer rut has changed; 2) whether the growing season has changed; and 3) whether changes in growing season and rut are correlated. We found that in the southwestern-most DMA the peak of the rut is 9 days earlier than in the northeastern-most DMA. The peak of the rut did not change over three decades. We detected an increase in the number of growing degree days, signifying both an earlier start to spring green-up and a later end to fall. The trend toward a longer growing season could have positive impacts on deer populations throughout the province.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100260,"journal":{"name":"Climate Change Ecology","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100086"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666900524000042/pdfft?md5=96a6656470a784f5ad4c6e94eb87bf5d&pid=1-s2.0-S2666900524000042-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140783214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}