EcospherePub Date : 2025-03-07DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70198
Smriti Pehim Limbu, Meghan L. Avolio
{"title":"Elevated CO2 and drought modify plant–plant and plant–mycorrhizal interactions in two codominant grasses","authors":"Smriti Pehim Limbu, Meghan L. Avolio","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70198","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Plant–plant interactions play a critical role in shaping plant communities and influencing ecosystem services. However, how these interactions shift between positive (facilitation) and negative (competition) in response to environmental factors, including changes in symbiotic relationships with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), remains less understood. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted an experiment investigating the plant–plant interactions and AMF root colonization of two codominant grasses of tallgrass prairie, <i>Andropogon gerardii</i> and <i>Sorghastrum nutans</i>. We established three neighbor treatments (no neighbor, interspecific, and intraspecific interactions), and exposed the grasses to a combination of water and CO<sub>2</sub> treatments: drought with ambient CO<sub>2</sub>, well-watered with ambient CO<sub>2</sub>, drought with elevated CO<sub>2</sub>, and well-watered with elevated CO<sub>2</sub>. We hypothesized that elevated CO<sub>2</sub> would ameliorate the negative effect of drought on biomass and AMF root colonization in these grasses, and that competition would be most prominent under less stressful conditions (well-watered with ambient or elevated CO<sub>2</sub>), decreasing as stress increased (drought with ambient CO<sub>2</sub>), eventually leading to facilitation under more stressful conditions. Our findings demonstrated that elevated CO<sub>2</sub> ameliorated the negative effects of drought on the aboveground biomass of both grasses. Additionally, drought with ambient CO<sub>2</sub> treatment resulted in competition between plant individuals, which decreased as stress levels increased. Facilitation was observed under the least stressful condition (well-watered with elevated CO<sub>2</sub>) for belowground biomass. Interestingly, AMF root colonization was higher under drought with ambient CO<sub>2</sub> treatment and decreased under drought with elevated CO<sub>2</sub> treatment in the presence of a neighbor, suggesting a stress-dependent response in AMF colonization. Our study revealed a shift in plant–plant and plant–AMF interactions driven by the combined effects of drought and elevated CO<sub>2</sub>. These findings have important implications for understanding how codominant grasses and their symbiotic relationships with AMF may respond to changing climatic conditions in tallgrass prairie.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70198","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143571403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-03-05DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70105
Eva Stricker, Megan O'Connell
{"title":"Amendments and seeding did not augment erosion control structure effectiveness in dry rangelands","authors":"Eva Stricker, Megan O'Connell","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70105","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rangelands in the Western United States are crucial for providing ecosystem services and supporting rural food systems, but they face increased degradation from erosion. Existing erosion management activities leverage physical interventions such as rock structures, but little is known as to whether biological interventions such as seeding or organic amendments may enhance soil health and augment the effects of such rock structures. This study investigates the effectiveness of combining rock structures with organic amendments (wood mulch or compost) and native perennial grass seed addition to address erosion on rangelands. The study was conducted across five cattle ranches in New Mexico with 9–18 active head cuts studied at each ranch. Rock rundown structures were built at each headcut and a plot above each structure received an organic amendment treatment (compost, mulch, or control) and seed addition treatment (seeded or control). Across sites, we found none of the seed additions resulted in plant establishment; therefore, we aggregated all seed addition treatments and focused only on organic amendments and measured soil and vegetation characteristics after one year. Consistently, the rock structures themselves led to channel accretion, but organic amendments had no significant effect on infiltration rate, aggregate stability, channel erosion/accretion, aboveground biomass, vegetation cover, plant richness, or soil organic carbon. Our results indicate that rock structures are an effective solution for addressing small headcuts on arid rangelands but organic amendments and native seed addition were not effective on this time scale, potentially due to severe drought during much of the year in the region. Ranchers and field technicians noted trends of enhanced soil moisture in the amendments compared with controls and were thus interested in pursuing further investigation in amendments in the future, despite the lack of effect in this study.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70105","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143554982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-03-04DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70187
Kira M. Hoffman, Alana J. Clason, Lori D. Daniels
{"title":"Historical fire regimes in whitebark pine ecosystems of west-central British Columbia","authors":"Kira M. Hoffman, Alana J. Clason, Lori D. Daniels","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70187","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Forest ecosystems across western North America are experiencing increasingly large and severe wildfire disturbances. From 2012 to 2024, approximately 600,000 ha of forest in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, British Columbia's largest protected area, were impacted by wildfires. These wildfires burned primarily through lower elevation subboreal forests, but high-severity fire also impacted subalpine and treeline ecosystems across the mountainous provincial park. Whitebark pine is a long-lived and endangered high-elevation tree species experiencing extensive mortality throughout western North America from an invasive pathogen and recent large-scale outbreaks of mountain pine beetle. To understand the impacts of changing fire regimes on subboreal and subalpine whitebark pine ecosystems, we reconstructed the first fire history in North Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. Eleven study sites containing whitebark pine were sampled along lakeshores, islands, knolls, and ridgelines. Our fire history record indicated two key findings. First, fire-scarred trees provided evidence of low-severity fire at all 11 study sites. Our dendrochronological record covered 830 years (1190–2020) and included 127 fire scars during a 580-year period (1377–1957), with a composite mean fire interval of 8 years in the period 1580–1957 recorded across the study area. Second, our results highlight centuries of Indigenous fire stewardship that, combined with lightning, comprised the historical fire regime. Prior to 20th century fire suppression policies, the fire regime was characterized by shorter fire intervals than the contemporary period, effectively reducing available fuels, and creating a mosaic of burned and unburned forests across the landscape. Our research findings highlight the need for proactive and dynamic wildfire management that supports multiple cultural and ecological values across protected areas.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70187","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143554219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-03-03DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70206
Spencer R. Roop, Keith Reinhardt, Ken Aho, Matthew J. Germino, Bryce A. Richardson
{"title":"Cytotype and local adaptation drive phenotypic variation in two subspecies of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)","authors":"Spencer R. Roop, Keith Reinhardt, Ken Aho, Matthew J. Germino, Bryce A. Richardson","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70206","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Big sagebrush (<i>Artemisia tridentata</i>) is a widespread and locally dominant shrub throughout many ecosystems in western North America. <i>A. tridentata</i> ssps. <i>tridentata</i> and <i>wyomingensis</i> are two subspecies whose populations occupy the warm-arid regions of the species range and whose trailing edge is threatened by climate change. Previous studies have presented conflicting results in relation to the genetic control of physiological variation in <i>A. tridentata</i>. Understanding how different genetic factors contribute to physiological variation can provide insight into how these two subspecies may respond to future climate change. To explore possible variation among and within two subspecies of <i>A. tridentata</i>, we measured physiological and morphological traits in <i>A</i>. <i>t</i>. <i>tridentata</i> and <i>A. t. wyomingensis</i> during mid-summer (July), seven years after establishment in a common garden. Contributions to trait variation were quantified for both genetic (subspecies and cytotype) and environmental (climate-of-origin) factors. Measurements revealed an unequal contribution to phenotypic variation by subspecies, cytotype, and climate-of-origin. Ploidy and climate-of-origin were more important than subspecies in driving phenotypic variation in <i>A. tridentata.</i> These findings suggest that <i>A. tridentata</i> has a highly plastic drought response, or that culling (mortality over time due to environmental factors) in the common garden over seven years has led to a lack of genetic diversity within the garden. Understanding what factors drive phenotypic expression in big sagebrush can provide better insight into how climate change may affect migration and extirpation and may aid in the effectiveness of restoration efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70206","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143533532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70208
Joshua I. Brian
{"title":"Pre- and postinfection priority effects have contrasting outcomes for parasite prevalence in host populations","authors":"Joshua I. Brian","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70208","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Parasite species frequently co-occur more or less than expected by chance. These nonrandom co-occurrence patterns can be driven by pre- or postinfection priority effects: parasites are more or less likely to attempt infection in a host already infected by another parasite species or may have higher or lower establishment and survival in hosts already infected by another parasite species. How these two types of priority effects differentially affect parasite distributions at the host population level remains unexplored. Using a probabilistic state transition diagram parameterized with field data and analyzed with two simulation methods, I show that the two types of priority effects lead to contrasting outcomes at the host population level. As preinfection priority effects transition from facilitation to inhibition, uninfected hosts decrease by up to 39%, and hosts infected by both parasites decrease by up to 84%, with concomitant increases in single infections by either parasite species. In contrast, as postinfection priority effects transition from facilitation to inhibition, the proportion of uninfected hosts remains unchanged, but the proportion of hosts infected by both parasites decreases by up to 89%, with increases in hosts singly infected by the first-arriving parasite. Interactions between parasites at the within-host level and the specific nature of those interactions alter infection patterns at the host population level.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70208","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143489736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70189
Sushmita Poudel, Erika S. Zavaleta, Blair C. McLaughlin
{"title":"Ecotypic differences in drought-coping ability in an endemic California oak","authors":"Sushmita Poudel, Erika S. Zavaleta, Blair C. McLaughlin","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70189","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The frequency and severity of drought in the Western United States have significantly increased. California endemic blue oaks (<i>Quercus douglasii</i>) are predicted to be negatively impacted by extreme drought and are already experiencing dieback in the driest areas of their distribution. To explore whether there is drought-adaptive variation among blue oak populations, we conducted a greenhouse common garden drought experiment with seedlings from five sites along a range-wide precipitation gradient. We investigated seedling performance under experimental drought (fluorescence/maximum fluorescence [Fv/Fm], stomatal conductance, and leaf desiccation). We measured physiological and morphological traits, including average leaf area, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf margin morphology, C:N, and carbon isotope discrimination (δ<sup>13</sup>C, a proxy for water use efficiency). We used generalized linear mixed models to understand the relationship between seedling performance and traits, and the mean annual precipitation (MAP) of the seedling source site. We found significant relationships between source site MAP and Fv/Fm, percent of green leaves, and plant stomatal conductance, with plants from drier source sites performing better under the experimental drought. Seedlings from drier sites also had a lower C:N ratio, consistent with adaptation to more arid environments. Our study points to population-level variation in seedling drought adaptation. Climate-forward conservation strategies that conserve or leverage drought-adaptive genetic resources from the species' threatened dry range edge could support climate change resilience in a future drier environment.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70189","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143489730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70184
Lydia V. Jahn, Sarah R. Carrino-Kyker, Alexa R. Busby, David J. Burke
{"title":"Phosphorous fertilization and soil pH affect the growth of deciduous trees in a temperate hardwood forest","authors":"Lydia V. Jahn, Sarah R. Carrino-Kyker, Alexa R. Busby, David J. Burke","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70184","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70184","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Forest ecosystems with altered nutrient limitations are a common legacy of acidic deposition in North America. Continued acidic deposition has lowered soil pH and revealed phosphorus (P) limitations in many temperate forest ecosystems. Previous studies exploring P limitations or co-limitations are often short term, and thus may potentially show a response to limitation that is not sustained over time. To better understand how a forest's response to P limitation and acidic deposition can change over time, we added P, limestone to raise pH, and a cross-treatment where both P and limestone were added to 3 different northeastern Ohio forest stands over a 12-year period. We tracked diameter at breast height of the trees annually, conducted foliar nutrient analyses, and collected tree roots to assess treatment impacts on mycorrhizal colonization. We analyzed our dataset in three sections: the first 6 years after manipulation, the latter 6 years, and the entire 12-year period. These sections allowed us to compare differences between early responses to manipulation and later responses. Here, we found that P additions increased basal area growth across multiple species and throughout the entire study, confirming that our forest trees are P-limited. Cross-treatments similarly increased basal area growth, but not as much as P additions alone. Some species saw waning effects of treatment in the second half of the study. This could be due to changes in weather patterns, an adjustment of the study system's equilibrium, or the emergence of beech leaf disease in 2014, which has led to the decline of <i>Fagus grandifolia</i>. Early successional species such as <i>Acer rubrum</i> began to benefit from treatments after beech leaf disease killed canopy <i>F. grandifolia</i> trees, perhaps first being light-limited, but later able to take advantage of the nutrient additions and pH alteration of their soils. Our results suggest that in forests subject to acidic deposition, soil P may co-limit tree growth, but responses are species dependent.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70184","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143489731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70125
Vratika Chaudhary, Varun R. Goswami, Chandan Ri, James E. Hines, Madan K. Oli
{"title":"Spatiotemporal interactions facilitate sympatry in a diverse mammalian community","authors":"Vratika Chaudhary, Varun R. Goswami, Chandan Ri, James E. Hines, Madan K. Oli","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70125","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding mechanisms underlying coexistence among potential competitors, and between predators and prey, is a persistent challenge in community ecology. Using 6 years (2013–2018) of camera-trapping data and species interaction models, we investigated the spatiotemporal patterns of inter- and intra-guild interspecific interactions in a diverse terrestrial mammalian community in Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve (PTR), Northeast India. We found no evidence of spatial interaction among apex predators (tiger <i>Panthera tigris</i>, leopard <i>Panthera pardus</i>, and dhole <i>Cuon alpinus</i>). However, dholes temporally separated themselves from tigers and leopards. Among small carnivores, marbled cat (<i>Pardofelis marmorata</i>) and leopard cat (<i>Prionailurus bengalensis</i>) exhibited temporal separation, whereas leopard cat overlapped spatially and temporally with other small carnivores. Herbivores exhibited neither spatial nor temporal separation with each other. All apex predators exhibited diel activity and space-use patterns to overlap with their preferred prey. Our results suggest that the assembly of the diverse mammalian community of PTR is a complex process, and coexistence among potential competitors, and predators and prey is likely facilitated by several mechanisms including spatial and temporal segregation, and potentially dietary separation.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70125","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143489735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70195
Tania M. Kenyon, Peter J. Mumby, Gregory E. Webb, Sophie Dove, Steven P. Newman, Christopher Doropoulos
{"title":"Trajectories and agents of binding in stabilized and unstabilized coral rubble across environmental gradients","authors":"Tania M. Kenyon, Peter J. Mumby, Gregory E. Webb, Sophie Dove, Steven P. Newman, Christopher Doropoulos","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70195","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Natural ecosystems are routinely impacted by acute disturbances that generate space for early colonizers. Following disturbances, the interaction strengths of top-down and bottom-up factors across environmental gradients influence community succession. On coral reefs, rubble beds commonly form following major disturbances and can persist for decades. Yet, there is little understanding of the successional pathways that lead to rubble binding—where rubble is bound and consolidated to form stable substrate suitable for coral recruitment—and subsequent coral recovery. This study used observational and experimental methods to determine: (1) binding likelihood in unstabilized in situ rubble beds 2.5 years following a coral bleaching event in 2016 in the Maldives, and how it varied according to rubble characteristics across environmental gradients; and (2) how the number of binds and binder community composition on experimentally stabilized rubble varied temporally over 1.5 years across environmental gradients. Surveys of rubble beds found that binding was lowest on the reef flat (8% of rubble was bound) and highest at exposed deeper sites (38%), where flow appears low enough to maintain rubble stability but high enough to support binder growth. When experimentally stabilized, ~100% of rubble was bound by at least one bind within 6 months. Yet, while the number of binds per rubble piece in experimental units continued to increase over time on the reef slope, it remained low on the reef flat, and binder community composition was distinct between reef flat and slope—likely due to higher sediment transport on the reef flat. Community composition also was distinct between exposed and cryptic rubble microhabitats. On reefs where rubble is mobilized more frequently than every 6 months, rubble beds will likely have low binding potential and delayed coral recruitment. Where sediment flux and deposition is high, recovery is unlikely even if rubble is actively stabilized. In contrast, infrequently mobilized areas with lower sediment flux are more likely to facilitate natural binding and coral recovery, and thus may not require intervention. Our findings can help to effectively guide managers toward the best strategies that facilitate the recovery of rubble-dominated coral reefs, while optimizing limited intervention resources through careful prioritization.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70195","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143489908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EcospherePub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70191
Richelle L. Tanner, Rauri C. K. Bowie, Cynthia Y. Wang-Claypool, Jonathon H. Stillman
{"title":"Variation in thermal tolerance plasticity and the costs of heat exposure in the estuarine sea hare, Phyllaplysia taylori","authors":"Richelle L. Tanner, Rauri C. K. Bowie, Cynthia Y. Wang-Claypool, Jonathon H. Stillman","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70191","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate change is increasing average temperatures and the frequency and intensity of thermal extremes in coastal marine environments. Organisms in coastal marine habitats are accustomed to environmental fluctuations and possess physiological plasticity that may be advantageous in response to increased occurrence of extremes. To examine whether such plasticity is locally adapted to environmental conditions, we investigated the relationship between genetic diversity and thermal tolerance plasticity in 11 populations of the direct-developing intertidal sea hare, <i>Phyllaplysia taylori</i>, on the western coast of the United States. Using whole-organism metrics of muscle function and metabolic rate and a ddRADseq genomic approach, we were unable to identify correlations between heat tolerance and underlying genetics on a population or individual level. <i>P. taylori</i> from all locations consistently exhibited critical thermal maxima (CT<sub>max</sub>) above habitat temperatures (CT<sub>max</sub> ranged from 24 to 35°C, average = 30.1 ± 0.2°C; average habitat temperature across habitats ranged from 12 to 20°C, average = 17 ± 2.7°C). We found little evidence for genetic distinctions between populations and high overall genetic diversity, suggesting more gene flow across long distances than was expected from their direct development life history strategy. The breadth of acclimation capacity we observed (11°C) was substantially wider than that reported for other poikilothermic taxa in the literature and did not follow a latitudinal cline. Our findings suggest that high plasticity of thermal tolerance exists across all populations and genetic panmixia is occurring despite life history limitations; thus, heat tolerance traits may not be under positive selection in <i>P. taylori</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70191","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143489732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}