Community assembly processes restrict the capacity for genetic adaptation under climate change

Ecography ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1164-1174
Author(s):  
Karel Mokany ◽  
Alex Bush ◽  
Simon Ferrier
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Genetic Adaptation

scholarly journals The role of temperature and dispersal in moss-microarthropod community assembly after a catastrophic event

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1605) ◽  
pp. 3042-3049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giselle Perdomo ◽  
Paul Sunnucks ◽  
Ross M. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Habitat Isolation ◽  
Catastrophic Event ◽  
Extreme Climatic Events ◽  
Effects Of Temperature

There is a clear crisis in the maintenance of biodiversity. It has been generated by a multitude of factors, notably habitat loss, now compounded by the effects of climate change. Predicted changes in climate include increased severity and frequency of extreme climatic events. To manage landscapes, an understanding of the processes that allow recovery from these extreme events is required. Understanding these landscape-scale processes of community assembly and disassembly is hindered by the large scales at which they operate. Model systems provide a means of studying landscape scale processes at tractable scales. Here, we assess the combined effects of temperature and habitat-patch isolation on assembly of naturally diverse moss microarthropod communities after a high-temperature event. We show that community assembly depends on temperature and on degree of habitat isolation. Heated communities were heavily dominated in abundance by two species, one of them relatively large. The resulting size-structure is unlike that seen in the field. Community composition in habitat fragments appears also to have been influenced by the source pool of recolonizing fauna. Our results highlight the value of dispersal in disturbed landscapes and the potential for habitat connectivity to buffer communities from the effects of climate change.

scholarly journals Community assembly and functional leaf traits mediate precipitation use efficiency of alpine grasslands along environmental gradients on the Tibetan Plateau

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaowei Li ◽  
Jianshuang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Alpine Grasslands ◽  
Moisture Index ◽  
Use Efficiency

The alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau are sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. However, it is still unknown how precipitation use efficiency (PUE), the ratio of ANPP to precipitation, is related to community assembly of plant species, functional groups or traits for the Tibetan alpine grasslands along actual environmental gradients. We conducted a multi-site field survey at grazing-excluded pastures across meadow, steppe and desert-steppe to measure aboveground biomass in August, 2010. We used species richness, the Shannon diversity index, and cover-weighted functional group composition (FGC) of 1-xerophytes, 2-mesophytes, and 3-hygrophytes to describe community assembly at the species level; and chose community-level leaf area index (LAIc ), specific leaf area (SLAc ), and species-mixed foliar δ13C to quantify community assembly at the functional trait level. Our results showed that PUE decreased with increasing accumulated active temperatures (AccT) when daily temperature average is higher than 5°C, but increased with increasing climatic moisture index, which was demined as the ratio of growing season precipitation (GSP) to AccT. We also found that PUE increased with increasing species richness, the Shannon diversity index, FGC and LAIc ,decreased with increasing foliar δ13C, and had no relation with SLAc at the regional scale. Neither soil total nitrogen nor organic carbon has no influence on PUE at the regional scale. The community assembly of the Shannon index, LAIc and SLAc together accounted for 46.3 % of variance in PUE, whilst climatic moisture index accounted for 47.9 % of variance in PUE at the regional scale. This implies that community structural properties and plant functional traits can mediate the sensitivity of alpine grassland productivity in response to climate change. Thus, a long-term observation on community structural and functional changes is recommended for better understanding the response of alpine ecosystems to regional climate change on the Tibetan Plateau.

scholarly journals Genetic adaptation as a biological buffer against climate change: Potential and limitations

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc De MEESTER ◽  
Robby STOKS ◽  
Kristien I. BRANS
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genetic Adaptation

scholarly journals Community assembly and functional leaf traits mediate precipitation use efficiency of alpine grasslands along environmental gradients on the Tibetan Plateau

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaowei Li ◽  
Jianshuang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Alpine Grasslands ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Precipitation Use Efficiency

The alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau are sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. However, it is still unknown how precipitation use efficiency (PUE), the ratio of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) to precipitation, is related to community assembly of plant species, functional groups or traits for the Tibetan alpine grasslands along actual environmental gradients. We conducted a multi-site field survey at grazing-excluded pastures across meadow, steppe and desert-steppe to measure aboveground biomass (AGB) in August, 2010. We used species richness (SR), the Shannon diversity index, and cover-weighted functional group composition (FGC) of 1-xerophytes, 2-mesophytes, and 3-hygrophytes to describe community assembly at the species level; and chose community-level leaf area index (LAIc), specific leaf area (SLAc), and species-mixed foliar δ13C to quantify community assembly at the functional trait level. Our results showed that PUE decreased with increasing accumulated active temperatures (AccT) when daily temperature average is higher than 5 °C, but increased with increasing climatic moisture index (CMI), which was demined as the ratio of growing season precipitation (GSP) to AccT. We also found that PUE increased with increasing SR, the Shannon diversity index, FGC and LAIc, decreased with increasing foliar δ13C, and had no relation with SLAcat the regional scale. Neither soil total nitrogen (STN) nor organic carbon has no influence on PUE at the regional scale. The community assembly of the Shannon index, LAIcand SLActogether accounted for 46.3% of variance in PUE, whilst CMI accounted for 47.9% of variance in PUE at the regional scale. This implies that community structural properties and plant functional traits can mediate the sensitivity of alpine grassland productivity in response to climate change. Thus, a long-term observation on community structural and functional changes is recommended for better understanding the response of alpine ecosystems to regional climate change on the Tibetan Plateau.

Erfassung der adaptiven genetischen Variation der Eiche im Hinblick auf den Klimawandel | Assessment of adaptive genetic variation in oaks with relation to climate change

2010 ◽  
Vol 161 (6) ◽  
pp. 216-222
Author(s):  
Oliver Gailing
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
North America ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Genetic Adaptation ◽  
Adaptive Genetic Variation ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Traits ◽  
Wide Range

Climate change is projected to lead to a major reorganization of our forests. For example, higher annual mean temperatures, longer growth seasons and drier summers are predicted for many parts of central and southern Europe, and in North America. In order to understand the genetic adaptation to climate change we need a better understanding of the genetic regulation of key traits involved in tolerance of water and temperature stress. Oaks (Quercus spp.) are excellent model species to study the adaptation of forest trees to changing environments. They show a wide geographic distribution in Europe and in North America as dominant tree species in many forests growing under a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions. With the availability of a growing amount of functional and expressional candidate genes we are now able to test the functional importance of genes by associating nucleotide variation in these genes with phenotypic variation in adaptive traits in segregating or natural populations. Studies trying to associate genetic variation with phenotypic variation in adaptive traits can be performed in full-sib families derived from controlled crosses (Quantitative Trait Loci [QTL] mapping) or in natural populations (association mapping). For several important adaptive traits QTL were mapped, the underlying genes have to be tested in natural populations. A future objective is to test whether genes that underlie phenotypic variation in adaptive traits are involved in local genetic adaptation and viability selection at the seedling stage, linked to reciprocal transplant experiments in order to assess the performance over climatic gradients.

scholarly journals Plasticity and genetic adaptation mediate amphibian and reptile responses to climate change

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Urban ◽  
Jonathan L. Richardson ◽  
Nicole A. Freidenfelds
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genetic Adaptation

scholarly journals Evolutionary trade-offs between baseline and plastic gene expression in two congeneric oyster species

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 20190202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ao Li ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Guofan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Gene Expression ◽  
Regulation Of Gene Expression ◽  
Thermal Adaptation ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Evolutionary Strategy ◽  
Genetic Adaptation ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Oyster Species ◽  
Trade Offs

Organismal responses to environmental stresses are a determinant of the effect of climate change. These can occur through the regulation of gene expression, involving genetic adaptation and plastic changes as evolutionary strategy. Heat shock protein ( hsp ) family genes are extensively expanded and play important roles in thermal adaptation in oysters. We investigated expression of all heat-responsive hsp s in two allopatric congeneric oyster species, Crassostrea gigas and C. angulata , which are respectively distributed along the northern and southern coasts of China, using common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments. Our results showed that hsp s in C. gigas have evolved higher basal levels of expression under ambient conditions at each field site, with lower expression plasticity in response to heat stress in comparison to C. angulata , which exhibited lower baseline expression but higher expression plasticity. This pattern was fixed regardless of environmental disturbance, potentially implying genetic assimilation. Our findings indicate divergent adaptive strategies with underlying evolutionary trade-offs between genetic adaptation and plasticity at the molecular level in two oyster congeners in the face of rapid climate change.

Some concluding remarks and a look ahead

2019 ◽  
pp. 334-340
Author(s):  
Gary G. Mittelbach ◽  
Brian J. McGill
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Look Ahead ◽  
Local And Regional Processes ◽  
Regional Processes

This chapter reflects on the successes achieved and challenges that remain in the study of ecological communities. It concludes with a discussion of research topics expected to occupy the attention of community ecologists for the next decade or so and that may yield big dividends in terms of understanding the processes that structure communities and govern their functioning. These include metacommunities and the integration of local and regional processes; the drivers of regional biodiversity; community assembly and functional traits; pathogens, parasites and natural enemies; biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; changing technology will change how we collect data; eco-evolutionary feedbacks and regional pool processes; climate change, and its effects on species distributions and species interactions; and the role of time.

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