Rapid evolution of thermal plasticity in mountain lake<i>Daphnia</i>populations

Cavalheri, Hamanda B.; Symons, Celia C.; Schulhof, Marika A.; Jones, Natalie T.; Shurin, Jonathan B.

doi:10.1111/oik.05945

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…However, far less is known of the underlying physiological mechanisms between environmental variation and health. Seasonality is responsible for changes in temperature, rainfall and other weather patterns, as well as food availability and disease pattern ( Cavalheri et al , 2018 ). Understanding how these multiple interacting factors affect physiological markers of health—which ultimately lead to reduced (or increased) growth, reproduction and survival of individuals—is essential to the development of better conservation strategies in endangered species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation of health in Asian elephants

Santos

Berger

Cristofari

et al. 2020

Conservation Physiology

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Long-lived species are often predicted to be buffered against seasonal variation: longevity means low annual mortality and reproductive rates and annual variability in climate may therefore have a smaller impact on population growth rates of long-lived species in comparison to short-lived ones. However, little is known of the physiological mechanisms underlying such patterns in long-lived species. In this study, we investigated seasonal variation in the health of Asian elephants living in a seasonal monsoon climate. We used two complementary methods: (i) global and (ii) trait-by-trait analyses of seasonal effects on 23 health parameters of 225 individually marked elephants with known age and reproductive and health history, with repeated measures per individual over a 26-month period. The global analysis highlighted the biggest differences in health between the hot and monsoon seasons. Our trait-specific analyses identified the physiological functions underlying such health variation in different ecological settings, including haematological, immunological, muscular, kidney and liver functions, as well as protein balance and electrolytes. Overall, the results suggest that even long-lived, large mammals may experience physiological changes in response to seasonal variation that in extreme circumstances can pose a significant health risk.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation of health in Asian elephants

Santos

Berger

Cristofari

et al. 2020

Conservation Physiology

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“…The body size of the two smallest species, A. excisa and E. agilis , decreased similarly regardless of whether those species’ were tracking climate change, occurring with fish or competing with novel competitors (Figures 2F and 3G). It is possible that day‐length and temperature changes throughout the growing season could have asymmetric effects on shifts in species size, such that the shortening days led to increases in developmental rates and accompanying declines in size at maturity (Cavalheri, Symons, Schulhof, Jones, & Shurin, 2018)—this is common in aquatic insects (De Block, Slos, Johansson, & Stoks, 2008; Forster, Hirst, & Atkinson, 2012). Alona excisa is a benthic species; Its increase in abundance suggests a shift from planktonic to more benthic communities with warming (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predators drive community reorganization during experimental range shifts

Jones

Symons

Cavalheri

et al. 2020

Journal of Animal Ecology

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1. Increased global temperatures caused by climate change are causing species to shift their ranges and colonize new sites, creating novel assemblages that have historically not interacted. Species interactions play a central role in the response of ecosystems to climate change, but the role of trophic interactions in facilitating or preventing range expansions is largely unknown. 2. The goal of our study was to understand how predators influence the ability of range-shifting prey to successfully establish in newly available habitat following climate warming. We hypothesized that fish predation facilitates the establishment of colonizing zooplankton populations, because fish preferentially consume larger species that would otherwise competitively exclude smaller-bodied colonists. 3. We conducted a mesocosm experiment with zooplankton communities and their fish predators from lakes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, USA. We tested the effect of fish predation on the establishment and persistence of a zooplankton community when introduced in the presence of higher-and lowerelevation communities at two experimental temperatures in field mesocosms. 4. We found that predators reduce the abundance of larger-bodied residents from the alpine and facilitate the establishment of new lower-elevation species. In addition, fish predation and warming independently reduced the average body size of zooplankton by up to 30%. This reduction in body size offset the direct effect of warming-induced increases in population growth rates, leading to no net change in zooplankton biomass or trophic cascade strength. 5. We found support for a shift to smaller species with climate change through two mechanisms: (a) the direct effects of warming on developmental rates and (b) sizeselective predation that altered the identity of species' that could colonize new higher elevation habitat. Our results suggest that predators can amplify the rate of range shifts by consuming larger-bodied residents and facilitating the establishment of new species. However, the effects of climate warming were dampened by reducing the average body size of community members, leading to no net change in ecosystem function, despite higher growth rates. This work suggests that trophic interactions play a role in the reorganization of regional communities under climate warming.

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“…Though we cannot exclude the possibility that elevation effects take more than two growing seasons to manifest or that the novel constraints of the mesocosms environment masked H Elev , the communities responded similarly to treatments regardless of their elevational history (Table 1). One possible explanation may be that zooplankton show high phenotypic plasticity in responses to temperature variation (Cavalheri et al., 2019; Mitchell et al, 2000). Populations experience broad interannual, seasonal and vertical within‐lake variation in temperature, and therefore may have evolved broad thermal niches (Miner et al., 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, plastic responses to predator cues amplify the fixed genetic patterns (Latta et al., 2007). Furthermore, the level of plasticity in life‐history traits is influenced interactively by elevation and fish presence (Cavalheri et al., 2019). The documented species turnover and local adaptation in zooplankton communities and populations of Sierra Nevada lakes allow us to test the role of environmental history in the resilience of communities to environmental change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Legacy effects of fish but not elevation influence lake ecosystem response to environmental change

Symons

Schulhof

Cavalheri

et al. 2020

Journal of Animal Ecology

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How communities reorganize during climate change depends on the distribution of diversity within ecosystems and across landscapes. Understanding how environmental and evolutionary history constrain community resilience is critical to predicting shifts in future ecosystem function. The goal of our study was to understand how communities with different histories respond to environmental change with regard to shifts in elevation (temperature, nutrients) and introduced predators. We hypothesized that community responses to the environment would differ in ways consistent with local adaptation and initial trait structure. We transplanted plankton communities from lakes at different elevations with and without fish in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California to mesocosms at different elevations with and without fish. We examined the relative importance of the historical and experimental environment on functional (size structure, effects on lower trophic levels), community (zooplankton composition, abundance and biomass) and population (individual species abundance and biomass) responses. Communities originating from different elevations produced similar biomass at each elevation despite differences in species composition; that is, the experimental elevation, but not the elevation of origin, had a strong effect on biomass. Conversely, we detected a legacy effect of predators on plankton in the fishless environment. Daphnia pulicaria that historically coexisted with fish reached greater biomass under fishless conditions than those from fishless lakes, resulting in greater zooplankton community biomass and larger average size. Therefore, trait variation among lake populations determined the top‐down effects of fish predators. In contrast, phenotypic plasticity and local diversity were sufficient to maintain food web structure in response to changing environmental conditions associated with elevation.

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Rapid evolution of thermal plasticity in mountain lakeDaphniapopulations

Cited by 13 publications

References 61 publications

Seasonal variation of health in Asian elephants

Seasonal variation of health in Asian elephants

Predators drive community reorganization during experimental range shifts

Legacy effects of fish but not elevation influence lake ecosystem response to environmental change

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