“Winners” and “losers” in the Anthropocene: Understanding adaptation through phenotypic plasticity

Watson, Gordon

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13108

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Human influence on the biosphere defines the Anthropocene [1] through perturbation of biological resources [2]. Faced with the subsequent ecological crises [3], attention is focusing on the taxa that might persist and the traits promoting success [4][5][6]. Identifying 'winners' [4,7] has become a priority [4,6], but without an historic analogue of biological responses to future conditions with which such determinations can be informed [8], the task is daunting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science-based approach to using growth rate to assess coral performance and restoration outcomes

Edmunds

Putnam

2020

Biol. Lett.

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One response to the coral reef crisis has been human intervention to enhance selection on the fittest corals through cultivation. This requires genotypes to be identified for intervention, with a primary basis for this choice being growth: corals that quickly grow on contemporary reefs might be future winners. To test for temporal stability of growth as a predictor of future performance, genotypes of the coral Porites spp. were grown in common gardens in Mo'orea, French Polynesia. Growth was measured every two to four months throughout 2018, and each period was used as a predictor of growth over the subsequent period. Area-normalized growth explained less than 29% of the variance in subsequent growth, but for biomass-normalized growth this increased to 45–60%, and was highest when summer growth was used to predict autumn growth. The capacity of initial growth to predict future performance is dependent on the units of measurement and the time of year in which it is measured. The final choice of traits to quantify performance must be informed through consideration of the species and the normalization that best capture the information inherent in the biological processes mediating variation in traits values.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science-based approach to using growth rate to assess coral performance and restoration outcomes

Edmunds

Putnam

2020

Biol. Lett.

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“…The average SMR Q 10 of 1.96 from 21°C to 25°C was within the range of passive, direct effects of temperature ( Clarke & Johnston, 1999 ; Schulte, 2015 ; Reeve et al, 2022 ), supporting assumptions that snapper are capable to acclimate. Using whole animal O 2 uptake rates as a performance predictor, north-eastern New Zealand snapper stocks may even metabolically benefit from climate change ( Watson, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic resilience of the Australasian snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) to marine heatwaves and hypoxia

Bowering,

McArley,

Devaux

et al. 2023

Front. Physiol.

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Marine organisms are under threat from a simultaneous combination of climate change stressors, including warming sea surface temperatures (SST), marine heatwave (MHW) episodes, and hypoxic events. This study sought to investigate the impacts of these stressors on the Australasian snapper (C. auratus) — a finfish species of high commercial and recreational importance, from the largest snapper fishery in Aotearoa New Zealand (SNA1). A MHW scenario was simulated from 21°C (current February SST average for north-eastern New Zealand) to a future predicted level of 25°C, with the whole-animal and mitochondrial metabolic performance of snapper in response to hypoxia and elevated temperature tested after 1-, 10-, and 30-days of thermal challenge. It was hypothesised that key indicators of snapper metabolic performance would decline after 1-day of MHW stress, but that partial recovery might arise as result of thermal plasticity after chronic (e.g., 30-day) exposures. In contrast to this hypothesis, snapper performance remained high throughout the MHW: 1) Aerobic metabolic scope increased after 1-day of 25°C exposure and remained high. 2) Hypoxia tolerance, measured as the critical O2 pressure and O2 pressure where loss of equilibrium occurred, declined after 1-day of warm-acclimation, but recovered quickly with no observable difference from the 21°C control following 30-days at 25°C. 3) The performance of snapper mitochondria was also maintained, with oxidative phosphorylation respiration and proton leak flux across the inner mitochondrial membrane of the heart remaining mostly unaffected. Collectively, the results suggest that heart mitochondria displayed resilience, or plasticity, in snapper chronically exposed to 25°C. Therefore, contrary to the notion of climate change having adverse metabolic effects, future temperatures approaching 25°C may be tolerated by C. auratus in Northern New Zealand. Even in conjunction with supplementary hypoxia, 25°C appears to represent a metabolically optimal temperature for this species.

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“…Currently, there is still uncertainty concerning the actual impacts of environmental disturbances at different hierarchical level of biological organization, from single species up to the community composition. Therefore, within this scenario the challenge is to identify mechanisms by which organisms respond to changes which lead some species to become "winners" and other "loosers" in future ocean ecosystems (Watson, 2018). Ocean acidification (OA) is one of the most relevant environmental threat to marine biodiversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the molecular mechanisms which contribute to the survival of the polychaete Platynereis spp. under ocean acidification conditions in the CO2 vent system of Ischia Island (Italy)

et al. 2023

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The continuous increase of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic activities is one of the most important factors that contribute to Climate Change and generates the phenomenon known as Ocean Acidification (OA). Research conducted at the CO2 vents of Castello Aragonese (Ischia, Italy), which represents a natural laboratory for the study of OA, demonstrated that some organisms, such as polychaetes, thrive under acidified conditions through different adaptation mechanisms. Some functional and ecological traits promoting tolerance to acidification in these organisms have been identified, while the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying acclimatisation or genetic adaptation are still largely unknown. Therefore, in this study we investigated epigenetic traits, as histone acetylation and methylation, in Platynereis spp. individuals coming from the Castello vent, and from a nearby control site, in two different periods of the year (November-June). Untargeted metabolomics analysis was also carried out in specimens from the two sites. We found a different profile of acetylation of H2B histone in the control site compared to the vent as a function of the sampling period. Metabolomic analysis showed clear separation in the pattern of metabolites in polychaetes from the control site with respect to those from the Castello vent. Specifically, a significant reduction of lipid/sterols and nucleosides was measured in polychaetes from the vent. Overall results contribute to better understand the potential metabolic pathways involved in the tolerance to OA.

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“Winners” and “losers” in the Anthropocene: Understanding adaptation through phenotypic plasticity

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Science-based approach to using growth rate to assess coral performance and restoration outcomes

Science-based approach to using growth rate to assess coral performance and restoration outcomes

Metabolic resilience of the Australasian snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) to marine heatwaves and hypoxia

Investigation of the molecular mechanisms which contribute to the survival of the polychaete Platynereis spp. under ocean acidification conditions in the CO2 vent system of Ischia Island (Italy)

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