Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experiment
Abstract The threat of climate change has renewed interest in the responses of communities and ecosystems to warming, with changes in size spectra expected to signify fundamental shifts in the structure and dynamics of these multispecies systems. While substantial empirical evidence has accumulated...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-07380-2 |
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| author | Dania Albini Emma Ransome Alex J. Dumbrell Samraat Pawar Eoin J. O’Gorman Thomas P. Smith Thomas Bell Michelle C. Jackson Guy Woodward |
| author_facet | Dania Albini Emma Ransome Alex J. Dumbrell Samraat Pawar Eoin J. O’Gorman Thomas P. Smith Thomas Bell Michelle C. Jackson Guy Woodward |
| author_sort | Dania Albini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The threat of climate change has renewed interest in the responses of communities and ecosystems to warming, with changes in size spectra expected to signify fundamental shifts in the structure and dynamics of these multispecies systems. While substantial empirical evidence has accumulated in recent years on such changes, we still lack general insights due to a limited coverage of warming scenarios that span spatial and temporal scales of relevance to natural systems. We addressed this gap by conducting an extensive freshwater mesocosm experiment across 36 large field mesocosms exposed to intergenerational warming treatments of up to +8 °C above ambient levels. We found a nonlinear decrease in the overall mean body size of zooplankton with warming, with a 57% reduction at +8 °C. This pattern was broadly consistent over two tested seasons and major taxonomic groups. We also detected some breakpoints in the community-level size-temperature relationship, indicating that the system’s response shifts noticeably above a certain level of warming. These results underscore the need to capture intergenerational responses to large gradients in warming at appropriate scales in time and space in order to better understand the effects of warming on natural communities and ecosystems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f6c825f071eb4048a0f564b0faa6ccc6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-f6c825f071eb4048a0f564b0faa6ccc62025-02-09T12:50:18ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422025-02-018111010.1038/s42003-024-07380-2Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experimentDania Albini0Emma Ransome1Alex J. Dumbrell2Samraat Pawar3Eoin J. O’Gorman4Thomas P. Smith5Thomas Bell6Michelle C. Jackson7Guy Woodward8Department of Biology, University of OxfordThe Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonSchool of Life Sciences, University of EssexThe Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonThe Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonThe Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonThe Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonDepartment of Biology, University of OxfordThe Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonAbstract The threat of climate change has renewed interest in the responses of communities and ecosystems to warming, with changes in size spectra expected to signify fundamental shifts in the structure and dynamics of these multispecies systems. While substantial empirical evidence has accumulated in recent years on such changes, we still lack general insights due to a limited coverage of warming scenarios that span spatial and temporal scales of relevance to natural systems. We addressed this gap by conducting an extensive freshwater mesocosm experiment across 36 large field mesocosms exposed to intergenerational warming treatments of up to +8 °C above ambient levels. We found a nonlinear decrease in the overall mean body size of zooplankton with warming, with a 57% reduction at +8 °C. This pattern was broadly consistent over two tested seasons and major taxonomic groups. We also detected some breakpoints in the community-level size-temperature relationship, indicating that the system’s response shifts noticeably above a certain level of warming. These results underscore the need to capture intergenerational responses to large gradients in warming at appropriate scales in time and space in order to better understand the effects of warming on natural communities and ecosystems.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-07380-2 |
| spellingShingle | Dania Albini Emma Ransome Alex J. Dumbrell Samraat Pawar Eoin J. O’Gorman Thomas P. Smith Thomas Bell Michelle C. Jackson Guy Woodward Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experiment Communications Biology |
| title | Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experiment |
| title_full | Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experiment |
| title_fullStr | Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experiment |
| title_short | Warming alters plankton body-size distributions in a large field experiment |
| title_sort | warming alters plankton body size distributions in a large field experiment |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-07380-2 |
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