Community responses to seawater warming are conserved across diverse biological groupings and taxonomic resolutions

Smale, DA, Taylor, JD, Coombs, SH, Moore, GF and Cunliffe, M 2017 Community responses to seawater warming are conserved across diverse biological groupings and taxonomic resolutions. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284 (1862). 20170534. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0534

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Abstract/Summary

Temperature variability is a major driver of ecological pattern, with recent changes in average and extreme temperatures having significant impacts on populations, communities and ecosystems. In the marine realm, very few experiments have manipulated temperature in situ, and current understanding of temperature effects on community dynamics is limited. We developed new technology for precise seawater temperature control to examine warming effects on communities of bacteria, microbial eukaryotes (protists) and metazoans. Despite highly contrasting phylogenies, size spectra and diversity levels, the three community types responded similarly to seawater warming treatments of +3°C and +5°C, highlighting the critical and overarching importance of temperature in structuring communities. Temperature effects were detectable at coarse taxonomic resolutions and many taxa responded positively to warming, leading to increased abundances at the community-level. Novel field-based experimental approaches are essential to improve mechanistic understanding of how ocean warming will alter the structure and functioning of diverse marine communities.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Divisions:	Marine Biological Association of the UK > Ocean Biology
Depositing User:	Dr Dan Smale
Date made live:	20 Sep 2017 10:35
Last Modified:	09 Feb 2024 16:51
URI:	https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7519

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