Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes
Background Organisms are facing increasing levels of environmental stress under climate change that may severely affect the functioning of biological systems at different levels of organization. Growing evidence suggests that reduction in body size is a universal response of organisms to global warm...
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| Format: | Article |
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PeerJ Inc.
2016-10-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/2533.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827611135132565504 |
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| author | Elena Maggi Mario Cappiello Antonella Del Corso Francesca Lenzarini Eleonora Peroni Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi |
| author_facet | Elena Maggi Mario Cappiello Antonella Del Corso Francesca Lenzarini Eleonora Peroni Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi |
| author_sort | Elena Maggi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Organisms are facing increasing levels of environmental stress under climate change that may severely affect the functioning of biological systems at different levels of organization. Growing evidence suggests that reduction in body size is a universal response of organisms to global warming. However, a clear understanding of whether extreme climate events will impose selection directly on phenotypic plastic responses and how these responses affect ecological interactions has remained elusive. Methods We experimentally investigated the effects of extreme desiccation events on antioxidant defense mechanisms of a rocky intertidal gastropod (Patella ulyssiponensis), and evaluated how these effects scaled-up at the population and assemblage levels. Results With increasing levels of desiccation stress, limpets showed significant lower levels of total glutathione, tended to grow less and had reduced per capita interaction strength on their resources. Discussion Results suggested that phenotypic plasticity (i.e., reduction in adults’ body size) allowed buffering biochemical responses to stress to scale-up at the assemblage level. Unveiling the linkages among different levels of biological organization is key to develop indicators that can anticipate large-scale ecological impacts of climate change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:00:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-97ed660b18da42b8a73c37a737455389 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:00:45Z |
| publishDate | 2016-10-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-97ed660b18da42b8a73c37a7374553892023-12-03T00:46:42ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592016-10-014e253310.7717/peerj.2533Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processesElena Maggi0Mario Cappiello1Antonella Del Corso2Francesca Lenzarini3Eleonora Peroni4Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi5Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, ItalyBackground Organisms are facing increasing levels of environmental stress under climate change that may severely affect the functioning of biological systems at different levels of organization. Growing evidence suggests that reduction in body size is a universal response of organisms to global warming. However, a clear understanding of whether extreme climate events will impose selection directly on phenotypic plastic responses and how these responses affect ecological interactions has remained elusive. Methods We experimentally investigated the effects of extreme desiccation events on antioxidant defense mechanisms of a rocky intertidal gastropod (Patella ulyssiponensis), and evaluated how these effects scaled-up at the population and assemblage levels. Results With increasing levels of desiccation stress, limpets showed significant lower levels of total glutathione, tended to grow less and had reduced per capita interaction strength on their resources. Discussion Results suggested that phenotypic plasticity (i.e., reduction in adults’ body size) allowed buffering biochemical responses to stress to scale-up at the assemblage level. Unveiling the linkages among different levels of biological organization is key to develop indicators that can anticipate large-scale ecological impacts of climate change.https://peerj.com/articles/2533.pdfExtreme climatic eventsRocky intertidal gastropodAntioxidant mechanismsPhenotypic plasticityEcological scalingInteraction strength |
| spellingShingle | Elena Maggi Mario Cappiello Antonella Del Corso Francesca Lenzarini Eleonora Peroni Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes PeerJ Extreme climatic events Rocky intertidal gastropod Antioxidant mechanisms Phenotypic plasticity Ecological scaling Interaction strength |
| title | Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes |
| title_full | Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes |
| title_fullStr | Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes |
| title_short | Climate-related environmental stress in intertidal grazers: scaling-up biochemical responses to assemblage-level processes |
| title_sort | climate related environmental stress in intertidal grazers scaling up biochemical responses to assemblage level processes |
| topic | Extreme climatic events Rocky intertidal gastropod Antioxidant mechanisms Phenotypic plasticity Ecological scaling Interaction strength |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/2533.pdf |
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