Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters?
Marine heat waves (MHWs), prolonged discrete anomalously warm water events, have been increasing significantly in duration, intensity and frequency all over the world, and have been associated with a variety of impacts including alteration of ecosystem structure and function. This study assessed the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Climate |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.844831/full |
| _version_ | 1818311285438152704 |
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| author | Patrizia Stipcich Lazaro Marín-Guirao Arianna Pansini Federico Pinna Gabriele Procaccini Antonio Pusceddu Santina Soru Giulia Ceccherelli |
| author_facet | Patrizia Stipcich Lazaro Marín-Guirao Arianna Pansini Federico Pinna Gabriele Procaccini Antonio Pusceddu Santina Soru Giulia Ceccherelli |
| author_sort | Patrizia Stipcich |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Marine heat waves (MHWs), prolonged discrete anomalously warm water events, have been increasing significantly in duration, intensity and frequency all over the world, and have been associated with a variety of impacts including alteration of ecosystem structure and function. This study assessed the effects of current and future MHWs on the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica performance, also testing the importance of the thermal environment where the plant lives. The effects of current MHWs were studied through a mensurative experiment in a cold and in a warm site (West and North-West Sardinia, Italy, respectively). Future MHWs effects were tested through a manipulative experiment using P. oceanica shoots collected from the cold and warm sites and transplanted in a common garden in front of a power plant (North-West Sardinia): here plants were exposed to heat longer in duration and stronger in intensity than the natural MHWs of the last 20 years, resembling the future scenario. Morphological (total # of leaves, maximum leaf length, and percentage of total necrotic leaf length per shoot) and biochemical variables (leaf proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids) were considered. Plants had similar sublethal responses in both the experiments for most of the variables, revealing that current and future MHWs had similar effect types, but different in magnitude depending on the intensity of the waves: in general, the number of leaves, the maximum leaf length and lipid content decreased, while the leaf necrosis and carbohydrates increased. However, also the origin of the plants affected the results, corroborating the hypothesis that the thermal context the plants live affects their tolerance to the heat. Overall, this study provided evidence about the importance of biochemical variations, such as carbohydrate and lipid levels, as potentially good indicators of seagrass heat stress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T07:59:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb9492256f9d4a879f2c257523c0195e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9553 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T07:59:32Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Climate |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb9492256f9d4a879f2c257523c0195e2022-12-21T23:54:28ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Climate2624-95532022-03-01410.3389/fclim.2022.844831844831Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters?Patrizia Stipcich0Lazaro Marín-Guirao1Arianna Pansini2Federico Pinna3Gabriele Procaccini4Antonio Pusceddu5Santina Soru6Giulia Ceccherelli7Dipartimento di Architettura, Design e Urbanistica, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, ItalySeagrass Ecology Group, Oceanographic Center of Murcia, Spanish Institute of Oceanography, San Pedro del Pinatar, SpainDipartimento di Architettura, Design e Urbanistica, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, ItalyDipartimento di Architettura, Design e Urbanistica, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, ItalyDepartment of Integrative Marine Ecology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, ItalyDipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, ItalyDipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, ItalyDipartimento di Chimica e Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, ItalyMarine heat waves (MHWs), prolonged discrete anomalously warm water events, have been increasing significantly in duration, intensity and frequency all over the world, and have been associated with a variety of impacts including alteration of ecosystem structure and function. This study assessed the effects of current and future MHWs on the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica performance, also testing the importance of the thermal environment where the plant lives. The effects of current MHWs were studied through a mensurative experiment in a cold and in a warm site (West and North-West Sardinia, Italy, respectively). Future MHWs effects were tested through a manipulative experiment using P. oceanica shoots collected from the cold and warm sites and transplanted in a common garden in front of a power plant (North-West Sardinia): here plants were exposed to heat longer in duration and stronger in intensity than the natural MHWs of the last 20 years, resembling the future scenario. Morphological (total # of leaves, maximum leaf length, and percentage of total necrotic leaf length per shoot) and biochemical variables (leaf proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids) were considered. Plants had similar sublethal responses in both the experiments for most of the variables, revealing that current and future MHWs had similar effect types, but different in magnitude depending on the intensity of the waves: in general, the number of leaves, the maximum leaf length and lipid content decreased, while the leaf necrosis and carbohydrates increased. However, also the origin of the plants affected the results, corroborating the hypothesis that the thermal context the plants live affects their tolerance to the heat. Overall, this study provided evidence about the importance of biochemical variations, such as carbohydrate and lipid levels, as potentially good indicators of seagrass heat stress.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.844831/fullclimate changeleaf biochemistryleaf necrosismarine heat wavesocean warmingPosidonia oceanica |
| spellingShingle | Patrizia Stipcich Lazaro Marín-Guirao Arianna Pansini Federico Pinna Gabriele Procaccini Antonio Pusceddu Santina Soru Giulia Ceccherelli Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters? Frontiers in Climate climate change leaf biochemistry leaf necrosis marine heat waves ocean warming Posidonia oceanica |
| title | Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters? |
| title_full | Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters? |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters? |
| title_short | Effects of Current and Future Summer Marine Heat Waves on Posidonia oceanica: Plant Origin Matters? |
| title_sort | effects of current and future summer marine heat waves on posidonia oceanica plant origin matters |
| topic | climate change leaf biochemistry leaf necrosis marine heat waves ocean warming Posidonia oceanica |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.844831/full |
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