Rates of warming and the global sensitivity of shallow water marine invertebrates to elevated temperature

Assessing the sensitivity of ectotherms to variability in their environment is a key challenge, especially in the face of rapid warming of the Earth's surface. Comparing the upper temperature limits of species from different regions, at different rates of warming, has recently been developed as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2016-02, Vol.96 (1), p.159-165
Main Authors: Morley, S.A., Bates, A.E., Lamare, M, Richard, J, Nguyen, K.D., Brown, J, Peck, L.S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity and Ecology
Climate change
Coasts
Environmental Sciences
Fauna
Global warming
High temperature
Invertebrata
Laboratories
Low temperature
Marine
Marine invertebrates
Physiology
Shallow water
Temperature
Upwelling
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Assessing the sensitivity of ectotherms to variability in their environment is a key challenge, especially in the face of rapid warming of the Earth's surface. Comparing the upper temperature limits of species from different regions, at different rates of warming, has recently been developed as a method to estimate the long term sensitivity of shallow marine fauna. This paper presents the first preliminary data from four tropical Ascension Island, five temperate New Zealand and six Antarctic McMurdo Sound species. The slopes and intercepts of these three assemblages fitted within the overall pattern for previously measured assemblages from high temperature tolerance in tropical fauna and a shallow slope, to low temperature tolerance and a steep slope in Antarctic fauna. Despite the tropical oceanic Ascension Island being subject to upwelling events, the fit of the intercept and slope within the overall assemblage pattern suggests that the upwelling is sufficiently predictable for the fauna to have evolved the plasticity to respond. This contrasts with previously analysed species from the Peruvian upwelling region, which had a steeper slope than other temperate fauna. The speed and capacity of faunal assemblages to acclimatize their physiology is likely to determine the shape of the rates of warming relationship, and will be a key mechanism underpinning vulnerability to climate warming.
ISSN:0025-3154
1469-7769
DOI:10.1017/S0025315414000307