Heat waves and their significance for a temperate benthic community: A near‐natural experimental approach

Pansch, Christian; Scotti, Marco; Barboza, Francisco R.; Al‐Janabi, Balsam; Brakel, Janina; Briski, Elizabeta; Bucholz, Björn; Franz, Markus; Ito, Maysa; Paiva, Filipa; Saha, Mahasweta; Sawall, Yvonne; Weinberger, Florian; Wahl, Martin

doi:10.1111/gcb.14282

Cited by 99 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Furthermore, potential indirect heatwave effects through changes in the abundance of the associated fauna could not be detected. Indeed, the fauna with potentially the strongest effect on macrophytes (the grazer community) did not change in abundance and biomass (Pansch et al, ). This fauna includes the snail L. littorea that grazes upon F. vesiculosus and Z. marina epiphytes, thereby sustaining high light availability for photosynthesis, and the grazer I. balthica feeding preferably on F. vesiculosus .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of foundation macrophytes to near‐natural simulated marine heatwaves

Saha

Barboza

Somerfield

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Marine heatwaves have been observed worldwide and are expected to increase in both frequency and intensity due to climate change. Such events may cause ecosystem reconfigurations arising from species range contraction or redistribution, with ecological, economic and social implications. Macrophytes such as the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus and the seagrass Zostera marina are foundation species in many coastal ecosystems of the temperate northern hemisphere. Hence, their response to extreme events can potentially determine the fate of associated ecosystems. Macrophyte functioning is intimately linked to the maintenance of photosynthesis, growth and reproduction, and resistance against pathogens, epibionts and grazers. We investigated morphological, physiological, pathological and chemical defence responses of western Baltic Sea F. vesiculosus and Z. marina populations to simulated near‐natural marine heatwaves. Along with (a) the control, which constituted no heatwave but natural stochastic temperature variability (0HW), two treatments were applied: (b) two late‐spring heatwaves (June, July) followed by a summer heatwave (August; 3HW) and (c) a summer heatwave only (1HW). The 3HW treatment was applied to test whether preconditioning events can modulate the potential sensitivity to the summer heatwave. Despite the variety of responses measured in both species, only Z. marina growth was impaired by the accumulative heat stress imposed by the 3HW treatment. Photosynthetic rate, however, remained high after the last heatwave indicating potential for recovery. Only epibacterial abundance was significantly affected in F. vesiculosus. Hence both macrophytes, and in particular F. vesiculosus, seem to be fairly tolerant to short‐term marine heatwaves at least at the intensities applied in this experiment (up to 5°C above mean temperature over a period of 9 days). This may partly be due to the fact that F. vesiculosus grows in a highly variable environment, and may have a high phenotypic plasticity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of foundation macrophytes to near‐natural simulated marine heatwaves

Saha

Barboza

Somerfield

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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“…Target temperature data can either be based on sinusoidal functions or can be extracted from short‐ or long‐term temperature datasets from e.g., the Kiel Bight (Kiel Baltic Sea Ice ‐ Ocean Model ‐ BSIOM [Lehmann et al , ]) or the inner Kiel Fjord (GEOMAR Pier; 54°19′48.69″N, 10° 8′59.68″E; GEOMAR weather station). The “dynamic nominal value” as well as the “programmable” components in the software (Profilux Control Center and Profilux firmware, GHL, Germany) were specifically designed for GEOMAR purposes and were applied throughout different experiments in the outdoor benthocosms (Wahl et al ; Pansch et al ; see also Werner et al ).…”

Section: Materials and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Superimposed on these long‐term trends, an increase in the variability around mean changes, particularly in the frequency, intensity, and duration of climate extremes, is expected (Easterling et al ; Meehl and Tebaldi ; Rahmstorf and Coumou ; Rummukainen ; Christensen et al ; Rhein et al ). Both, shifts in the means and in the variability of environmental factors, will most likely change key biological processes and alter the structure and functions of pelagic and benthic marine ecosystems (Pörtner et al ; Pansch et al ).…”

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confidence: 99%

A new mesocosm system to study the effects of environmental variability on marine species and communities

Pansch

Hiebenthal

2019

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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Climate change will shift mean environmental conditions and also increase the frequency and intensity of extreme events, exerting additional stress on ecosystems. While field observations on extremes are emerging, experimental evidence of their biological consequences is rare. Here, we introduce a mesocosm system that was developed to study the effects of environmental variability of multiple drivers (temperature, salinity, pH, light) on single species and communities at various temporal scales (diurnal ‐ seasonal): the Kiel Indoor Benthocosms (KIBs). Both, real‐time offsets from field measurements or various dynamic regimes of environmental scenarios, can be implemented, including sinusoidal curve functions at any chosen amplitude or frequency, stochastic regimes matching in situ dynamics of previous years and modeled extreme events. With temperature as the driver in focus, we highlight the strengths and discuss limitations of the system. In addition, we examined the effects of different sinusoidal temperature fluctuation frequencies on mytilid mussel performance. High‐frequency fluctuations around a warming mean (+2°C warming, ± 2°C fluctuations, wavelength = 1.5 d) increased mussel growth as did a constant warming of 2°C. Fluctuations at a lower frequency (+2 and ± 2°C, wavelength = 4.5 d), however, reduced the mussels’ growth. This shows that environmental fluctuations, and importantly their associated characteristics (such as frequency), can mediate the strength of global change impacts on a key marine species. The here presented mesocosm system can help to overcome a major short‐coming of marine experimental ecology and will provide more robust data for the prediction of shifts in ecosystem structure and services in a changing and fluctuating world.

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“…A major advance in addressing this question may come from the range of organismal responses documented for recent marine heat waves that, despite their extreme nature, encompass environmental variability. Moreover, the characterization of biological and ecological responses of marine organisms to heat waves (or other episodic extremes) also provides a knowledge platform to assess the feasibility of both current and proposed intervention strategies (Ainsworth et al, ; Arias‐Ortiz et al, ; Green et al, ; King, McKeown, Smale, & Moore, ; Le Nohaïc et al, ; Pansch et al, ).…”

Section: What Can We Learn From Recent Climate Extremes?mentioning

confidence: 99%

How do we overcome abrupt degradation of marine ecosystems and meet the challenge of heat waves and climate extremes?

Ainsworth

Hurd

Gates

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Extreme heat wave events are now causing ecosystem degradation across marine ecosystems. The consequences of this heat‐induced damage range from the rapid loss of habitat‐forming organisms, through to a reduction in the services that ecosystems support, and ultimately to impacts on human health and society. How we tackle the sudden emergence of ecosystem‐wide degradation has not yet been addressed in the context of marine heat waves. An examination of recent marine heat waves from around Australia points to the potential important role that respite or refuge from environmental extremes can play in enabling organismal survival. However, most ecological interventions are being devised with a target of mid to late‐century implementation, at which time many of the ecosystems, that the interventions are targeted towards, will have already undergone repeated and widespread heat wave induced degradation. Here, our assessment of the merits of proposed ecological interventions, across a spectrum of approaches, to counter marine environmental extremes, reveals a lack preparedness to counter the effects of extreme conditions on marine ecosystems. The ecological influence of these extremes are projected to continue to impact marine ecosystems in the coming years, long before these interventions can be developed. Our assessment reveals that approaches which are technologically ready and likely to be socially acceptable are locally deployable only, whereas those which are scalable—for example to features as large as major reef systems—are not close to being testable, and are unlikely to obtain social licence for deployment. Knowledge of the environmental timescales for survival of extremes, via respite or refuge, inferred from field observations will help test such intervention tools. The growing frequency of extreme events such as marine heat waves increases the urgency to consider mitigation and intervention tools that support organismal and ecosystem survival in the immediate future, while global climate mitigation and/or intervention are formulated.

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Heat waves and their significance for a temperate benthic community: A near‐natural experimental approach

Cited by 99 publications

References 78 publications

Response of foundation macrophytes to near‐natural simulated marine heatwaves

Response of foundation macrophytes to near‐natural simulated marine heatwaves

A new mesocosm system to study the effects of environmental variability on marine species and communities

How do we overcome abrupt degradation of marine ecosystems and meet the challenge of heat waves and climate extremes?

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