The toughest animals of the Earth versus global warming: Effects of long‐term experimental warming on tardigrade community structure of a temperate deciduous forest

Vecchi, Matteo; Adakpo, Laurent Kossi; Dunn, Robert R.; Nichols, Lauren M.; Penick, Clint A.; Sanders, Nathan J.; Rebecchi, Lorena; Guidetti, Roberto

doi:10.1002/ece3.7816

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 39 publications

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“…Studies on changes in the distribution, structure, and biomass of organisms in space and time are important for understanding the phenology and resources use of species and their responses to environmental shifts (Post and Stenseth, 1999;Sommers et al, 2019;Vecchi et al, 2021;Walther et al, 2002;Winkel et al, 2022). Glaciers and ice sheets are one of the fastest-changing biomes on Earth (Anesio and Laybourn-Parry, 2012;Zemp et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-temporal changes in cryoconite community, isotopic, and elemental composition over the ablation season of an alpine glacier

Jaromerska

Ambrosini

Richter

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. Cryoconite holes (water-filled reservoirs) on glacier surfaces are important biodiversity hotspots and biogeochemical factories within terrestrial cryosphere. In this study, we collected cryoconite from the ablation zone of the Forni Glacier (Central Italian Alps) over the whole ablation season. We aimed to describe spatial and temporal patterns in: (i) biomass and community structure of photoautotrophs (cyanobacteria, diatoms, and eukaryotic green algae) and invertebrates; (ii) carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic composition of invertebrates and their potential food; and (iii) the organic matter content and general elemental composition of cryoconite. Structure and biomass of cryoconite biota showed spatio-temporal changes over the season. Dominant cyanobacteria were Oscillatoriaceae and Leptolyngbyaceae, while dominant eukaryotic green algae were Mesotaeniaceae and Chlorellaceae. Eukaryotic green algae dominated in the upper part of the ablation zone, while a seasonal shift from algae- to cyanobacteria-dominated communities was observed in the lower part. Some taxa of photoautotrophs appeared only during specific sampling days. Dominant grazers were tardigrades (Cryobiotus klebelsbergi). The biomass of tardigrades in the upper part was significantly related to the biomass of eukaryotic green algae indicating that algal communities are likely controlled by grazing. The δ13C of tardigrades followed fluctuations of δ13C in organic matter. We did not observe spatial and temporal changes in the general elemental composition of cryoconite. Thus, changes in community structure and biomass are likely dependent on the interplay between phenology, stochastic events (e.g. rainfall), top-down, or bottom-up controls. Our study shows that understanding the ecology of biota in cryoconite holes requires a spatially explicit and seasonal approach.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-temporal changes in cryoconite community, isotopic, and elemental composition over the ablation season of an alpine glacier

Jaromerska

Ambrosini

Richter

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Differential expression profiling of heat stressed tardigrades reveals major shift in the transcriptome

Neves

Møbjerg

Kodama

et al. 2022

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular &

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Tardigrade diversity and community composition across Norwegian boreal forests

Guidetti,

Ingemar Jönsson,

Kaczmarek

et al. 2023

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Tardigrades are common in many terrestrial environments and habitats. Although little is known on their ecological preferences, previous studies found diversity and community composition significantly affected by various variables. This study associated tardigrade species’ records with climatic variables, forest type, and substrate categories exploring tardigrade diversity and species communities to find associations with ecological characteristics of Norwegian forests. A total of 17 473 specimens were identified, encompassing 131 species (including putatively new species) from 305 samples of different substrates (leaf litter, bryophytes, and lichens). Bryophytes and lichens of samples were classified according to the main species, and growth form, and associated with tardigrade species and sample metadata. Tardigrade species’ richness was related to climatic variables and forest type, increased with precipitation, decreased with summer temperature, and not varied with precipitation seasonality. Although there was an unbalanced representation of substrate categories in the different forest types, some tendencies were detectable. Mixed oak and birch forests reached the highest species’ richness. Tardigrade community composition varied between substrate categories and, to a lesser degree, between forest types, but not with climatic variables. Our study highlights the importance of large-scale variables on tardigrade diversity, and substrate categories for tardigrade community composition.

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The toughest animals of the Earth versus global warming: Effects of long‐term experimental warming on tardigrade community structure of a temperate deciduous forest

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 3 publications

References 39 publications

Spatio-temporal changes in cryoconite community, isotopic, and elemental composition over the ablation season of an alpine glacier

Spatio-temporal changes in cryoconite community, isotopic, and elemental composition over the ablation season of an alpine glacier

Differential expression profiling of heat stressed tardigrades reveals major shift in the transcriptome

Tardigrade diversity and community composition across Norwegian boreal forests

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