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Climate warming and heat waves affect reproductive strategies and interactions between submerged macrophytes

Li, Zhongqiang ; He, Liang ; Zhang, Huan LU ; Urrutia-Cordero, Pablo LU ; Ekvall, Mattias K. LU ; Hollander, Johan LU and Hansson, Lars Anders LU orcid (2017) In Global Change Biology 23(1). p.108-116
Abstract

Extreme climatic events, such as heat waves, are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity during the next hundred years, which may accelerate shifts in hydrological regimes and submerged macrophyte composition in freshwater ecosystems. Since macrophytes are profound components of aquatic systems, predicting their response to extreme climatic events is crucial for implementation of climate change adaptation strategies. We therefore performed an experiment in 24 outdoor enclosures (400 L) separating the impact of a 4 °C increase in mean temperature with the same increase, that is the same total amount of energy input, but resembling a climate scenario with extreme variability, oscillating between 0 °C and 8 °C above present... (More)

Extreme climatic events, such as heat waves, are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity during the next hundred years, which may accelerate shifts in hydrological regimes and submerged macrophyte composition in freshwater ecosystems. Since macrophytes are profound components of aquatic systems, predicting their response to extreme climatic events is crucial for implementation of climate change adaptation strategies. We therefore performed an experiment in 24 outdoor enclosures (400 L) separating the impact of a 4 °C increase in mean temperature with the same increase, that is the same total amount of energy input, but resembling a climate scenario with extreme variability, oscillating between 0 °C and 8 °C above present conditions. We show that at the moderate nutrient conditions provided in our study, neither an increase in mean temperature nor heat waves lead to a shift from a plant-dominated to an algal-dominated system. Instead, we show that species-specific responses to climate change among submerged macrophytes may critically influence species composition and thereby ecosystem functioning. Our results also imply that more fluctuating temperatures affect the number of flowers produced per plant leading to less sexual reproduction. Our findings therefore suggest that predicted alterations in climate regimes may influence both plant interactions and reproductive strategies, which have the potential to inflict changes in biodiversity, community structure and ecosystem functioning.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
aquatic systems, climate change, community dynamic, heat waves, sexual reproduction, submerged macrophytes
in
Global Change Biology
volume
23
issue
1
pages
9 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:84992650314
  • pmid:27359059
  • wos:000390218300010
ISSN
1354-1013
DOI
10.1111/gcb.13405
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a926c948-b613-4071-a47c-b48c7a96e7fd
date added to LUP
2017-02-27 09:51:54
date last changed
2024-03-17 09:24:14
@article{a926c948-b613-4071-a47c-b48c7a96e7fd,
  abstract     = {{<p>Extreme climatic events, such as heat waves, are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity during the next hundred years, which may accelerate shifts in hydrological regimes and submerged macrophyte composition in freshwater ecosystems. Since macrophytes are profound components of aquatic systems, predicting their response to extreme climatic events is crucial for implementation of climate change adaptation strategies. We therefore performed an experiment in 24 outdoor enclosures (400 L) separating the impact of a 4 °C increase in mean temperature with the same increase, that is the same total amount of energy input, but resembling a climate scenario with extreme variability, oscillating between 0 °C and 8 °C above present conditions. We show that at the moderate nutrient conditions provided in our study, neither an increase in mean temperature nor heat waves lead to a shift from a plant-dominated to an algal-dominated system. Instead, we show that species-specific responses to climate change among submerged macrophytes may critically influence species composition and thereby ecosystem functioning. Our results also imply that more fluctuating temperatures affect the number of flowers produced per plant leading to less sexual reproduction. Our findings therefore suggest that predicted alterations in climate regimes may influence both plant interactions and reproductive strategies, which have the potential to inflict changes in biodiversity, community structure and ecosystem functioning.</p>}},
  author       = {{Li, Zhongqiang and He, Liang and Zhang, Huan and Urrutia-Cordero, Pablo and Ekvall, Mattias K. and Hollander, Johan and Hansson, Lars Anders}},
  issn         = {{1354-1013}},
  keywords     = {{aquatic systems; climate change; community dynamic; heat waves; sexual reproduction; submerged macrophytes}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{108--116}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Global Change Biology}},
  title        = {{Climate warming and heat waves affect reproductive strategies and interactions between submerged macrophytes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13405}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/gcb.13405}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}