Ecosystem recovery after climatic extremes enhanced by genotypic diversity.

By Thorsten B. H. Reusch, A. Ehlers, A. Hämmerli, Boris Worm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2005

1,141 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Contemporary climate change is characterized both by increasing mean temperature and increasing climate variability such as heat waves, storms, and floods. How populations and communities cope with such climatic extremes is a question central to contemporary ecology and biodiversity conservation. Previous work has shown that species diversity can affect ecosystem functioning and resilience. Here, we show that genotypic diversity can replace the role of species diversity in a species-poor coastal ecosystem, and it may buffer against extreme climatic events. In a manipulative field experiment, increasing the genotypic diversity of the cosmopolitan seagrass Zostera marina enhanced biomass production, plant density, and faunal abundance, despite near-lethal water temperatures due to extreme warming across Europe. Net biodiversity effects were explained by genotypic complementarity rather than by selection of particularly robust genotypes. Positive effects on invertebrate fauna suggest that genetic diversity has second-order effects reaching higher trophic levels. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining genetic as well as species diversity to enhance ecosystem resilience in a world of increasing uncertainty.

Subfields: Ecology, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1f3822a945eba096cd52b0c1a88e1f5b2cd1a74c

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Citations in the corpus

Relationships among levels of biodiversity and the relevance of intraspecific diversity in conservation - a project synopsis (2008, background): “, 2006) and that genotypic diversity may enhance ecosystem resilience (Reusch et al., 2005).”
Ecotypes of European grass species respond differently to warming and extreme drought (2011, background): “thresholds (Gutschick & BassiriRad 2003; Reusch et al. 2005; Jentsch 2006; Jentsch & Beierkuhnlein 2008; Knapp et al. 2008; Jentsch et al. 2011; Smith 2011).”
Mediterranean warming triggers seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) shoot mortality (2009, background): “…of elevated seawater temperature on shoot survival (Duarte, 2002), as supported by reports of stress responses following heat waves such as increased shoot population mortality rates (Dı́azAlmela et al., 2009; Oviatt, 2004; Reusch et al., 2005) and mass flowering events (Dı́az-Almela et al., 2007).”
Genetic diversity targets and indicators in the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework must be improved (2020, background): “There is also abundant evidence for the substantial role of genetic diversity in ecosystem resilience, and for maintaining species diversity (Clark, 2010; Morikawa and Palumbi, 2019; Prieto et al., 2015; Reusch et al., 2005).”
Deadly combination of genes and drought: increased mortality of herbivore‐resistant trees in a foundation species (2009, background): “the importance of including a genetics perspective for understanding species’ responses to climate change (Rehfeldt et al., 2002; Porth et al., 2005; Reusch et al., 2005; Franks et al., 2007; Aitken et al., 2008; O’Neill et al., 2008).”
Contribution of genetics and genomics to seagrass biology and conservation (2007, background): “marina, experimental manipulation of genotypic diversity was associated with larger biomass and faster recovery following grazing by brant geese (Hughes and Stachowicz, 2004), and in another case following a natural heat wave in the western Baltic (Reusch et al., 2005).”
The emerging role of genetic diversity for ecosystem functioning: Estuarine macrophytes as models (2006, background): “In the southwestern Baltic Sea (Germany), Reusch and colleagues combined a total of six genotypes into diversity treatments of 1, 3, and 6 genotypes (Reusch et al. 2005).”
Application of genetic diversity–ecosystem function research to ecological restoration (2014, background): “2004; Madritch, Donaldson & Lindroth 2006), invasion resistance (Crutsinger, Souza & Sanders 2008; Vellend, Drummond & Tomimatsu 2010) and the ability of ecosystems to recover from a disturbance such as episodic herbivory or extreme weather events (Hughes & Stachowicz 2004; Reusch et al. 2005).”
Climate Change Impacts on Seagrass Meadows and Macroalgal Forests: An Integrative Perspective on Acclimation and Adaptation Potential (2018, background): “Genotypic diversity, as one subset of genetic diversity in clonally growing species, has been shown to increase productivity, and stress resilience in seagrasses and macroalgae (Hughes and Stachowicz, 2004; Reusch et al., 2005; Ehlers et al., 2008).”
Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and food webs in fresh waters: assembling the jigsaw puzzle (2009, methodology): “food webs) have all been used as alternative metrics (e.g. Hulot et al., 2000; Statzner, Hildrew & Resh, 2001; Petchey & Gaston, 2002; Reusch et al., 2005; Woodward et al., 2005a).”
Assessing the benefits and risks of translocations in changing environments: a genetic perspective (2011, background): “The long-term implications of ignoring adaptability when planning translocations will extend well beyond the persistence of species, with potential impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function (Bailey et al. 2009) and resilience in response to climate extremes (Reusch et al. 2005).”