Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics
Abstract Habitat quality can have far‐reaching effects on organismal fitness, an issue of concern given the current scale of habitat degradation. Many temperate upland streams have reduced nutrient levels due to human activity. Nutrient restoration confers benefits in terms of invertebrate food avai...
Published in: | Molecular Ecology |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15980 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.15980 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mec.15980 |
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crwiley:10.1111/mec.15980 2024-06-09T07:44:47+00:00 Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics McLennan, Darryl Auer, Sonya K. McKelvey, Simon McKelvey, Lynn Anderson, Graeme Boner, Winnie Duprez, Jessica S. Metcalfe, Neil B. H2020 European Research Council 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15980 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.15980 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mec.15980 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Molecular Ecology volume 31, issue 23, page 6100-6113 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15980 2024-05-16T14:29:13Z Abstract Habitat quality can have far‐reaching effects on organismal fitness, an issue of concern given the current scale of habitat degradation. Many temperate upland streams have reduced nutrient levels due to human activity. Nutrient restoration confers benefits in terms of invertebrate food availability and subsequent fish growth rates. Here we test whether these mitigation measures also affect the rate of cellular ageing of the fish, measured in terms of the telomeres that cap the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. We equally distributed Atlantic salmon eggs from the same 30 focal families into 10 human‐impacted oligotrophic streams in northern Scotland. Nutrient levels in five of the streams were restored by simulating the deposition of a small number of adult Atlantic salmon Salmo salar carcasses at the end of the spawning period, while five reference streams were left as controls. Telomere lengths and expression of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene that may act to lengthen telomeres were then measured in the young fish when 15 months old. While TERT expression was unrelated to any of the measured variables, telomere lengths were shorter in salmon living at higher densities and in areas with a lower availability of the preferred substrate (cobbles and boulders). However, the adverse effects of these habitat features were much reduced in the streams receiving nutrients. These results suggest that adverse environmental pressures are weakened when nutrients are restored, presumably because the resulting increase in food supply reduces levels of both competition and stress. Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon Salmo salar Wiley Online Library Molecular Ecology 31 23 6100 6113 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
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English |
description |
Abstract Habitat quality can have far‐reaching effects on organismal fitness, an issue of concern given the current scale of habitat degradation. Many temperate upland streams have reduced nutrient levels due to human activity. Nutrient restoration confers benefits in terms of invertebrate food availability and subsequent fish growth rates. Here we test whether these mitigation measures also affect the rate of cellular ageing of the fish, measured in terms of the telomeres that cap the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. We equally distributed Atlantic salmon eggs from the same 30 focal families into 10 human‐impacted oligotrophic streams in northern Scotland. Nutrient levels in five of the streams were restored by simulating the deposition of a small number of adult Atlantic salmon Salmo salar carcasses at the end of the spawning period, while five reference streams were left as controls. Telomere lengths and expression of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene that may act to lengthen telomeres were then measured in the young fish when 15 months old. While TERT expression was unrelated to any of the measured variables, telomere lengths were shorter in salmon living at higher densities and in areas with a lower availability of the preferred substrate (cobbles and boulders). However, the adverse effects of these habitat features were much reduced in the streams receiving nutrients. These results suggest that adverse environmental pressures are weakened when nutrients are restored, presumably because the resulting increase in food supply reduces levels of both competition and stress. |
author2 |
H2020 European Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McLennan, Darryl Auer, Sonya K. McKelvey, Simon McKelvey, Lynn Anderson, Graeme Boner, Winnie Duprez, Jessica S. Metcalfe, Neil B. |
spellingShingle |
McLennan, Darryl Auer, Sonya K. McKelvey, Simon McKelvey, Lynn Anderson, Graeme Boner, Winnie Duprez, Jessica S. Metcalfe, Neil B. Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics |
author_facet |
McLennan, Darryl Auer, Sonya K. McKelvey, Simon McKelvey, Lynn Anderson, Graeme Boner, Winnie Duprez, Jessica S. Metcalfe, Neil B. |
author_sort |
McLennan, Darryl |
title |
Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics |
title_short |
Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics |
title_full |
Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics |
title_fullStr |
Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics |
title_sort |
habitat restoration weakens negative environmental effects on telomere dynamics |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15980 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.15980 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mec.15980 |
genre |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_source |
Molecular Ecology volume 31, issue 23, page 6100-6113 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15980 |
container_title |
Molecular Ecology |
container_volume |
31 |
container_issue |
23 |
container_start_page |
6100 |
op_container_end_page |
6113 |
_version_ |
1801373600720093184 |