Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances
Abstract Background The ecological consequences of climate change will be driven by a combination of both gradual and abrupt changes in climatic conditions. Despite growing evidence that abrupt abiotic change of extreme events may profoundly alter ecological processes, it remains unclear how such ev...
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ftbiomed:oai:biomedcentral.com:s40665-015-0014-8 2023-05-15T17:51:35+02:00 Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances Ghedini, Giulia Russell, Bayden Falkenberg, Laura Connell, Sean 2015-09-30 http://www.climatechangeresponses.com/content/2/1/6 en eng BioMed Central Ltd. http://www.climatechangeresponses.com/content/2/1/6 Copyright 2015 Ghedini et al. Climate Temperature Ocean acidification Eutrophication Heat wave Disturbance Herbivory Research 2015 ftbiomed 2015-10-04T00:08:59Z Abstract Background The ecological consequences of climate change will be driven by a combination of both gradual and abrupt changes in climatic conditions. Despite growing evidence that abrupt abiotic change of extreme events may profoundly alter ecological processes, it remains unclear how such events may combine with longer-term global and local disturbances. Here, we focused on a key process of herbivory and tested how its strength would change in response to forecasted global (CO 2 enrichment) and local disturbances (nutrient enrichment) under abrupt (heat wave) or gradual (future temperature) changes in temperature, using an herbivorous gastropod and turf algae interaction within kelp forests as a model system. Results The heat wave caused the greatest magnitude of change in consumption across all treatment combinations. The positive effect of nutrient enrichment on consumption was magnified by increasing temperature, but caused surprisingly intense herbivory when combined with the heat wave. Carbon and nutrient enrichments individually increased consumption with nitrogen overriding the positive effects of CO 2 . Conclusions These results not only reveal that the strength of ecological responses to extreme events may substantially exceed those manifested under ‘average’ future conditions, but also that the effects of extremes may be exacerbated by local disturbances. If disproportionate ecological change occurs where extreme events overlap with local disturbances, scientists and managers will need to recognize spatial and temporal heterogeneities of environmental change to think beyond averages. Other/Unknown Material Ocean acidification BioMed Central |
institution |
Open Polar |
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BioMed Central |
op_collection_id |
ftbiomed |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate Temperature Ocean acidification Eutrophication Heat wave Disturbance Herbivory |
spellingShingle |
Climate Temperature Ocean acidification Eutrophication Heat wave Disturbance Herbivory Ghedini, Giulia Russell, Bayden Falkenberg, Laura Connell, Sean Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances |
topic_facet |
Climate Temperature Ocean acidification Eutrophication Heat wave Disturbance Herbivory |
description |
Abstract Background The ecological consequences of climate change will be driven by a combination of both gradual and abrupt changes in climatic conditions. Despite growing evidence that abrupt abiotic change of extreme events may profoundly alter ecological processes, it remains unclear how such events may combine with longer-term global and local disturbances. Here, we focused on a key process of herbivory and tested how its strength would change in response to forecasted global (CO 2 enrichment) and local disturbances (nutrient enrichment) under abrupt (heat wave) or gradual (future temperature) changes in temperature, using an herbivorous gastropod and turf algae interaction within kelp forests as a model system. Results The heat wave caused the greatest magnitude of change in consumption across all treatment combinations. The positive effect of nutrient enrichment on consumption was magnified by increasing temperature, but caused surprisingly intense herbivory when combined with the heat wave. Carbon and nutrient enrichments individually increased consumption with nitrogen overriding the positive effects of CO 2 . Conclusions These results not only reveal that the strength of ecological responses to extreme events may substantially exceed those manifested under ‘average’ future conditions, but also that the effects of extremes may be exacerbated by local disturbances. If disproportionate ecological change occurs where extreme events overlap with local disturbances, scientists and managers will need to recognize spatial and temporal heterogeneities of environmental change to think beyond averages. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Ghedini, Giulia Russell, Bayden Falkenberg, Laura Connell, Sean |
author_facet |
Ghedini, Giulia Russell, Bayden Falkenberg, Laura Connell, Sean |
author_sort |
Ghedini, Giulia |
title |
Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances |
title_short |
Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances |
title_full |
Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances |
title_fullStr |
Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances |
title_full_unstemmed |
Beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances |
title_sort |
beyond spatial and temporal averages: ecological responses to extreme events may be exacerbated by local disturbances |
publisher |
BioMed Central Ltd. |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.climatechangeresponses.com/content/2/1/6 |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_relation |
http://www.climatechangeresponses.com/content/2/1/6 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2015 Ghedini et al. |
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1766158769387995136 |