Becoming nose-blind—Climate change impacts on chemical communication

Chemical communication via infochemicals plays a pivotal role in ecological interactions, allowing organisms to sense their environment, locate predators, food, habitats, or mates. A growing number of studies suggest that climate change-associated stressors can modify these chemically mediated inter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global Change Biology
Main Authors: Roggatz, C.C., Saha, M., Blanchard, S., Schirrmacher, P., Fink, Patrick, Verheggen, F., Hardege, J.D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022
Subjects:
behavior
chemoreception
climate change stressor
ecological interactions
infochemicals
ocean acidification
semiochemicals
sensory ecology
Ocean acidification
Online Access:https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=26150
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16209
Description
Summary:Chemical communication via infochemicals plays a pivotal role in ecological interactions, allowing organisms to sense their environment, locate predators, food, habitats, or mates. A growing number of studies suggest that climate change-associated stressors can modify these chemically mediated interactions, causing info-disruption that scales up to the ecosystem level. However, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms is scarce. Evidenced by a range of examples, we illustrate in this opinion piece that climate change affects different realms in similar patterns, from molecular to ecosystem-wide levels. We assess the importance of different stressors for terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems and propose a systematic approach to address highlighted knowledge gaps and cross-disciplinary research avenues.

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