Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators
Background: Models that predict changes in the abundance and distribution of fauna under future climate change scenarios often assume that ecological niche and habitat availability are the major determinants of species responses to climate change. However, individual species may have very different...
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Biomed Central Ltd
2016
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:113974 2023-05-15T13:49:03+02:00 Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators Younger, JL van den Hoff, J Wienecke, B Hindell, M Miller, KJ 2016 application/pdf http://dx.doi.org/:10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26975876 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/113974 en eng Biomed Central Ltd http://ecite.utas.edu.au/113974/1/Younger-2016-Contrasting responses to a climat.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 Younger, JL and van den Hoff, J and Wienecke, B and Hindell, M and Miller, KJ, Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16, (1) Article 61. ISSN 1471-2148 (2016) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26975876 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/113974 Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 2019-12-13T22:13:58Z Background: Models that predict changes in the abundance and distribution of fauna under future climate change scenarios often assume that ecological niche and habitat availability are the major determinants of species responses to climate change. However, individual species may have very different capacities to adapt to environmental change, as determined by intrinsic factors such as their dispersal ability, genetic diversity, generation time and rate of evolution. These intrinsic factors are usually excluded from forecasts of species abundance and distribution changes. We aimed to determine the importance of these factors by comparing the impact of the most recent climate regime change, the late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial transition, on two sympatric, ice-dependent meso-predators, the emperor penguin ( Aptenodytes forsteri ) and Weddell seal ( Leptonychotes weddellii ). Methods: We reconstructed the population trend of emperor penguins and Weddell seals in East Antarctica over the past 75,000 years using mitochondrial DNA sequences and an extended Bayesian skyline plot method. We also assessed patterns of contemporary population structure and genetic diversity. Results: Despite their overlapping distributions and shared dependence on sea ice, our genetic data revealed very different responses to climate warming between these species. The emperor penguin population grew rapidly following the glacial-interglacial transition, but the size of the Weddell seal population did not change. The expansion of emperor penguin numbers during the warm Holocene may have been facilitated by their higher dispersal ability and gene flow among colonies, and fine-scale differences in preferred foraging locations. Conclusions: The vastly different climate change responses of two sympatric ice-dependent predators suggests that differing adaptive capacities and/or fine-scale niche differences can play a major role in species climate change responses, and that adaptive capacity should be considered alongside niche and distribution in future speciesforecasts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri East Antarctica Emperor penguins Sea ice Weddell Seal Weddell Seals eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) East Antarctica Weddell BMC Evolutionary Biology 16 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
spellingShingle |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Younger, JL van den Hoff, J Wienecke, B Hindell, M Miller, KJ Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
description |
Background: Models that predict changes in the abundance and distribution of fauna under future climate change scenarios often assume that ecological niche and habitat availability are the major determinants of species responses to climate change. However, individual species may have very different capacities to adapt to environmental change, as determined by intrinsic factors such as their dispersal ability, genetic diversity, generation time and rate of evolution. These intrinsic factors are usually excluded from forecasts of species abundance and distribution changes. We aimed to determine the importance of these factors by comparing the impact of the most recent climate regime change, the late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial transition, on two sympatric, ice-dependent meso-predators, the emperor penguin ( Aptenodytes forsteri ) and Weddell seal ( Leptonychotes weddellii ). Methods: We reconstructed the population trend of emperor penguins and Weddell seals in East Antarctica over the past 75,000 years using mitochondrial DNA sequences and an extended Bayesian skyline plot method. We also assessed patterns of contemporary population structure and genetic diversity. Results: Despite their overlapping distributions and shared dependence on sea ice, our genetic data revealed very different responses to climate warming between these species. The emperor penguin population grew rapidly following the glacial-interglacial transition, but the size of the Weddell seal population did not change. The expansion of emperor penguin numbers during the warm Holocene may have been facilitated by their higher dispersal ability and gene flow among colonies, and fine-scale differences in preferred foraging locations. Conclusions: The vastly different climate change responses of two sympatric ice-dependent predators suggests that differing adaptive capacities and/or fine-scale niche differences can play a major role in species climate change responses, and that adaptive capacity should be considered alongside niche and distribution in future speciesforecasts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Younger, JL van den Hoff, J Wienecke, B Hindell, M Miller, KJ |
author_facet |
Younger, JL van den Hoff, J Wienecke, B Hindell, M Miller, KJ |
author_sort |
Younger, JL |
title |
Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators |
title_short |
Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators |
title_full |
Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators |
title_fullStr |
Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators |
title_sort |
contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators |
publisher |
Biomed Central Ltd |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/:10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26975876 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/113974 |
geographic |
East Antarctica Weddell |
geographic_facet |
East Antarctica Weddell |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri East Antarctica Emperor penguins Sea ice Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri East Antarctica Emperor penguins Sea ice Weddell Seal Weddell Seals |
op_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/113974/1/Younger-2016-Contrasting responses to a climat.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 Younger, JL and van den Hoff, J and Wienecke, B and Hindell, M and Miller, KJ, Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16, (1) Article 61. ISSN 1471-2148 (2016) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26975876 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/113974 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3 |
container_title |
BMC Evolutionary Biology |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766250685222879232 |