Experimental climate change weakens the insurance effect of biodiversity.
Summary of "Experimental climate change weakens the insurance effect of biodiversity."
Ecosystems are simultaneously affected by biodiversity loss and climate change, but we know little about how these factors interact. We predicted that climate warming and CO (2) -enrichment should strengthen trophic cascades by reducing the relative efficiency of predation-resistant herbivores, if herbivore consumption rate trades off with predation resistance. This weakens the insurance effect of herbivore diversity. We tested this prediction using experimental ocean warming and acidification in seagrass mesocosms. Meta-analyses of published experiments first indicated that consumption rate trades off with predation resistance. The experiment then showed that three common herbivores together controlled macroalgae and facilitated seagrass dominance, regardless of climate change. When the predation-vulnerable herbivore was excluded in normal conditions, the two resistant herbivores maintained top-down control. Under warming, however, increased algal growth outstripped control by herbivores and the system became algal-dominated. Consequently, climate change can reduce the relative efficiency of resistant herbivores and weaken the insurance effect of biodiversity.
Affiliation
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences - Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 451 78, Fiskebäckskil, Sweden; Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Ecology letters
ISSN: 1461-0248
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22676312
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01810.x
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Climate Change
Any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer). It may result from natural factors such as changes in the sun's intensity, natural processes within the climate system such as changes in ocean circulation, or human activities.
Desert Climate
A type of climate characterized by insufficient moisture to support appreciable plant life. It is a climate of extreme aridity, usually of extreme heat, and of negligible rainfall. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)
Life Change Events
Those occurrences, including social, psychological, and environmental, which require an adjustment or effect a change in an individual's pattern of living.
Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act
Public Law 104-91, enacted in 1996, is designed to protect health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. HIPAA has separate provisions for the large and small group markets, and the individual market. HIPAA amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to provide improved portability and continuity of health insurance coverage, extending earlier provisions under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 ("COBRA").
Endangered Species
An animal or plant species in danger of extinction. Causes can include human activity, changing climate, or change in predator/prey ratios.
PubMed Articles
Beyond predictions: biodiversity conservation in a changing climate.
Climate change is predicted to become a major threat to biodiversity in the 21st century, but accurate predictions and effective solutions have proved difficult to formulate. Alarming predictions have...
The influence of Late Quaternary climate-change velocity on species endemism.
The effects of climate change on biodiversity should depend in part on climate displacement rate (climate-change velocity) and its interaction with species' capacity to migrate. We estimated Late Quat...
Fossil records are replete with examples of long-term biotic responses to past climate change. One particularly useful set of records are those preserved in lake and marine sediments, recording both c...
Individual-scale inference to anticipate climate-change vulnerability of biodiversity.
Anticipating how biodiversity will respond to climate change is challenged by the fact that climate variables affect individuals in competition with others, but interest lies at the scale of species a...
Functional consequences of climate change-induced plant species loss in a tallgrass prairie.
Future climate change is likely to reduce the floristic diversity of grasslands. Yet the potential consequences of climate-induced plant species losses for the functioning of these ecosystems are poor...
Clinical Trials
Climate Influence on Physiotherapy in Multiple Sclerosis
The aim of the study was to compare the effect of inpatient physiotherapy in a warm climate versus physiotherapy in a colder climate in multiple sclerosis (MS), in both short- and long ter...
The purpose of this study is to assesses interventions aimed at improving the distributional impact of a community based health insurance scheme in rural India.
The aim of this study is to determine the effect of a balance training intervention on the change in hyper-reactivity to unloading reaction, ankle joint laxity, ankle joint proprioception...
A Retrospective Pharmacoeconomic Study of Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the No. cause of cancer death in Taiwan. Yet most of lung cancer are diagnosed at late stage, not amenable to surgical resection. With the introduction of new targeted agent...
Reimbursement Effects on Enrollment in Obesity Treatment
The purpose of this study is to simulate what would occur if insurance reimbursement became available for obesity treatment but required that the individual meet defined performance milest...
