Adaptation, extinction and global change (original) (raw)
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Evolutionary responses to climate change and contaminants: Evidence and experimental approaches
Current Zoology, 2015
A fundamental objective within ecotoxicology lies in understanding and predicting effects of contaminants. This objective is made more challenging when global climate change is considered as an environmental stress that co-occurs with contaminant exposure. In this multi-stressor context, evolutionary processes are particularly important. In this paper, we consider several non-”omic” approaches wherein evolutionary responses to stress have been studied and discuss those amenable to a multiple stressor context. Specifically, we discuss common-garden designs, artificial and quasi-natural selection, and the estimation of adaptive potential using quantitative genetics as methods for studying evolutionary responses to contaminants and climate change in the absence of expensive molecular tools. While all approaches shed light on potential evolutionary impacts of stressor exposure, they also have limitations. These include logistical constraints, difficulty extrapolating to real systems, an...
Functional Ecology, 2013
1. Rapid climate change both imposes strong selective pressures on natural populationspotentially reducing their growth rate and causing genetic evolutionand affects the physiology and development of individual organisms. Understanding and predicting the fates of populations under global change, including extinctions and geographical range shifts, requires analysing the interplay of these processes, which has long been a grey area in evolutionary biology. 2. We review recent theory on the interaction of phenotypic plasticity, genetic evolution and demography in environments that change in time or space. We then discuss the main limitations of the models and the difficulties in testing theoretical predictions in the wild, notably regarding changes in phenotypic selection, the evolution of (co)variances of reaction norm parameters, and transient dynamics.
Estimating the Genetic Capability of Different Phytoplankton Organisms to Adapt to Climate Warming
Oceanography: Open Access
Current predictions of temperature increase in sea surface water estimate that extensive regions of the ocean will be warmer than at any time in the past million years as a consequence of the present trend of release the CO 2 excess into the atmosphere. Studying the capacity of phytoplankton to adapt to warming has become a relevant issue because phytoplankton represents the basis of the aquatic food web supporting about half of the global primary production. Considering the complexity of the phytoplankton community in both taxonomic level and habitat preferences, different responses to increased temperature are expected.We experimentally estimate the potential of different phytoplanktonic populations of 15 species, belonging to different taxonomic groups (Cyanoprokaryota, Dinophyta, Chlorophyta, Haptophyta, Heterokontophyta) and habitat preferences(e.g. coastal waters, open ocean, coral symbiotic), to genetically adapt in an evolutionary sense to marine warming.Since genetic variance in fitness estimates capability for adaptation of a population (Fisher ' s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection) we measured the heritability of fitness (i.e. proportion of variance in fitness that has genetic basis) under increasing temperatures, using an experimental quantitative genetic procedure suitable to phytoplankton populations. Our results reveal that there are interspecific differences in phytoplankton capability for adaptation under a gradual warming process and provides experimental evidences for assessing how phytoplanktonic organisms might evolve under climate warming in the near future.
Evolution in an acidifying ocean
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2014
Ocean acidification poses a global threat to biodiversity, yet species might have the capacity to adapt through evolutionary change. Here we summarize tools available to determine species' capacity for evolutionary adaptation to future ocean change and review the progress made to date with respect to ocean acidification. We focus on two key approaches: measuring standing genetic variation within populations and experimental evolution. We highlight benefits and challenges of each approach and recommend future research directions for understanding the modulating role of evolution in a changing ocean.
Quantifying Rates of Evolutionary Adaptation in Response to Ocean Acidification
PLoS ONE, 2011
The global acidification of the earth's oceans is predicted to impact biodiversity via physiological effects impacting growth, survival, reproduction, and immunology, leading to changes in species abundances and global distributions. However, the degree to which these changes will play out critically depends on the evolutionary rate at which populations will respond to natural selection imposed by ocean acidification, which remains largely unquantified. Here we measure the potential for an evolutionary response to ocean acidification in larval development rate in two coastal invertebrates using a full-factorial breeding design. We show that the sea urchin species Strongylocentrotus franciscanus has vastly greater levels of phenotypic and genetic variation for larval size in future CO 2 conditions compared to the mussel species Mytilus trossulus. Using these measures we demonstrate that S. franciscanus may have faster evolutionary responses within 50 years of the onset of predicted year-2100 CO 2 conditions despite having lower population turnover rates. Our comparisons suggest that information on genetic variation, phenotypic variation, and key demographic parameters, may lend valuable insight into relative evolutionary potentials across a large number of species.
Predicting evolutionary responses to climate change in the sea
Ecology Letters, 2013
An increasing number of short-term experimental studies show significant effects of projected ocean warming and ocean acidification on the performance on marine organisms. Yet, it remains unclear if we can reliably predict the impact of climate change on marine populations and ecosystems, because we lack sufficient understanding of the capacity for marine organisms to adapt to rapid climate change. In this review, we emphasise why an evolutionary perspective is crucial to understanding climate change impacts in the sea and examine the approaches that may be useful for addressing this challenge. We first consider what the geological record and present-day analogues of future climate conditions can tell us about the potential for adaptation to climate change. We also examine evidence that phenotypic plasticity may assist marine species to persist in a rapidly changing climate. We then outline the various experimental approaches that can be used to estimate evolutionary potential, focusing on molecular tools, quantitative genetics, and experimental evolution, and we describe the benefits of combining different approaches to gain a deeper understanding of evolutionary potential. Our goal is to provide a platform for future research addressing the evolutionary potential for marine organisms to cope with climate change.
Evolution in Response to Climate Change
Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 2013
Climate change is imposing intensified and novel selection pressures on organisms by altering abiotic and biotic environmental conditions on Earth, but studies demonstrating genetic adaptation to climate change mediated selection are still scarce. Evidence is accumulating to indicate that both genetic and ecological constrains may often limit populations' abilities to adapt to large scale effects of climate warming. These constraints may predispose many organisms to respond to climate change with range shifts and phenotypic plasticity, rather than through evolutionary adaptation. In general, broad conclusions about role of evolutionary adaptation in mitigating climate change induced fitness loss in the wild are as yet difficult to make.
Evolution, 2006
Selective history is thought to constrain the extent and direction of future adaptation by limiting access to genotypes that are advantageous in a novel environment. Populations of Chlamydomonas previously selected at high CO 2 were either backselected at ambient levels of CO 2 , or selected at levels of CO 2 that last occurred during glaciation in the Pleistocene. There was no effect of selective history on adaptation to either level of CO 2 , and the high CO 2 phenotypes were evolutionarily reversible such that fitness in ambient CO 2 returned to values seen in controls. CO 2 uptake affinity improved relative to the ancestor in both ambient and glacial CO 2 , although wild-type regulation of CO 2 uptake, which deteriorated during previous selection at high CO 2 , was not restored by selection at lower levels of CO 2 . Trade-offs in both CO 2 uptake affinity and growth were seen after selection at any given level of CO 2 . Adaptation to ambient and glacial-era levels of CO 2 produced a range of phenotypes, suggesting that chance rather than selective history contributes to the divergence of replicate populations in this system.