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149330 - Thermal performance of seaweeds and seagrasses across.pdf (1.78 MB)

Thermal performance of seaweeds and seagrasses across a regional climate gradient

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 06:33 authored by Scott BennettScott Bennett, Vaquer-Sunyer, R, Jorda, G, Forteza, M, Roca, G, Marba, N

Comparative patterns in thermal performance between populations have fundamental implications for a species thermal sensitivity to warming and extreme events. Despite this, within-species variation in thermal performance is seldom measured. Here we compare thermal performance both within-species and between-species, for two species of seagrass (Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa) and two species of seaweed (Padina pavonica and Cystoseira compressa) across the Mediterranean Sea. Experimental populations from four locations representing between 75 and 99% of each species thermal distribution and a 6°C gradient in summer temperatures, were exposed to 10 temperature treatments between 15 and 36°C. Experimental thermal performance displayed the greatest variability between species, with optimal temperatures differing by over 10°C within the same location. Within-species differences in thermal performance were also important for P. oceanica which displayed large thermal safety margins within cool and warm-edge populations and small safety margins within central populations. Our findings suggest patterns of thermal performance in Mediterranean seagrasses and seaweeds retain deep “pre-Mediterranean” evolutionary legacies, suggesting marked differences in sensitivity to warming within and between benthic marine communities.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

Frontiers in Marine Science

Volume

9

Article number

733315

Number

733315

Pagination

1-11

ISSN

2296-7745

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Frontiers Research Foundation

Place of publication

Switzerland

Rights statement

Copyright © 2022 Bennett, Vaquer-Sunyer, Jordá, Forteza, Roca and Marbà. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Marine biodiversity; Rehabilitation or conservation of marine environments