Interactions between rates of temperature change and acclimation affects latitudinal patterns of warming tolerance

CITATION: Allen, J. L. et al. 2016. Interactions between rates of temperature change and acclimation affects latitudinal patterns of warming tolerance. Conservation Physiology, 4,(1):cow053, doi:10.1093/conphys/cow053.The original publication is available at https://academic.oup.com/conphysCritical thermal limits form an increasing component of the estimation of impacts of global change on ectotherms. Whether any consistent patterns exist in the interactive effects of rates of temperature change (or experimental ramping rates) and acclimation on critical thermal limits and warming tolerance (one way of assessing sensitivity to climate change) is, however, far from clear. Here, we examine the interacting effects of ramping rate and acclimation on the critical thermal maxima (CTmax) and minima (CTmin) and warming tolerance of six species of springtails from sub-tropical, temperate and polar regions. We also provide microhabitat temperatures from 26 sites spanning 5 years in order to benchmark environmentally relevant rates of temperature change. Ramping rate has larger effects than acclimation on CTmax, but the converse is true for CTmin. Responses to rate and acclimation effects are more consistent among species for CTmax than for CTmin. In the latter case, interactions among ramping rate and acclimation are typical of polar species, less marked for temperate ones, and reduced in species from the sub-tropics. Ramping rate and acclimation have substantial effects on estimates of warming tolerance, with the former being more marked. At the fastest ramping rates (>1.0°C/min), tropical species have estimated warming tolerances similar to their temperate counterparts, whereas at slow ramping rates (<0.4°C/min) the warming tolerance is much reduced in tropical species. Rates of temperate change in microhabitats relevant to the springtails are typically <0.05°C/min, with rare maxima of 0.3–0.5°C/min depending on the site. These findings emphasize the need to consider the environmental setting and experimental conditions when assessing species’ vulnerability to climate change using a warming tolerance approach.https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article/4/1/cow053/2452292Publisher's versio

Basal tolerance but not plasticity gives invasive springtails the advantage in an assemblage setting

As global climates change, alien species are anticipated to have a growing advantage relative to their indigenous counterparts, mediated through consistent trait differences between the groups. These insights have largely been developed based on interspecific comparisons using multiple species examined from different locations. Whether such consistent physiological trait differences are present within assemblages is not well understood, especially for animals. Yet, it is at the assemblage level that interactions play out. Here, we examine whether physiological trait differences observed at the interspecific level are also applicable to assemblages. We focus on the Collembola, an important component of the soil fauna characterized by invasions globally, and five traits related to fitness: critical thermal maximum, minimum and range, desiccation resistance and egg development rate. We test the predictions that the alien component of a local assemblage has greater basal physiological tolerances or higher rates, and more pronounced phenotypic plasticity than the indigenous component. Basal critical thermal maximum, thermal tolerance range, desiccation resistance, optimum temperature for egg development, the rate of development at that optimum and the upper temperature limiting egg hatching success are all significantly higher, on average, for the alien than the indigenous components of the assemblage. Outcomes for critical thermal minimum are variable. No significant differences in phenotypic plasticity exist between the alien and indigenous components of the assemblage. These results are consistent with previous interspecific studies investigating basal thermal tolerance limits and development rates and their phenotypic plasticity, in arthropods, but are inconsistent with results from previous work on desiccation resistance. Thus, for the Collembola, the anticipated advantage of alien over indigenous species under warming and drying is likely to be manifest in local assemblages, globally

Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being

Distributions of Earth’s species are changing at accelerating rates, increasingly driven by human-mediated climate change. Such changes are already altering the composition of ecological communities, but beyond conservation of natural systems, how and why does this matter? We review evidence that climate-driven species redistribution at regional to global scales affects ecosystem functioning, human well-being, and the dynamics of climate change itself. Production of natural resources required for food security, patterns of disease transmission, and processes of carbon sequestration are all altered by changes in species distribution. Consideration of these effects of biodiversity redistribution is critical yet lacking in most mitigation and adaptation strategies, including the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals

Zoofolkloristika: Prvi uvidi na putu prema novoj disciplini

The author notes that new, more complex researches of connections between animals, nature and connections to humans are needed in Slovenian and European folklore, literature and cultural studies, due to new ecological and ethical findings in the wider social and cultural environment and a changing order of the world, which has moved the focus from anthropocentrism into ecocentrism. The discussion builds upon various theoretical discourses, new concepts and multidisciplinary knowledge, to create the foundations, guidelines and directions for a new academic discipline of zoofolkloristics. Furthermore, new theoretical and analytical discourses should enable zoofolkloristics to provide an insight into changes in human attitudes to animals, in both folklore and within traditional and contemporary ritual practices, or their redefinition, and at the same time exert influence upon legal safety of non-human subjectivities.Autorica polazi od tvrdnje da su potrebna nova, kompleksnija istraživanja veza između životinja, prirode i poveznica s ljudima u slovenskoj i europskoj folkloristici, znanosti o književnosti i kulturnim studijima, zbog novih ekoloških i etičkih uvida u širu društveno-kulturnu okolinu i promjene u svijetu, koje su dovele do promjene od antropocentrizma k ekocentrizmu. U radu se na temelju različitih teorijskih diskursa, novih pojmova i multidisciplinarnog znanja stvaraju temelji, smjernice i pravci istraživanja u novoj znanstvenoj disciplini zoofolkloristike. Autorica tvrdi da bi etnologija, folkloristika i znanost o književnosti mogle imati ključnu ulogu u razvoju ekološke svijesti, znanstvenih terenskih istraživanja i kulturne ekologije te tako omogućiti prelazak iz ekologije u eshatologiju. Rad započinje opisom percepcije životinja i odnosa ljudi i životinja, gdje autorica govori o temeljnim pojmovima koji utječu na uvođenje ove nove znanstvene discipline, kao što su: životinja kao ispitanik, individualni pristup životinji, sinantropski i antropofilni pogled na čovjeka i životinju te antropomorfizam. Zatim se govori o povijesnim i suvremenim filozofsko-antropološkim diskursima o ljudskom pogledu na životinju te o teoriji specizma. Autorica razmatra predmet nove discipline te kaže da je u centru istraživanja životinja u folkloru u najširem mogućem smislu, u svim sferama narodne kulture, što se proučava iz novih gledišta, nove percepcije i recepcije; u pjesmama, pričama, bajkama, basnama, predajama, poslovicama, izrekama, zagonetkama, šalama, narodnom jeziku, kulturnim praksama, narodnom teatru, mitologiji, narodnoj medicini pa čak i u narodnoj glazbi. Nadalje, autorica daje pregled kulturnih istraživanja životinja u Europi i Sloveniji, te pokazuje da su rasprave o životinjama uglavnom objavljivane u 21. stoljeću, što bi moglo označavati da je riječ o prelasku u novu paradigmu ili čak i novu ontologiju. Autorica se bavi metodološkim i teorijskim pitanjima i pravcima u zoofolklorističkim istraživanjima koje klasificira prema kritičkom diskursu. Rad završava pregledom ciljeva zoofolkloristike, za koju tvrdi da ne bi smjela postati znanstvena disciplina koja nema aktivan utjecaj na društvenopolitički prostor u kojem koegzistiraju ljudski i ne-ljudski subjektiviteti

Global monitoring of soil animal communities using a common methodology.

Here we introduce the Soil BON Foodweb Team, a cross-continental collaborative network that aims to monitor soil animal communities and food webs using consistent methodology at a global scale. Soil animals support vital soil processes via soil structure modification, consumption of dead organic matter, and interactions with microbial and plant communities. Soil animal effects on ecosystem functions have been demonstrated by correlative analyses as well as in laboratory and field experiments, but these studies typically focus on selected animal groups or species at one or few sites with limited variation in environmental conditions. The lack of comprehensive harmonised large-scale soil animal community data including microfauna, mesofauna, and macrofauna, in conjunction with related soil functions, microbial communities, and vegetation, limits our understanding of biological interactions in soil systems and how these interactions affect ecosystem functioning. To provide such data, the Soil BON Foodweb Team invites researchers worldwide to use a common methodology to address six long-term goals: (1) to collect globally representative harmonised data on soil micro-, meso-, and macrofauna communities, (2) to describe key environmental drivers of soil animal communities and food webs, (3) to assess the efficiency of conservation approaches for the protection of soil animal communities, (4) to describe soil food webs and their association with soil functioning globally, (5) to establish a global research network for soil biodiversity monitoring and collaborative projects in related topics, (6) to reinforce local collaboration networks and expertise and support capacity building for soil animal research around the world. In this paper, we describe the vision of the global research network and the common sampling protocol to assess soil animal communities and advocate for the use of standard methodologies across observational and experimental soil animal studies. We will use this protocol to conduct soil animal assessments and reconstruct soil food webs at sites associated with the global soil biodiversity monitoring network, Soil BON, allowing us to assess linkages among soil biodiversity, vegetation, soil physico-chemical properties, climate, and ecosystem functions. In the present paper, we call for researchers especially from countries and ecoregions that remain underrepresented in the majority of soil biodiversity assessments to join us. Together we will be able to provide science-based evidence to support soil biodiversity conservation and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems

Globally invariant metabolism but density-diversity mismatch in springtails.

Soil life supports the functioning and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Springtails (Collembola) are among the most abundant soil arthropods regulating soil fertility and flow of energy through above- and belowground food webs. However, the global distribution of springtail diversity and density, and how these relate to energy fluxes remains unknown. Here, using a global dataset representing 2470 sites, we estimate the total soil springtail biomass at 27.5 megatons carbon, which is threefold higher than wild terrestrial vertebrates, and record peak densities up to 2 million individuals per square meter in the tundra. Despite a 20-fold biomass difference between the tundra and the tropics, springtail energy use (community metabolism) remains similar across the latitudinal gradient, owing to the changes in temperature with latitude. Neither springtail density nor community metabolism is predicted by local species richness, which is high in the tropics, but comparably high in some temperate forests and even tundra. Changes in springtail activity may emerge from latitudinal gradients in temperature, predation and resource limitation in soil communities. Contrasting relationships of biomass, diversity and activity of springtail communities with temperature suggest that climate warming will alter fundamental soil biodiversity metrics in different directions, potentially restructuring terrestrial food webs and affecting soil functioning

Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure

Springtails (Collembola) inhabit soils from the Arctic to the Antarctic and comprise an estimated ~32% of all terrestrial arthropods on Earth. Here, we present a global, spatially-explicit database on springtail communities that includes 249,912 occurrences from 44,999 samples and 2,990 sites. These data are mainly raw sample-level records at the species level collected predominantly from private archives of the authors that were quality-controlled and taxonomically-standardised. Despite covering all continents, most of the sample-level data come from the European continent (82.5% of all samples) and represent four habitats: woodlands (57.4%), grasslands (14.0%), agrosystems (13.7%) and scrublands (9.0%). We included sampling by soil layers, and across seasons and years, representing temporal and spatial within-site variation in springtail communities. We also provided data use and sharing guidelines and R code to facilitate the use of the database by other researchers. This data paper describes a static version of the database at the publication date, but the database will be further expanded to include underrepresented regions and linked with trait data.</p

Priorities for research in soil ecology

The ecological interactions that occur in and with soil are of consequence in many ecosystems on the planet. These interactions provide numerous essential ecosystem services, and the sustainable management of soils has attracted increasing scientific and public attention. Although soil ecology emerged as an independent field of research many decades ago, and we have gained important insights into the functioning of soils, there still are fundamental aspects that need to be better understood to ensure that the ecosystem services that soils provide are not lost and that soils can be used in a sustainable way. In this perspectives paper, we highlight some of the major knowledge gaps that should be prioritized in soil ecological research. These research priorities were compiled based on an online survey of 32 editors of Pedobiologia – Journal of Soil Ecology. These editors work at universities and research centers in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. The questions were categorized into four themes: (1) soil biodiversity and biogeography, (2) interactions and the functioning of ecosystems, (3) global change and soil management, and (4) new directions. The respondents identified priorities that may be achievable in the near future, as well as several that are currently achievable but remain open. While some of the identified barriers to progress were technological in nature, many respondents cited a need for substantial leadership and goodwill among members of the soil ecology research community, including the need for multi-institutional partnerships, and had substantial concerns regarding the loss of taxonomic expertise

Springtail diversity in the Cape floristic region

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Understanding the distribution, abundance and diversity of species and the mechanisms causing these patterns has been the interest of ecologists and taxonomists for decades. The exceptionally high plant diversity in the Fynbos biome has been well studied. Whilst early arguments suggested that the high plant diversity is not reflected in the arthropod diversity and that insect species richness is low compared to other comparable areas, these observations might have been hampered by the taxonomic impediment. Despite global recognition of the significance of this below-ground component of diversity for ecosystem functioning, soil is one of the most poorly studied habitats of terrestrial ecosystems. Although knowledge is increasing for epigaeic groups, other significant groups such as the Collembola remain especially poorly understood. This thesis starts addressing this serious gap in knowledge concerning the below-ground component of biodiversity in the Fynbos biome and the effects of landscape transformation thereon. As part of the work, considerable attention was given to resolving the taxonomic impediment for the springtail fauna of the Fynbos biome using modern morphological and DNA barcoding methods, while also examining the correlates of soil animal diversity in the biome, by using Collembola (springtails) as exemplars. First, using a combination of published records of Collembola from South Africa, various sampling methods and DNA barcoding, a species list is compiled for the Western Cape. Currently 213 species are known to exist from the Western Cape. A high level of cryptic diversity was also found in several genera, together with several potential species radiations in the Ectonura, Seira, Parisotoma and Cryptopygus. A start is a made at addressing the lack of taxonomic knowledge by describing five new species. Two Ectonura Cassagnau 1980 species are described from Betty’s Bay and Grootvadersbosch respectively and a key to the Neanurinae of South Africa is provided. The first record of the genus Triacanthella Schäffer, 1897 is described from a cave in Table Mountain, while two new species of Delamarephorura are described and the genera Spicatella Thibaud 2002 and Delamarephorura Weiner & Najt 1999 are synonymized. Although fire is thought to be the main form of decomposition in the Fynbos biome, recent work has shown that biological decomposition may be more important than previously thought. I examine the resilience of Collembola after a large-scale fire in Jonkershoek Nature Reserve using quantitative sampling which is temporally replicated. The resilience of invertebrate fauna in the fynbos is not well understood, thus I investigate the diversity of Collembola before and after a major fire. Results show Collembola species richness and abundance recovered surprisingly quickly after the fire. On a larger scale, litterbags were deployed at six sites across the Western Cape using different litter types. Here, a total of 113 morphospecies species was found. Local richness was found to be highest in Kogelberg (32 species), while the turnover between sites was also high. Thus, the degradation of local habitat patches will be as much of a threat to Collembola as to the endemic plants in this region.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Begrip van die verspreiding, spesierykheid en verskeidenheid van spesies en die meganismes wat hierdie patrone veroorsaak is al die belangstelling van ekoloë en taksonome vir dekades. Die buitengewoon hoë plant diversiteit in die Fynbos-bioom is goed bestudeer. Terwyl vroeë argumente voorstel dat die hoë plantdiversiteit nie weerspieël word in die geleedpotige diversiteit nie en dat insekspesierykheid laag is in vergelyking met ander gebiede, kon hierdie waarnemings nie gemaak word nie as gevolg van taksonomiese hindernisse. Ten spyte van die wêreldwye erkenning van die belangrikheid van hierdie ondergrondse komponent van diversiteit vir die funksionering van die ekosisteem, is die grond een van die swakste bestudeerde habitatte van terrestriële ekosisteme. Alhoewel kennis vermeerder vir bogrondse groepe, word ander belangrike groepe soos die Collembola swak verstaan. Hierdie tesis begin hierdie ernstige leemte in kennis aanspreek, met betrekking tot die ondergrondse komponent van biodiversiteit in die Fynbos bioom en die gevolge van die landskap transformasie daarop. As deel van die werk, is heelwat aandag gegee aan die oplossing van die taksonomiese hindernis vir die springstert fauna van die fynbos bioom met behulp van moderne morfologiese en DNA metodes, terwyl dit ook die ooreenkomste van grond diere diversiteit ondersoek in die bioom, deur gebruik te maak van Collembola (springsterte) as voorbeelde. Eerste, met behulp van 'n kombinasie van gepubliseerde rekords van Collembola van Suid-Afrika, verskillende kolleksie metodes en DNA metodes is 'n spesielys saamgestel vir die Wes-Kaap. Tans is 213 spesies bekend vir die Wes-Kaap. 'n Hoë vlak van kriptiese diversiteit is ook gevind in verskeie genera, saam met verskeie potensiële spesies radiasies in die Ectonura, Seira, Parisotoma en Cryptopygus. 'n Begin is gemaak op die aanspreek van die gebrek van taksonomiese kennis deur vyf nuwe spesies te beskryf. Twee Ectonura Cassagnau 1980 spesies van Bettiesbaai en Grootvadersbosch is beskryf en 'n sleutel tot die Neanurinae van Suid-Afrika word verskaf. Die eerste rekord van die genus Triacanthella Schaffer, 1897 word beskryf van 'n grot in Tafelberg, terwyl twee nuwe spesies van Delamarephorura beskryf word en die genera Spicatella Thibaud 2002 en Delamarephorura Weiner & Najt 1999 gesinomiseer word. Hoewel vuur beskou word as die belangrikste vorm van ontbinding in die Fynbos bioom, het onlangse werk getoon dat die biologiese ontbinding belangriker mag wees as wat voorheen vermoed was. Ek ondersoek die veerkragtigheid van Collembola na 'n groot skaal vuur in Jonkershoek Natuurreservaat met behulp van kwantitatiewe steekproefneming wat tydelik herhaal. Die veerkragtigheid van ongewerwelde fauna in die fynbos word nie goed verstaan nie, dus het ek ondersoek ingestel na die diversiteit van Collembola voor en na 'n groot vuur. Resultate toon dat Collembola se spesierykheid en hoveelheid verbasend vinnig herstel na die vuur. Op 'n groter skaal, is kolleksies by ses plekke regoor die Wes-Kaap gebruik en verskillende blaarafval word vergelyk. Hier word 'n totaal van 113 morfologiese spesies gevind. Daar is gevind dat die hoogste aantal spesies in Kogelberg is (32 spesies), terwyl die omset tussen plekke baie hoog was. So sal die agteruitgang van plaaslike habitatte net soveel van 'n bedreiging inhou vir Collembola as vir die endemiese plante in hierdie streek

Taxonomy of the Proisotoma complex. VI. Rediscovery of the genus Bagnallella Salmon, 1951 and epitoky in Bagnallella davidi (Barra, 2001), comb. nov. from South Africa

International audienceThe genus Bagnallella Salmon is restored and given a diagnosis. It takes an intermediate position between Proisotoma Börner and Cryptopygus Willem complexes and is characterized by the separation of the two last abdominal segments (like in Proisotoma) and 3 and 5 s-chaetae on the fourth and fifth abdominal segments (like in Cryptopygus and its allies). A list of and key to species belonging to Bagnallella is given. Bagnallella biseta comb. nov., B. dubia comb. nov., B. sedecimoculata comb. nov., and B. tenella comb. nov. are commented and redescribed. Morphology of Bagnallella davidi (Barra), comb. nov. is described from the specimens from South Africa. So far B. davidi appears to be a complex of forms differing in size of the furca and macrochaetae. Two types of strongly modified males were found and described. Antennae, ventral side of abdomen, posterior edge of abdominal tergites, and mandibles are affected with epitoky. The nature of the discovered strong polymorphism is unclear