Intraspecific trait variation modulates the effects of environmental change drivers on population dynamics
(2023) Symposium of Aquatic Microbial Ecology 17 (SAME17) — Location: Tartu, Estonia (20.August.2023)
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- Abstract
- Can intraspecific trait variation modulate the effects of environmental change drivers on population dynamics? In recent decades, environmental change has been increasing rapidly both in pace and intensity due to anthropogenically-induced Environmental Change Drivers (ECDs). An ECD is an environmental variable subjected to long-term change, like temperature or pollution. In a healthy ecosystem, a high species diversity creates functional redundancy between species, making the ecosystem more resilient to ECDs: should a species disappear, another one will likely take over the empty niche and ecological role. Similarly, at the population level, a population with more diverse individuals (i.e. a higher intraspecific trait variation, ITV) is expected to be more resilient to ECDs. Here, we present the results of an experiment aiming to get more insight into the relation between ITV and a species’ response to a combination of two ECDs in a fully crossed factorial design. The experiment used controlled aquatic microcosms and image analysis to characterize functional traits of several clonal strains of two species of ciliate protists. We first tested whether competitive ability, in the form of carrying capacity (K), responds differently to the ECDs for different strains of the same species and whether there were any additional effects due to the two ECDs interacting. We then tested if these changes in K (due to ECDs) can be explained by changes in individual movement and morphological traits, summarized in a behavioral index. Together, these results provide some answer to the question whether ITV has the potential to modulate the effects of ECDs on population dynamics.
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de Bruin, T., & et al. (2023). Intraspecific trait variation modulates the effects of environmental change drivers on population dynamics. Symposium of Aquatic Microbial Ecology 17 (SAME17), Tartu, Estonia. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/102343