Urban environments promote adaptation to multiple stressors
Authors/Creators
- 1. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
- 2. University of Crete
- 3. University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Description
Anthropogenic activities have drastically changed environmental conditions worldwide, negatively impacting biodiversity and ecosystem services. At the same time, the majority of the human population lives in urban areas that are greatly altered from natural habitats. Nevertheless, many species thrive in urban environments. To improve our knowledge of evolution and adaptation in these anthropogenically impacted habitats, we conducted the widest series of stress experiments to date with three marine taxa: one mussel and two gammarid species. We compared intraspecific populations from protected and human-altered habitats to determine their tolerance to salinity, temperature and partial pressure of CO2 in water (pCO2) regimes. Populations from impacted habitats typically outperformed protected habitat populations, with individuals from the most impacted habitat being the most robust. We propose that urban populations are adapting to life in disturbed environments — this adaptation concurrently promotes more resilient rescue populations but potentially confers increased invasion risk from non-native species.
Notes
Funding provided by: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
ROR ID: https://ror.org/012kf4317
Award Number:
Funding provided by: Leverhulme Trust
ROR ID: https://ror.org/012mzw131
Award Number: ECF-2021-0001
Methods
Populations of one mussel (i.e., Mytilus sp.) and two gammarid species (i.e., Gammarus locusta and G. salinus) were collected in protected and human-altered habitats (i.e., impacted) in the Baltic Sea in Germany. The protected habitat was Schleimünde (Maasholm), while the human-altered habitat was the Kiel fjord, with three locations: i) downtown Kiel; ii) Kiel canal; and iii) Falckenstein beach. Species were collected from May 2016 until January 2021, depending on when a particular species/population experiment was conducted as well as sampling logistics. Two different types of experiments were conducted for each population of each species, with two crossed stressors: i) temperature – pCO2 experiments; and ii) temperature – salinity experiments. In both types of these multiple-stressor experiments with factorial stressor arrangements, following the acclimatization period to laboratory environment, the stress tests were conducted using ten mean-size adult individuals per replicate; except in two experiments when eight and nine individuals were used due to a lack of individuals (i.e., in a temperature – pCO2 experiment with Mytilus sp. from Schleimünde and a temperature – salinity experiment with G. locusta from Schleimünde). The experimental individuals were transferred from the acclimation conditions to the experimental conditions without gradual adjustments. Three replicates were conducted for each treatment. Mussel experiments were performed in 5 L aquaria, whereas those for gammarids were in 2 L aquaria containing artificial habitat structures to provide complexity of habitat. The experiments lasted for 30 days, with mortality checked daily. Light and feeding regimes were kept the same as during the acclimation period. Every ten days, 50% of the water was exchanged with previously prepared water to ensure the desired temperature, salinity and pCO2 conditions were kept.
Files
Files
(10.1 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:b7eac4679aa6b2bf534fa9b0ccec53d3
|
10.1 kB | Download |
Additional details
Related works
- Is source of
- 10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6qx (DOI)