Search results for " ecophysiology"

STUDIES ON SOME ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL, METABOLIC AND AGRONOMIC ASPECTS OF TREE NUTS

Thermal adaptation and physiological responses to environmental stress in tunicates

2017

Understanding the multifaceted nature of environmental fluctuations is crucial to predicting the physiological adjustments utilised by organisms in resisting or adapting to changes over time. Here we investigate the effects of 2 environmental stressors on tunicates, whose fitness can have important repercussions on the quality of habitat. Specifically, we report respiration rate (RR), clearance rate (CR), and assimilation efficiency (AE) of the ascidian Styela plicata in response to a range of temperatures and varying food availability. Temperature-dependent RR was observed only within a portion of the thermal window of the species. Significant differences in clearance rates were detected a…

A bioenergetics framework for integrating the effects of multiple stressors: Opening a 'black box' in climate change research

2015

Climate change is already impacting marine ecosystems across a range of scales, from individual physiology, to changes in species interactions and community structure, and ultimately to patterns in geographic distribution. Predicting how marine ecosystems will respond to environmental change is a signifi cant challenge because vulnerability to climatic and non-climatic stressors is highly variable, and depends on an organism’s functional traits, tolerance to stressors, and the environment in which it lives. We present a mechanistic approach based on biophysical and dynamic energy budget models that integrates the cumulative effects of multiple environmental stressors (temperature and food) …

The impact of climate change on Mediterranean intertidal communities: losses in coastal ecosystem integrity and services

2014

As has been shown for other ecosystems, the ecological and socio-economic impacts of climate change on Mediterranean intertidal habitats are highly variable in space and time. We conducted field and laboratory measurements of cellular, ecophysiological and behavioural responses of selected intertidal invertebrates (mussels, gastropods and sponges) and completed a literature review to determine what is known of socioeconomic consequences of these biological changes. Results suggest significant gaps in our knowledge that may impede a complete understanding of likely impacts (physical, biological, and socioeconomic) and that sufficient data for such an analysis is available only for mussels. A…

Fish-seastar facilitation leads to algal forest restoration on protected rocky reefs

2015

AbstractAlthough protected areas can lead to recovery of overharvested species, it is much less clear whether the return of certain predator species or a diversity of predator species can lead to re-establishment of important top-down forces that regulate whole ecosystems. Here we report that the algal recovery in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area did not derive from the increase in the traditional strong predators, but rather from the establishment of a previously unknown interaction between the thermophilic fish Thalassoma pavo and the seastar Marthasterias glacialis. The interaction resulted in elevated predation rates on sea urchins responsible for algal overgrazing. Manipulative ex…