scholarly journals Seeds and Seedlings in a Changing World: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis from High Altitude and High Latitude Ecosystems

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 768
Author(s):  
Jerónimo Vázquez-Ramírez ◽  
Susanna E. Venn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Seedling Establishment ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Early Snowmelt

The early life-history stages of plants, such as germination and seedling establishment, depend on favorable environmental conditions. Changes in the environment at high altitude and high latitude regions, as a consequence of climate change, will significantly affect these life stages and may have profound effects on species recruitment and survival. Here, we synthesize the current knowledge of climate change effects on treeline, tundra, and alpine plants’ early life-history stages. We systematically searched the available literature on this subject up until February 2020 and recovered 835 potential articles that matched our search terms. From these, we found 39 studies that matched our selection criteria. We characterized the studies within our review and performed a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the extracted meta-data regarding the climatic effects likely to change in these regions, including projected warming, early snowmelt, changes in precipitation, nutrient availability and their effects on seed maturation, seed dormancy, germination, seedling emergence and seedling establishment. Although the studies showed high variability in their methods and studied species, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the extracted data allowed us to detect existing patterns and knowledge gaps. For example, warming temperatures seemed to favor all studied life stages except seedling establishment, a decrease in precipitation had a strong negative effect on seed stages and, surprisingly, early snowmelt had a neutral effect on seed dormancy and germination but a positive effect on seedling establishment. For some of the studied life stages, data within the literature were too limited to identify a precise effect. There is still a need for investigations that increase our understanding of the climate change impacts on high altitude and high latitude plants’ reproductive processes, as this is crucial for plant conservation and evidence-based management of these environments. Finally, we make recommendations for further research based on the identified knowledge gaps.

scholarly journals Effects of climate change on fish reproduction and early life history stages

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ned W. Pankhurst ◽  
Philip L. Munday
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Endocrine System ◽  
Developmental Rate ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Egg Survival ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Larval Fishes ◽  
Larval Behaviour ◽  
Temperature Ranges

Seasonal change in temperature has a profound effect on reproduction in fish. Increasing temperatures cue reproductive development in spring-spawning species, and falling temperatures stimulate reproduction in autumn-spawners. Elevated temperatures truncate spring spawning, and delay autumn spawning. Temperature increases will affect reproduction, but the nature of these effects will depend on the period and amplitude of the increase and range from phase-shifting of spawning to complete inhibition of reproduction. This latter effect will be most marked in species that are constrained in their capacity to shift geographic range. Studies from a range of taxa, habitats and temperature ranges all show inhibitory effects of elevated temperature albeit about different environmental set points. The effects are generated through the endocrine system, particularly through the inhibition of ovarian oestrogen production. Larval fishes are usually more sensitive than adults to environmental fluctuations, and might be especially vulnerable to climate change. In addition to direct effects on embryonic duration and egg survival, temperature also influences size at hatching, developmental rate, pelagic larval duration and survival. A companion effect of marine climate change is ocean acidification, which may pose a significant threat through its capacity to alter larval behaviour and impair sensory capabilities. This in turn impacts on population replenishment and connectivity patterns of marine fishes.

Apparent predation of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) by prickly sculpins (Cottus asper) is an artefact of trapping methodology

2006 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Londi M. Tomaro
Keyword(s):  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Kisutch ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Juvenile Salmonids ◽  
Freshwater Sculpin ◽  
Trap Bias

Freshwater sculpins often inhabit the same waterways as juvenile salmonids and may impact the survival of juvenile salmonids through predation on early life-history stages. In the present study, the stomach contents of 2302 individual Cottus asper, a freshwater sculpin, collected from Auke Lake, Alaska, were examined during the boreal summer of 2000 to determine if C. asper are important natural predators of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), and to explore possible trap bias of gear used in preliminary diet studies. The diet of sculpins collected in confining traps was compared with the diet of sculpins collected in nets. Significant predation on pre-smolt coho salmon by trapped sculpins, but none by netted sculpins, was observed. This result provides strong evidence of trap bias in the observed diet of C. asper. The remainder of the diet of trapped sculpins also differed significantly from that of netted sculpins. Significantly more trapped sculpins had eaten plant material and fish, whereas significantly more netted sculpins had consumed molluscs. Finally, sculpin diet was correlated with sculpin size, which may influence predation on other salmonid life-stages. These results expand our understanding of prickly sculpin diet and show that they are not important predators of juvenile coho salmon. These findings also demonstrate the importance of assessing the potential bias of collection gear and sampling techniques.

scholarly journals Inconclusive Predictions and Contradictions: A Lack of Consensus on Seed Germination Response to Climate Change at High Altitude and High Latitude

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Ganesh K. Jaganathan ◽  
Sarah E. Dalrymple
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Seed Germination ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Dormancy Breaking ◽  
Seed Collection ◽  
Environmental Interactions ◽  
Germination Ability ◽  
Acute Responses

Climate change directly affects arctic-alpine plants and acute responses to increased temperatures may be seen in their reproductive fitness and germination ability. However, uncertainties prevail in predicting whether a future warmer climate favors or hampers seed germination in high latitude and high altitude soils and seed germination research in such systems has not been able to provide generalizable patterns of response. The available literature on this subject has been conducted at various locations contributing to difficulties in predicting the response of arctic-alpine seeds to climate change. Here, we show that discrepancies in seed collection, dormancy breaking treatments, and germination conditions found in the published literature are possible reasons for our inability to draw large scale conclusions. We explore how these factors influence the results and highlight the fact that many of the previous investigations have reported the effects of warmer temperature, rather than a warmer climate and all the associated complex environmental interactions, on seed germination. We recommend that long-term monitoring of seed response to treatments that mimic the present and future alpine climate is likely to produce more ecologically meaningful insights and suggest several practical steps that researchers can take that would facilitate greater coherence between studies.

scholarly journals Effect of Storage Temperature on Bio efficacy of Aqueous Extract of Ganoderma lucidum

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-196
Author(s):  
Rajkumar Tulsawani ◽  
Purva Sharma ◽  
Mamta Rautela
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Aqueous Extract ◽  
Ganoderma Lucidum ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Moisture Absorption ◽  
Storage Temperature ◽  
Storage Conditions ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Temperature Storage

Stability testing is key requirement in the drug development process along with storage temperature which may deteriorate bio-constituents and efficacy of natural products. Aqueous extract of Ganoderma lucidum has revealed pharmacological effects against high altitude stressors and has potential for mitigating high altitude maladies. In the present study, the extract of Ganoderma lucidum was stored at different storage conditions such as room temperature, 4 °C and -20 °C for two year and qualitative and quantitative analysis of bio-constituents and bio-efficacy was carried out. No significant change was observed in any extract kept in different temperature conditions in terms of its polysaccharide, phenolic and flavonoids content. The extract kept at room temperature absorbed slight moisture in few samples but no change in overall polysaccharide, phenolic and flavonoids content was recorded. The moisture absorption problem was not observed in extracts stored at 4 °C and -20 °C. The bio-efficacy of the extract at room temperature, 4 °C or -20 °C were comparable to the freshly prepared extract and the data from the studies suggest that extract has good shelf life up to two year without loss of bio-efficacy. Overall, the extract retained its bio-efficacy for two years at different temperature storage conditions.

1. Glacier ice: discovery and understanding

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
David J. A. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Low Temperatures ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
High Altitudes ◽  
Optimum Conditions ◽  
Glacier Ice ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Features

‘Glacier ice: discovery and understanding’ considers how and why glaciers are formed and the history of the study of glaciers, which has enhanced our knowledge. Glacier ice will form wherever the combined effects of precipitation (specifically snow), low temperatures, and topography create the optimum conditions. These optimum conditions are met in regions of high altitude and high latitude, but can be met at high altitudes in equatorial regions and lower altitudes towards the poles. Other conditions must also be satisfied: aspect, relief, and the distance from the nearest moisture source. The balance and equilibrium of glaciers is also explained along with their key features and how they act as archives of climate change.

scholarly journals Predicting selection-response gradients of heat tolerance in a wide-ranging reef-building coral

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ponchanok Weeriyanun ◽  
Rachael B. Collins ◽  
Alex Macadam ◽  
Hugo Kiff ◽  
Janna L. Randle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Heat Tolerance ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Selection Response ◽  
Larval Survival ◽  
Disruptive Selection ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Tolerance Response ◽  
Settlement Success

ABSTRACTOcean temperatures continue to rise due to climate change but it is unclear if heat tolerance of marine organisms will keep pace. Understanding how tolerance scales from individuals to species and quantifying adaptive potentials is essential to forecasting responses to warming. We reproductively crossed corals from a globally distributed species (Acropora tenuis) on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) from three thermally distinct reefs to create 85 novel offspring lineages. Individuals were experimentally exposed to temperatures (27.5, 31, and 35.5 - 36 °C) in adult and two critical early life-history stages (larval development and settlement) to assess acquired heat tolerance via introgression on offspring phenotypes by comparing multiple physiological responses (photosynthetic yields, bleaching, necrosis, settlement, and survival). Adaptive potentials and physiological reaction norms were calculated across multiple life-stages to integrate heat tolerance at different biological scales. Selective breeding improved larval survival to heat by 1.5-2.5x but settlement success showed limited improvement. Adult responses to selection at heat were similar but were greater in larvae from warmer reefs compared to the cooler reef. There was also a divergence between adults and offspring mean population responses, likely underpinned by heat stress imposing strong divergent selection on adult colonies. These results have implications for downstream selection during reproduction, as evidenced by variability in a conserved heat tolerance response across offspring lineages. These results inform our ability to forecast the impacts of climate change on wild populations of corals and will aid in developing novel conservation tools like the assisted evolution of at-risk species.SUMMARY STATEMENTHeat stress exerts disruptive selection on adult corals. This likely underpins variability in offspring survival and results in differences in offspring responses to selection.

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