Biology subjects

Thyrring, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Thyrring, J..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

A long-term ecological research data set from the marine genetic monitoring programme ARMS-MBON 2018-2020

Molecular methods such as DNA/eDNA metabarcoding have emerged as useful tools to document biodiversity of complex communities over large spatio-temporal scales. We established an international Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (ARMS-MBON) combining standardised sampling using autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) with metabarcoding for genetic monitoring of marine hard-bottom benthic communities. Here, we present the data of our first sampling campaign comprising 56 ARMS units deployed in 2018-2019 and retrieved in 2018-2020 across 15 observatories along the coasts of Europe and adjacent regions. We describe the open-access data set (image, genetic, and metadata) and explore the genetic data to show its potential for marine biodiversity monitoring and ecological research. Our analysis shows that ARMS recovered more than 60 eukaryotic phyla capturing diversity of up to [~]5,500 amplicon sequence variants and [~]1,800 operational taxonomic units, and up to [~]250 and [~]50 species per observatory using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 18S rRNA marker genes, respectively. Further, ARMS detected threatened, vulnerable and non-indigenous species often targeted in biological monitoring. We show that while deployment duration does not drive diversity estimates, sampling effort and sequencing depth across observatories do. We recommend that ARMS should be deployed for at least three to six months during the main growth season to use resources as efficiently as possible and that post-sequencing curation is applied to enable statistical comparison of spatio-temporal entities. We suggest that ARMS should be used in biological monitoring programmes and long-term ecological research and encourage the adoption of our ARMS-MBON protocols.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Ocean acidification increases susceptibility to sub-zero air temperatures in ecosystem engineers (Mytilus sp.): a limit to poleward range shifts

Ongoing climate change has caused rapidly increasing temperatures, and an unprecedented decline in seawater pH, known as ocean acidification. Increasing temperatures are redistributing species towards higher and cooler latitudes which are most affected by ocean acidification. Whilst the persistence of intertidal species in cold environments is related to their capacity to resist sub-zero air temperatures, studies have never considered the interacting impacts of ocean acidification and freeze stress on species survival and distribution. A full-factorial experiment was used to study whether ocean acidification increases mortality in Mytilus spp. following sub-zero air temperature exposure. We examined physiological processes behind variation in freeze tolerance using 1H NMR metabolomics, analyses of fatty acids, and amino acid composition. We show that low pH conditions (pH = 7.5) significantly decrease freeze tolerance in both intertidal and subtidal populations of Mytilus spp. Under current day pH conditions (pH = 7.9), intertidal M. trossulus were more freeze tolerant than subtidal M. trossulus and M. galloprovincialis. Opposite, under low pH conditions, subtidal M. trossulus was more freeze tolerant than the other groups. We observed a marked shift from negative to positive metabolite-metabolite correlations across species under low pH conditions, but there was no evidence that the concentration of individual metabolites or amino acids affected freeze tolerance. Finally, pH-induced changes in the composition of cell membrane phospholipid fatty acids had no effect on survival. These results suggest that ocean acidification can offset the poleward expanding facilitated by warming, and that reduced freeze tolerance could result in a niche squeeze if temperatures become lethal at the equatorward edge.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Latitudinal patterns in intertidal ecosystem structure in West Greenland suggest resilience to climate change

Climate change has ecosystem-wide cascading effects. Little is known, however, about the resilience of Arctic marine ecosystems to environmental change. Here we quantify and compare large-scale patterns in rocky intertidal biomass, coverage and zonation in six regions along a north-south gradient of temperature and ice conditions in West Greenland (60-72{degrees}N). We related the level and variation in assemblage composition, biomass and coverage to latitudinal-scale environmental drivers. Across all latitudes, the intertidal assemblage was dominated by a core of stress-tolerant foundation species that constituted >95% of the biomass. Hence, canopy-forming macroalgae, represented by Fucus distichus subsp. evanescens and F. vesiculosus and, up to 69 {degrees}N, also Ascophyllum nodosum, together with Semibalanus balanoides, occupied >70% of the vertical tidal range in all regions. Thus, a similar functional assemblage composition occurred across regions, and no latitudinal depression was observed. The most conspicuous difference in species composition from south to north was that three common species (the macroalgae Ascophyllum nodosum, the amphipod Gammarus setosus and the gastropod Littorina obtusata) disappeared from the mid-intertidal, although at different latitudes. There were no significant relationships between assemblage metrics and air temperature or sea ice coverage as obtained from weather stations and satellites, respectively. Although the mean biomass decreased >50% from south to north, local biomass in excess of 10 000 g ww m-2 was found even at the northernmost site, demonstrating the patchiness of this habitat and the effect of small-scale variation in environmental characteristics. Hence, using the latitudinal gradient in a space-for-time substitution, our results suggest that while climate modification may lead to an overall increase in the intertidal biomass in north Greenland, it is unlikely to drive dramatic functional changes in ecosystem structure in the near future. Our dataset provides an important baseline for future studies to verify these predictions for Greenlands intertidal zone.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Global gradients in intertidal species richness and functional groups

Whether global latitudinal diversity gradients exist in rocky intertidal -diversity and across functional groups remains unknown. Using literature data from 433 intertidal sites, we investigated -diversity patterns across 155{degrees} of latitude, and whether local-scale or global-scale structuring processes control -diversity. We, furthermore, investigated how the relative composition of functional groups (algae, grazers, predators and suspension-feeders) changes with latitude. -diversity differed among hemispheres with a mid-latitudinal peak in the north, and a non-significant unimodal pattern in the south, but there was no support for a latitudinal diversity gradient. Although global-scale drivers had no discernible effect, the local-scale drivers significantly affected -diversity, and our results reveal that latitudinal diversity gradients are outweighed by local-processes. In three functional groups: predators, grazers and suspension-feeders diversity declined with latitude, coinciding with an inverse gradient in algae. Overall, we propose more studies are needed on the magnitude and influence of physical and biotic drivers across multiple scales.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Plasticity and environmental heterogeneity predict geographic resilience patterns of foundation species to future change

Although geographic patterns of species sensitivity to global environmental changes are defined by interacting multiple stressors, little is known about the biological mechanisms shaping regional differences in organismal vulnerability. Here, we examine large-scale spatial variations in biomineralisation under heterogeneous environmental gradients of temperature, salinity and food availability across a 30{degrees} latitudinal range (3,334 km), to test whether plasticity in calcareous shell production and composition, from juveniles to large adults, mediates geographic patterns of resilience to climate change in critical foundation species, the mussels Mytilus edulis and M. trossulus. We find mussels produced thinner shells with a higher organic content in polar than temperature regions, indicating decreasing shell calcification towards high latitudes. Salinity was the major driver of regional differences in mussel shell deposition, and in shell mineral and organic composition. In low-salinity environments, the production of calcite and organic shell layers was increased, providing higher resistance against dissolution in more corrosive waters. Conversely, under higher-salinity regimes, increased aragonite deposition suggests enhanced mechanical protection from predators. Interacting strong effects of decreasing salinity and increasing food availability on the compositional shell plasticity in polar and subpolar mussels during growth predict the deposition of a thicker external organic layer (periostracum) under forecasted future environmental conditions. This marked response potential of Mytilus species suggests a capacity for increased protection of high-latitude mussel populations from ocean acidification. Our work illustrates that mechanisms driving plastic responses to the spatial structure of multiple stressors can define geographic patterns of unforeseen species resilience to global environmental change.

ecology↗