Ecosystem recovery after climatic extremes enhanced by genotypic diversity
Open accessAbstract
Contemporary climate change is characterized both by increasing mean temperature and increasing climate variability such as heat waves, storms, and floods. How populations and communities cope with such climatic extremes is a question central to contemporary ecology and biodiversity conservation. Previous work has shown that species diversity can affect ecosystem functioning and resilience. Here, we show that genotypic diversity can replace the role of species diversity in a species-poor coastal ecosystem, and it may buffer against extreme climatic events. In a manipulative field experiment, increasing the genotypic diversity of the cosmopolitan seagrass Zostera marina enhanced biomass production, plant density, and faunal abundance, despite near-lethal water temperatures due to extreme warming across Europe. Net biodiversity effects were explained by genotypic complementarity rather than by selection of particularly robust genotypes. Positive effects on invertebrate fauna suggest that genetic diversity has second-order effects reaching higher trophic levels. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining genetic as well as species diversity to enhance ecosystem resilience in a world of increasing uncertainty.
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Communities with greater diversity are more resilient to environmental change.
“in part because more diverse communities are more resilient to environmental change (Reusch et al. 2005;Hughes et al. 2008;Peterson et al. 1998).”
From Environmental Adaptation from the Origin of Life to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (2018) · cites this paper as Reusch et al. 2005
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- Authors
- Reusch, T. B. H., Ehlers, A., Hämmerli, A., & Worm, B.
- Affiliations
- Dalhousie University (CA)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2005-02-14
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 2826-2831
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC549506
- OpenAlex
- W2118337700
- Cited by
- 1,245
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 86 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 75 · 2019: 71 · 2018: 67 · 2017: 108 · 2016: 60 · 2015: 66 · 2014: 76 · 2013: 45 · 2012: 74
- FWCI
- 30.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal plant biology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
- Keywords
- genotypic diversity, genetic diversity, species diversity, Zostera marina, seagrass, climate extremes, heat waves, ecosystem resilience, ecosystem recovery, complementarity, biodiversity impacts, coastal ecosystems, invertebrate fauna, trophic levels
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Climate, Genotype, Genetic Variation, Ecosystem, Biodiversity
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