TY - JOUR

T1 - The toughest animals of the Earth versus global warming

T2 - Effects of long-term experimental warming on tardigrade community structure of a temperate deciduous forest

AU - Vecchi, Matteo

AU - Kossi Adakpo, Laurent

AU - Dunn, Robert R.

AU - Nichols, Lauren M.

AU - Penick, Clint A.

AU - Sanders, Nathan J.

AU - Rebecchi, Lorena

AU - Guidetti, Roberto

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the anonymous referees and the editor for their comments that allowed us to improve the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Dimensions of Biodiversity [grant number 1136703]; the United States Department of Energy [grant number DEFG02‐08ER64510]; the Department of the Interior's Southeast Climate Science Center, under cooperative agreement numbers G13AC00405; and the departmental FAR grant of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2021/7

Y1 - 2021/7

N2 - Understanding how different taxa respond to global warming is essential for predicting future changes and elaborating strategies to buffer them. Tardigrades are well known for their ability to survive environmental stressors, such as drying and freezing, by undergoing cryptobiosis and rapidly recovering their metabolic function after stressors cease. Determining the extent to which animals that undergo cryptobiosis are affected by environmental warming will help to understand the real magnitude climate change will have on these organisms. Here, we report on the responses of tardigrades within a five-year-long, field-based artificial warming experiment, which consisted of 12 open-top chambers heated to simulate the projected effects of global warming (ranging from 0 to 5.5°C above ambient temperature) in a temperate deciduous forest of North Carolina (USA). To elucidate the effects of warming on the tardigrade community inhabiting the soil litter, three community diversity indices (abundance, species richness, and Shannon diversity) and the abundance of the three most abundant species (Diphascon pingue, Adropion scoticum, and Mesobiotus sp.) were determined. Their relationships with air temperature, soil moisture, and the interaction between air temperature and soil moisture were tested using Bayesian generalized linear mixed models. Despite observed negative effects of warming on other ground invertebrates in previous studies at this site, long-term warming did not affect the abundance, richness, or diversity of tardigrades in this experiment. These results are in line with previous experimental studies, indicating that tardigrades may not be directly affected by ongoing global warming, possibly due to their thermotolerance and cryptobiotic abilities to avoid negative effects of stressful temperatures, and the buffering effect on temperature of the soil litter substrate.

AB - Understanding how different taxa respond to global warming is essential for predicting future changes and elaborating strategies to buffer them. Tardigrades are well known for their ability to survive environmental stressors, such as drying and freezing, by undergoing cryptobiosis and rapidly recovering their metabolic function after stressors cease. Determining the extent to which animals that undergo cryptobiosis are affected by environmental warming will help to understand the real magnitude climate change will have on these organisms. Here, we report on the responses of tardigrades within a five-year-long, field-based artificial warming experiment, which consisted of 12 open-top chambers heated to simulate the projected effects of global warming (ranging from 0 to 5.5°C above ambient temperature) in a temperate deciduous forest of North Carolina (USA). To elucidate the effects of warming on the tardigrade community inhabiting the soil litter, three community diversity indices (abundance, species richness, and Shannon diversity) and the abundance of the three most abundant species (Diphascon pingue, Adropion scoticum, and Mesobiotus sp.) were determined. Their relationships with air temperature, soil moisture, and the interaction between air temperature and soil moisture were tested using Bayesian generalized linear mixed models. Despite observed negative effects of warming on other ground invertebrates in previous studies at this site, long-term warming did not affect the abundance, richness, or diversity of tardigrades in this experiment. These results are in line with previous experimental studies, indicating that tardigrades may not be directly affected by ongoing global warming, possibly due to their thermotolerance and cryptobiotic abilities to avoid negative effects of stressful temperatures, and the buffering effect on temperature of the soil litter substrate.

KW - climate change

KW - experimental

KW - global warming

KW - Tardigrades

KW - water bears

U2 - 10.1002/ece3.7816

DO - 10.1002/ece3.7816

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34306668

AN - SCOPUS:85108964162

VL - 11

SP - 9856

EP - 9863

JO - Ecology and Evolution

JF - Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2045-7758

IS - 14

ER -