Climate warming may cause a parasite-induced collapse in coastal amphipod populations
Climate warming may cause a parasite-induced collapse in coastal amphipod populations
复制标题
气候变暖可能导致寄生虫引起的沿海片脚类种群数量锐减
作者：
K. Mouritsen;D. Tompkins;R. Poulin
除了对个别生物体的一般表现的直接影响外，气候变化对陆地和海洋生态系统的生态后果预计将取决于改变的营养相互作用和竞争关系所产生的复杂的级联效应。最近，寄生和气候变化的协同效应已被强调为宿主种群动态和社区结构的潜在重要性，但普遍缺乏强有力的经验证据。片足类旋旋光珊瑚是北大西洋温带沿海软底生境中一种重要的生态物种，通常作为微茎吸虫的宿主，导致片足类种群的强度依赖性和温度依赖性死亡。使用模拟模型参数化的实验和现场数据，我们证明，3.8°C的环境温度升高可能会导致寄生虫引起的端足类种群崩溃。这一温度上升完全在获得模型数据的国际瓦登海区域预计到2075年普遍存在的范围内。由于端足类动物的生态重要性，它们的数量下降可能会影响整个沿海生态系统。
Besides the direct impact on the general performance of individual organisms, the ecological consequences of climate change in terrestrial and marine ecosystems are expected to be determined by complex cascading effects arising from modified trophic interactions and competitive relationships. Recently, the synergistic effect of parasitism and climate change has been emphasised as potentially important to host population dynamics and community structure, but robust empirical evidence is generally lacking. The amphipod Corophium volutator is an ecologically important species in coastal soft-bottom habitats of the temperate North Atlantic, and commonly serves as host to microphallid trematodes that cause intensity-dependent and temperature-dependent mortality in the amphipod population. Using a simulation model parameterised with experimental and field data, we demonstrate that a 3.8°C increase in ambient temperature will likely result in a parasite-induced collapse of the amphipod population. This temperature increase is well within the range predicted to prevail by the year 2075 in the International Wadden Sea region from where the model data are obtained. Due to the amphipods’ ecological importance, their population decline may impact the coastal ecosystem as a whole.