Department of Biology, Marine Biology Research Group, Universiteit Gent, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling, Universiteit Gent, Ghent, Belgium.
PeerJ. 2024 May 20;12:e17324. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17324. eCollection 2024.
Anthropogenic climate change and the associated increase in sea temperatures are projected to greatly impact marine ecosystems. Temperature variation can influence the interactions between species, leading to cascading effects on the abundance, diversity and composition of communities. Such changes in community structure can have consequences on ecosystem stability, processes and the services it provides. Therefore, it is important to better understand the role of species interactions in the development of communities and how they are influenced by environmental factors like temperature. The coexistence of closely related cryptic species, with significant biological and ecological differences, makes this even more complex. This study investigated the effect of temperature on species growth and both intra- and interspecific interactions of three species within the free-living nematode complex. To achieve this, closed microcosm experiments were conducted on the species Pm I, Pm III and Pm IV in monoculture and combined cultures at two temperature treatments of 15 °C and 20 °C. A population model was constructed to elucidate and quantify the effects of intra- and interspecific interactions on nematode populations. The relative competitive abilities of the investigated species were quantified using the Modern Coexistence Theory (MCT) framework. Temperature had strong and disparate effects on the population growth of the distinct species. This indicates temperature could play an important role in the distribution of these cryptic species. Both competitive and facilitative interactions were observed in the experiments. Temperature affected both the type and the strength of the species interactions, suggesting a change in temperature could impact the coexistence of these closely related species, alter community dynamics and consequently affect ecosystem processes and services.
人为引起的气候变化以及与之相关的海水温度升高预计将对海洋生态系统产生重大影响。温度变化会影响物种间的相互作用，从而对群落的丰度、多样性和组成产生级联效应。群落结构的这种变化会对生态系统稳定性、过程以及其所提供的服务产生影响。因此，更好地了解物种相互作用在群落发展中的作用以及它们如何受到温度等环境因素的影响是很重要的。亲缘关系密切的隐种的共存，具有显著的生物和生态差异，使得情况更加复杂。本研究调查了温度对三种自由生活线虫 复合体物种的生长以及种内和种间相互作用的影响。为此，在 15°C 和 20°C 的两种温度处理下，在单培养和混合培养中对 Pm I、Pm III 和 Pm IV 这三个物种进行了封闭的微宇宙实验。构建了一个种群模型，以阐明和量化种内和种间相互作用对线虫种群的影响。使用现代共存理论（MCT）框架量化了所研究物种的相对竞争能力。温度对不同的物种的种群增长有强烈而不同的影响。这表明温度可能在这些隐种的分布中发挥重要作用。在实验中观察到了竞争和促进作用。温度影响了物种相互作用的类型和强度，这表明温度的变化可能会影响这些亲缘关系密切的物种的共存，改变群落动态，从而影响生态系统过程和服务。
