Life history events of eelgrass Zostera marina L. populations across gradients of latitude and temperature
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| Publication date | 12-03-2018 |
| Journal | Marine Ecology Progress Series |
| Article number | meps12479 |
| Volume | Issue number | 590 |
| Pages (from-to) | 79-93 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Organisations |
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| Abstract |
The wide distribution range of eelgrass Zostera marina L. encompasses a
broad temperature gradient potentially affecting the timing of life
history events (phenology), which may also change with global warming.
We explored the temperature dependence of eelgrass phenology by
analysing published studies reporting the timing of in situ
flowering, seed maturation and seedling emergence across a range of
latitude (26.8-56.8°N) and annual mean air temperature (6.4-23.7°C). The
timing of events changed significantly along the latitude and
temperature gradients, being delayed towards northern, colder locations.
On average, an increase in annual mean temperature by 1°C advanced the
formation of flowering shoots by 12 d and the maturation of seeds by
10.8 d. Seedlings from warmer locations tended to emerge in autumn,
whereas cold-water seedlings did not appear until late winter or early
spring resulting in an overall advancement of 9.7 d per 1°C increase in
annual temperature. The mean monthly temperature associated with
specific life history events showed the strongest temperature
specificity for maturation of seeds (range 13.5-20.2°C) and largest
variability for the emergence of seedlings (range -1 to 20.2°C).
Overall, increased latitude resulted in lower temperature thresholds for
flowering, seed maturation and emergence of seedlings, indicating that
such thresholds are subject to local adaptation or acclimation rather
than being universal across the distribution range. Using a
time-for-space approach, our results suggest that future warming will
result in advanced timing of life history events of eelgrass and
increased capacity for sexual reproduction at northern latitudes.
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| Document type | Article |
| Note | With supplementary file. |
| Language | English |
| Published at | https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12479 |
| Other links | https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85043534655 |
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