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Susceptibility to a metal under global warming is shaped by thermal adaptation along a latitudinal gradient
Author(s) -
Dinh Van Khuong,
Janssens Lizanne,
Debecker Sara,
Jonge Maarten,
Lambret Philippe,
NilssonÖrtman Viktor,
Bervoets Lieven,
Stoks Robby
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/gcb.12243
Subject(s) - latitude , adaptation (eye) , environmental science , global warming , biological dispersal , climate change , zinc , ecology , local adaptation , atmospheric sciences , biology , geography , geology , chemistry , population , demography , geodesy , organic chemistry , neuroscience , sociology
Global warming and contamination represent two major threats to biodiversity that have the potential to interact synergistically. There is the potential for gradual local thermal adaptation and dispersal to higher latitudes to mitigate the susceptibility of organisms to contaminants and global warming at high latitudes. Here, we applied a space‐for‐time substitution approach to study the thermal dependence of the susceptibility of I schnura elegans damselfly larvae to zinc in a common garden warming experiment (20 and 24 °C) with replicated populations from three latitudes spanning >1500 km in E urope. We observed a striking latitude‐specific effect of temperature on the zinc‐induced mortality pattern; local thermal adaptation along the latitudinal gradient made S wedish, but not French, damselfly larvae more susceptible to zinc at 24 °C. Latitude‐ and temperature‐specific differences in zinc susceptibility may be related to the amount of energy available to defend against and repair damage since S wedish larvae showed a much stronger zinc‐induced reduction of food intake at 24 °C. The pattern of local thermal adaptation indicates that the predicted temperature increase of 4 °C by 2100 will strongly magnify the impact of a contaminant such as zinc at higher latitudes unless there is thermal evolution and/or migration of lower latitude genotypes. Our results underscore the critical importance of studying the susceptibility to contaminants under realistic warming scenarios taking into account local thermal adaptation across natural temperature gradients.