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Temperature is a poor proxy for synergistic climate forcing of plankton evolution
Anieke Brombacher1, Paul A Wilson2, Ian Bailey3
1Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK j.brombacher@noc.soton.ac.uk.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|July 28, 2018
Summary
Climate change impacts biodiversity, but temperature alone is not the sole driver. Analyzing multiple interacting climate factors reveals more about evolutionary responses in species like planktonic foraminifera.
Area of Science:
- Paleontology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Climate Science
Background:
- Biodiversity changes are often linked to climate change, typically represented by temperature.
- Species likely respond to the entire climate system, not just individual factors.
- Previous studies often use univariate temperature proxies to represent global climate dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between multiple interacting climate variables and the ecological/morphological traits of planktonic foraminifera.
- To determine if a multivariate approach explains more variation in species' responses than univariate models.
- To challenge the 'silver bullet' approach of using single climate parameters in evolutionary studies.
Main Methods:
- Examined ecological and morphological traits of 12,633 individuals from two planktonic foraminifera species.
- Utilized highly resolved temporal sequences to analyze changes over time.
- Compared models incorporating interacting climate variables against models with independent climate parameters.
Main Results:
- Morphological and ecological changes in planktonic foraminifera are correlated with interactions between multiple environmental factors.
- Models including climate variable interactions explained at least twice as much variation in size, shape, and abundance changes.
- Temperature alone explained remarkably little variation, highlighting the limitations of univariate climate drivers.
Conclusions:
- A multivariate approach is essential for understanding evolutionary responses to abiotic forcing.
- Relying on a single climate parameter like temperature is insufficient for comprehensive palaeobiological reconstructions.
- Future studies should incorporate multiple biotic and abiotic dimensions for a more complete understanding of evolutionary dynamics.
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