Altered Phenotypic Responses of Asexual Arctic Daphnia After 10 Years of Rapid Climate Change.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the fates of organisms and ecosystems under global change requires consideration of the organisms' rapid adaptation potential. In the Arctic, the recent temperature increase strongly impacts freshwater ecosystems which are important sentinels for climate change. However, a mechanistic understanding of the adaptive capacity of their key zooplankton grazers, among them polyploid, obligate parthenogenetic Daphnia, is lacking. Theory suggests low adaptation potential of asexual animals, yet examples exist of asexuals persisting through marked environmental changes. Here, we studied asexual Daphnia pulicaria from a meromictic lake in South-West Greenland. Its oxycline hosts purple sulfur bacteria (PSB), a potential food source for Daphnia. We tested two key phenotypic traits: (1)

SUBMITTER: Karapli-Petritsopoulou A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11915199 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature