Assessing the Response of Nematode Communities to Climate Change-Driven Warming: A Microcosm Experiment.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity has diminished over the past decades with climate change being among the main responsible factors. One consequence of climate change is the increase in sea surface temperature, which, together with long exposure periods in intertidal areas, may exceed the tolerance level of benthic organisms. Benthic communities may suffer structural changes due to the loss of species or functional groups, putting ecological services at risk. In sandy beaches, free-living marine nematodes usually are the most abundant and diverse group of intertidal meiofauna, playing an important role in the benthic food web. While apparently many functionally similar nematode species co-exist temporally and spatially, experimental results on selected bacterivore species suggest no functional overlap, but rat

SUBMITTER: Gingold R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3688992 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature