Habitat heterogeneity determines climate impact on zooplankton community structure and dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Understanding and predicting species distribution in space and time and consequently community structure and dynamics is an important issue in ecology, and particularly in climate change research. A crucial factor determining the composition and dynamics of animal populations is habitat heterogeneity, i.e., the number of structural elements in a given locality. In the marine pelagic environment habitat heterogeneity is represented by the distribution of physical oceanographic parameters such as temperature, salinity and oxygen that are closely linked to atmospheric conditions. Little attention has been given, however, to the role of habitat heterogeneity in modulating the response of animal communities to external climate forcing. Here we investigate the long-term dynamics of Acartia spp.,

SUBMITTER: Otto SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3948703 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature