Trade-offs between morphology and thermal niches mediate adaptation in response to competing selective pressures.

ABSTRACT: The effects of climate change-such as increased temperature variability and novel predators-rarely happen in isolation, but it is unclear how organisms cope with multiple stressors simultaneously. To explore this, we grew replicate Paramecium caudatum populations in either constant or variable temperatures and exposed half to predation. We then fit thermal performance curves (TPCs) of intrinsic growth rate (r _max) for each replicate population (N = 12) across seven temperatures (10°C-38°C). TPCs of P. caudatum exposed to both temperature variability and predation responded only to one or the other (but not both), resulting in unpredictable outcomes. These changes in TPCs were accompanied by changes in cell morphology. Although cell volume was conserve

SUBMITTER: Uiterwaal SF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7029080 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature