Predictability of thermal fluctuations influences functional traits of a cosmopolitan marine diatom.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary theory predicts that organismal plasticity should evolve in environments that fluctuate regularly. However, in environments that fluctuate less predictably, plasticity may be constrained because environmental cues become less reliable for expressing the optimum phenotype. Here, we examine how the predictability of +5°C temperature fluctuations impacts the phenotype of the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. Thermal regimes were informed by temperatures experienced by microbes in an ocean simulation and featured regular or irregular temporal sequences of fluctuations that induced mild physiological stress. Physiological traits (growth, cell size, complexity and pigmentation) were quantified at the individual cell level using flow cytometry. Changes in cellular comple

SUBMITTER: Gill RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9043731 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature