Marine heatwaves of differing intensities lead to distinct patterns in seafloor functioning.

ABSTRACT: Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Several well-documented effects of heatwaves on community structure exist, but examples of their effect on functioning of species, communities or ecosystems remain scarce. We tested the effects of short-term, moderate and strong MHWs on macrofauna bioturbation and associated solute fluxes as examples of ecosystem functioning. We also measured macrofaunal excretion rates to assess effects of temperature on macrofauna metabolism. For this experiment, we used unmanipulated sediment cores with natural animal communities collected from a muddy location at 32 m depth in the northern Baltic Sea. Despite the mechanistic effect of bioturbation remaining unchanged between the treatments, there were significant d

SUBMITTER: Kauppi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9653255 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature