malerba-testingthedrivers-2020.pdf (329.57 kB)
Testing the drivers of the temperature–size covariance using artificial selection
journal contribution
posted on 2020-01-01, 00:00 authored by Martino MalerbaMartino Malerba, D J MarshallBody size often declines with increasing temperature. Although there is ample evidence for this effect to be adaptive, it remains unclear whether size shrinking at warmer temperatures is driven by specific properties of being smaller (e.g., surface to volume ratio) or by traits that are correlated with size (e.g., metabolism, growth). We used 290 generations (22 months) of artificial selection on a unicellular phytoplankton species to evolve a 13-fold difference in volume between small-selected and large-selected cells and tested their performance at 22°C (usual temperature), 18°C (−4), and 26°C (+4). Warmer temperatures increased fitness in small-selected individuals and reduced fitness in large-selected ones, indicating changes in size alone are sufficient to mediate temperature-dependent performance. Our results are incompatible with the often-cited geometric argument of warmer temperature intensifying resource limitation. Instead, we find evidence that is consistent with larger cells being more vulnerable to reactive oxygen species. By engineering cells of different sizes, our results suggest that smaller-celled species are pre-adapted for higher temperatures. We discuss the potential repercussions for global carbon cycles and the biological pump under climate warming.
History
Journal
EvolutionVolume
74Issue
1Pagination
169 - 178Publisher
WileyPublisher DOI
Link to full text
ISSN
0014-3820eISSN
1558-5646Language
engPublication classification
C Journal article; C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
Keywords
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEcologyEvolutionary BiologyGenetics & HeredityEnvironmental Sciences & EcologyBergmann's rulecentre for geometric biologychlorophytaintraspecific size-scalingphytoplankton green microalgaetemperature-size ruleBODY-SIZECELL-SIZEDROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTERNATURAL-POPULATIONSSURFACE-AREAEVOLUTIONGROWTHPHYTOPLANKTONECTOTHERMSRULEEvolutionary BiologyEcology
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