Cargando…

Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability

Pleistocene environmental changes are generally assumed to have dramatically affected species’ demography via changes in habitat availability, but this is challenging to investigate due to our limited knowledge of how Pleistocene ecosystems changed through time. Here, we tracked changes in shallow m...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: van der Zee, Jurjan P., Christianen, Marjolijn J.A., Bérubé, Martine, Nava, Mabel, van der Wal, Sietske, Berkel, Jessica, Bervoets, Tadzio, Meijer zu Schlochtern, Melanie, Becking, Leontine E., Palsbøll, Per J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9299637/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34861074
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.16302
_version_ 1784751020093472768
author van der Zee, Jurjan P.
Christianen, Marjolijn J.A.
Bérubé, Martine
Nava, Mabel
van der Wal, Sietske
Berkel, Jessica
Bervoets, Tadzio
Meijer zu Schlochtern, Melanie
Becking, Leontine E.
Palsbøll, Per J.
author_facet van der Zee, Jurjan P.
Christianen, Marjolijn J.A.
Bérubé, Martine
Nava, Mabel
van der Wal, Sietske
Berkel, Jessica
Bervoets, Tadzio
Meijer zu Schlochtern, Melanie
Becking, Leontine E.
Palsbøll, Per J.
author_sort van der Zee, Jurjan P.
collection PubMed
description Pleistocene environmental changes are generally assumed to have dramatically affected species’ demography via changes in habitat availability, but this is challenging to investigate due to our limited knowledge of how Pleistocene ecosystems changed through time. Here, we tracked changes in shallow marine habitat availability resulting from Pleistocene sea level fluctuations throughout the last glacial cycle (120–14 thousand years ago; kya) and assessed correlations with past changes in genetic diversity inferred from genome‐wide SNPs, obtained via ddRAD sequencing, in Caribbean hawksbill turtles, which feed in coral reefs commonly found in shallow tropical waters. We found sea level regression resulted in an average 75% reduction in shallow marine habitat availability during the last glacial cycle. Changes in shallow marine habitat availability correlated strongly with past changes in hawksbill turtle genetic diversity, which gradually declined to ~1/4th of present‐day levels during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 26–19 kya). Shallow marine habitat availability and genetic diversity rapidly increased after the LGM, signifying a population expansion in response to warming environmental conditions. Our results suggest a positive correlation between Pleistocene environmental changes, habitat availability and species’ demography, and that demographic changes in hawksbill turtles were potentially driven by feeding habitat availability. However, we also identified challenges associated with disentangling the potential environmental drivers of past demographic changes, which highlights the need for integrative approaches. Our conclusions underline the role of habitat availability on species’ demography and biodiversity, and that the consequences of ongoing habitat loss should not be underestimated.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9299637
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-92996372022-07-21 Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability van der Zee, Jurjan P. Christianen, Marjolijn J.A. Bérubé, Martine Nava, Mabel van der Wal, Sietske Berkel, Jessica Bervoets, Tadzio Meijer zu Schlochtern, Melanie Becking, Leontine E. Palsbøll, Per J. Mol Ecol ORIGINAL ARTICLES Pleistocene environmental changes are generally assumed to have dramatically affected species’ demography via changes in habitat availability, but this is challenging to investigate due to our limited knowledge of how Pleistocene ecosystems changed through time. Here, we tracked changes in shallow marine habitat availability resulting from Pleistocene sea level fluctuations throughout the last glacial cycle (120–14 thousand years ago; kya) and assessed correlations with past changes in genetic diversity inferred from genome‐wide SNPs, obtained via ddRAD sequencing, in Caribbean hawksbill turtles, which feed in coral reefs commonly found in shallow tropical waters. We found sea level regression resulted in an average 75% reduction in shallow marine habitat availability during the last glacial cycle. Changes in shallow marine habitat availability correlated strongly with past changes in hawksbill turtle genetic diversity, which gradually declined to ~1/4th of present‐day levels during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 26–19 kya). Shallow marine habitat availability and genetic diversity rapidly increased after the LGM, signifying a population expansion in response to warming environmental conditions. Our results suggest a positive correlation between Pleistocene environmental changes, habitat availability and species’ demography, and that demographic changes in hawksbill turtles were potentially driven by feeding habitat availability. However, we also identified challenges associated with disentangling the potential environmental drivers of past demographic changes, which highlights the need for integrative approaches. Our conclusions underline the role of habitat availability on species’ demography and biodiversity, and that the consequences of ongoing habitat loss should not be underestimated. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-12-14 2022-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9299637/ /pubmed/34861074 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.16302 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle ORIGINAL ARTICLES
van der Zee, Jurjan P.
Christianen, Marjolijn J.A.
Bérubé, Martine
Nava, Mabel
van der Wal, Sietske
Berkel, Jessica
Bervoets, Tadzio
Meijer zu Schlochtern, Melanie
Becking, Leontine E.
Palsbøll, Per J.
Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability
title Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability
title_full Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability
title_fullStr Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability
title_full_unstemmed Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability
title_short Demographic changes in Pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability
title_sort demographic changes in pleistocene sea turtles were driven by past sea level fluctuations affecting feeding habitat availability
topic ORIGINAL ARTICLES
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9299637/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34861074
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.16302
work_keys_str_mv AT vanderzeejurjanp demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT christianenmarjolijnja demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT berubemartine demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT navamabel demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT vanderwalsietske demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT berkeljessica demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT bervoetstadzio demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT meijerzuschlochternmelanie demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT beckingleontinee demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability
AT palsbøllperj demographicchangesinpleistoceneseaturtlesweredrivenbypastsealevelfluctuationsaffectingfeedinghabitatavailability