Cipriani, Vittoria, Goldenberg, Silvan U., Connell, Sean D., Ravasi, Timothy, and Nagelkerken, Ivan (2024) Can niche plasticity mediate species persistence under ocean acidification? Journal of Animal Ecology, 93 (9). pp. 1380-1391.

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Abstract

Global change stressors can modify ecological niches of species, thereby altering ecological interactions within communities and food webs. Yet, some species might take advantage of a fast-changing environment, allowing species with high niche plasticity to thrive under climate change.

We used natural CO2 vents to test the effects of ocean acidification on niche modifications of a temperate rocky reef fish assemblage. We quantified three ecological niche traits (overlap, shift and breadth) across three key niche dimensions (trophic, habitat and behavioural).

Only one species increased its niche width along multiple niche dimensions (trophic and behavioural), shifted its niche in the remaining (habitat) was the only species to experience a highly increased density (i.e. doubling) at vents. The other three species that showed slightly increased or declining densities at vents only displayed a niche width increase in one (habitat niche) out of seven niche metrics considered. This niche modification was likely in response to habitat simplification (transition to a system dominated by turf algae) under ocean acidification.

We further showed that, at the vents, the less abundant fishes had a negligible competitive impact on the most abundant and common species. This species appeared to expand its niche space, overlapping with other species, which likely led to lower abundances of the latter under elevated CO2.

We conclude that niche plasticity across multiple dimensions could be a potential adaptation in fishes to benefit from a changing environment in a high-CO2 world.

Item ID:	85483
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1365-2656
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC FT120100183
Date Deposited:	14 May 2025 02:20
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410102 Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation @ 50%
SEO Codes:	19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1905 Understanding climate change > 190599 Understanding climate change not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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