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KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima

Effects of climate change in a multiple stress multispecies perspective - MULTICLIM

Alternative title: Effekter av klimaendringer i et flerarts multistress perspektiv - MULTICLIM

Awarded: NOK 9.9 mill.

Impacts of climate change, environmental pollution and loss of biodiversity are among today's most pressing environmental challenges. How these major environmental issues act combined is still largely unexplored. We study the combination of climate change and environmental pollution, and how these challenges cumulatively impact organisms both on the individual and population level. We focus on how temperature, precipitation and drought affect the animals' responses to a neonicotinoid pesticide - imidacloprid - used in high volumes in international food production. We study springtails, Collembola, soil fauna essential for ecosystem processes like decomposition and stability of soil communities. By combining laboratory experiments, field studies and population modelling we determine species sensitivity to climatic and toxic stressors through individual- and population-level responses of populations adapted to different climatic regions: temperate and arctic. Over time, we have obtained broad knowledge on baseline ecology of both our species; from previous studies as well as through to systematic observations during MULTICLIM we have obtained knowledge on survival, growth and reproduction, and how they are affected by temperature and pesticides. We have performed experiments with both species separately, with exposure to imidacloprid through soil or diet, and have investigated differences in exposure sensitivity between adults and juveniles. We developed a method for standardized feeding using algae and cyanobacteria on bark, which allows frequent observations of the animals to register growth and reproduction. Both our species were more sensitive to exposure from imidacloprid than earlier studier of other springtails, thus negative effects occur at lower concentrations. This shows the importance of including ecological relevant species in the risk assessment of pesticides and other chemicals. Which and how different endpoints (survival, growth, moulting, reproduction) show temperature dependent pesticide tolerance vary between species and populations. Generally, we find that the negative effect of imidacloprid is enforced by increasing temperature, and that concentrations that are sublethal at optimal temperature become lethal with increasing temperature. This to a larger degree for the temperate populations and in the surface-dwelling species. That arctic populations are more robust than the temperate ones counter our apriori expectations, and should be investigated further. We also find that even very low sublethal concentrations of imidacloprid can limit the reproduction, even though not all the fecundity related endpoints respond negatively. By using models based on our experimental data, we see that population growth is also reduced by increased pesticide exposure and temperature. This means that field-realistic exposure to pesticides and increased temperature can result in reduced springtail populations and thereby a change in the composition, organic matter degradation and maintenance of the soil community. A 3-months field experiment showed that field-realistic concentrations of imidacloprid at the start of the season (May) affected the soil fauna in a concentration dependent manner, both at the surface but also in the deeper soil layers over time, as imidacloprid leached down. Imidacloprid reduced the springtails abundance significantly, whereas the effect on mite abundance was negligible. We conducted experiments on the effect of drought on several populations of both species under different temperatures, following a period of exposure to imidacloprid. These are important as they investigate cumulative effects of sequential stressors exposure, which illustrate the real situation, but that is rarely studied and not well understood. We find a negative effect of imidacloprid in both species and all populations, again the arctic populations are more robust than temperate ones at optimal temperature in the absence of drought. When the temperature increases and/or drought stress increases, the negative effect of the pesticide is enhanced in all populations, independent of prior adaptation to climate regions and microhabitat. In MULTICLIM we use a unique combination of expertise from different disciplines. This has resulted in urgently needed knowledge of biological impacts of multiple stressors of importance to biodiversity management and food production in society. Traditionally, population responses to environmental stress has been evaluated using changes in abundance and demography. One of our main foci has been to obtain increased knowledge on the underlying processes, by studying multiple life history traits, such as somatic growth, maturation and age specific reproduction and mortality. This has resulted in important and interesting insight with great potential for further research and understanding regarding the cumulative effect of climate change and environmental pollution.

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Climate change, environmental pollution and loss of biodiversity are three major environmental issues of current concern, but understanding their combined impacts is still a largely unexplored problem. With the project MULTICLIM we will study how the combined changes in multiple stressors - climate change (increasing temperature and drought) and anthropogenic toxicants (neonicotinoid pesticides commonly used in food production) - simultaneously affect key individual- and population-level responses. This project is centered on important soil community animals; springtails (Collembola). Using an integrative approach combining methods from different disciplines, we will investigate the joint impacts of the multiple stressors on the two different ecologically relevant springtail species Hypogastrura viatica and Folsomia quadrioculata. Our main approaches are i) controlled laboratory experiments to analyse species sensitivity through individual- and population-level responses of differently adapted populations of each species (temperate vs Arctic populations), ii) targeted field experiments to ensure field realistic findings including the soil community, iii) quantify how temperature and drought affects toxicant exposure and responses in springtails, and iv) construct demographic models to investigate population level responses, including fitness. The international cross-disciplinary project MULTICLIM includes a unique combination of expertise from different research disciplines, and represents all stages of the scientific career; from Master, PhD, and post doc, to researcher, mid-career professors and close-to-retirement professor. The project will result in urgently needed knowledge of biological impacts of multiple stressors of importance to biodiversity management and food production in society.

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KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima