Evolution of marine organisms under climate change at different levels of biological organisation

Abstract

Research to date has suggested that both individual marine species and ecologicalprocesses are expected to exhibit diverse responses to the environmental effects of climatechange. Evolutionary responses can occur on rapid (ecological) timescales, and yet studiestypically do not consider the role that adaptive evolution will play in modulating biologicalresponses to climate change. Investigations into such responses have typically been focusedat particular biological levels (e.g., cellular, population, community), often lackinginteractions among levels. Since all levels of biological organisation are sensitive to globalclimate change, there is a need to elucidate how different processes and hierarchicalinteractions will influence species fitness. Therefore, predicting the responses ofcommunities and populations to global change will require multidisciplinary efforts acrossmultiple levels of hierarchy, from the genetic and cellular to communities and ecosystems.Eventually, this may allow us to establish the role that acclimatisation and adaptation willplay in determining marine community structures in future scenarios.