Rapid, but limited, zooplankton adaptation to simultaneous warming and acidification

Abstract

Predicting the response of marine metazoans to climate change is hampered by a lack of studies on evolutionary adaptation, particularly to combined ocean warming and acidification (OWA). We provide evidence for rapid adaptation to OWA in the foundational copepod species, Acartia tonsa, by assessing changes in population fitness based on a comprehensive suite of life-history traits, using an orthogonal experimental design of nominal temperature (18{degrees}C, 22{degrees}C) and pCO2 (400, 2000 atm) for 25 generations (~1 year). Egg production and hatching success initially decreased under OWA, resulting in a 56% reduction in fitness. However, both traits recovered by the third generation and average fitness was reduced thereafter by only 9%. Antagonistic interactions between warming and acidification in later generations decreased survival, thereby limiting full fitness recovery. Our results suggest such interactions constrain evolutionary rescue and add complexity to predictions of the responses of metazoan populations to climate change.