Consequences of past climate change for species engaged in obligatory interactions

Obligatory interactions between species are fundamental to ecosystem functioning and are expected to be particularly sensitive to climate change. Although the effect of past and current climate changes on individual species has been thoroughly investigated, their effect on obligatory interactions has been overlooked. In this review, we present predictions about the effects of climate change on obligatory interactions and illustrate these predictions with examples from the literature. We focus on abrupt past climate change, especially during the Quaternary, because knowing past responses is useful for understanding and predicting the response of organisms and ecosystems to the current climate change. We also pinpoint the need for better time calibration of demographic events from genetic data, and for more studies focused on particularly suitable biological models. We hope that this review will stimulate interaction between the earth sciences and the life sciences on this timely topic.     

Patterns of cornulitid encrustation on the Late Devonian brachiopod shells from Russia

Upper Devonian brachiopods from the Central Devonian Field, Russia have been investigated with respect to encrustation patterns of cornulitids. These Palaeozoic encrusters were very characteristic component of shelly substrates during the Devonian and may serve as valuable objects for palaeoecological studies, especially those concerning the encrusters-host relationships. On the basis of rich material, it has been shown that cornulitid abundance significantly increased in the lower Famennian. Their disparity also increased from one morphotype (robust) present in the upper Frasnian to two distinct morphotypes (robust and slender, presumably representing two different species) in the lower Famennian. The analysis of the spatial occurrence of cornulitids on two dominant lower Famennian brachiopod species (Cyrtospirifer zadonicus and Ripidiorhynchus huotinus) showed, that these encrusters preferred the marginal parts of the shells. This, together with a dominant directional growth of cornulitids toward the commissure, indicates that cornulitids benefited from food brought by feeding currents produced by the brachiopod’s lophophore. The unequivocal evidence for syn vivo association of the cornulitids and their brachiopod hosts is the presence of distinct shell malformations caused by cornulitid growth affecting the host’s shell-secreting epithelium, preserved on some lower Famennian specimens. Interestingly, these malformations were caused by a slender cornulitid morphotype only. Thus, it is evident that during food gathering from the inhalant currents, this cornulitid species exerted a distinct, negative effect on the brachiopod – a deviation of its shell growth. In this case, we may consider this particular cornulitid species as ectoparasite rather than commensal with respect to its host.     

Drill holes and shell repair in brachiopods from a Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) oyster reef,North Canterbury,New Zealand

Several hundred brachiopods were separated from a bulk sample taken from a single locality of the Late Cretaceous Ostrea Bed at the top of the Broken River Formation in the Weka Pass area of North Canterbury, New Zealand. The specimens were divided among five different species and examined for drill holes and shell repair following failed predatory attacks. The results show that one or more unknown predators and/or parasites apparently selectively preyed on the rhynchonellide Wekarhynchia cataracta, with approximately 16.2% of complete shells showing evidence of attack. The larger, coarsely-ribbed terebratulide Ostreathyris allani was seemingly immune to drilling, while sample sizes for the three other brachiopod species were too small to allow even rudimentary estimates of predation/parasitism rates.     

Metazoan parasites in intertidal cockles Cerastoderma edule from the northern Wadden Sea

At four intertidal sites near the island of Sylt (eastern North Sea), 13 metazoan parasite taxa were found in 1400 cockles investigated, with digenean trematodes being dominant. Almost all cockles were infected by parasites and most individuals harboured more than one parasite species. We observed four conspicuous patterns: (1) Adult cockles harboured a two times higher species richness (2003: 6.1 ± 0.7 species/host; 2004: 7.1 ± 0.7) than juveniles (2003: 2.9 ± 0.8; 2004: 3.4 ± 0.8) and total parasite community composition significantly differed between age groups. (2) Infection levels were 2–52 times higher in adult cockles than in juveniles both in trematode species and in non-trematode species. In the dominant trematodes, species utilising cockles as first intermediate host (Gymnophallus choledochus, Labratrema minimus, Monorchis parvus) only occurred in adult cockles, and prevalences were low (2–12%). Prevalences of up to 100% were reached by trematodes using cockles as second intermediate host (Himasthla elongata, H. continua, H. interrupta, Renicola roscovita, Psilostomum brevicolle, Meiogymnophallus minutus, Gymnophallus gibberosus). Metacercariae of these species were segregated between body parts within cockles. (3) High spatial heterogeneity in parasite community composition and infection levels occurred between sampling sites. However, communities in juveniles were more similar than communities in adults. (4) Temporal variation in parasite community composition was low between two consecutive years, especially for adult cockles. The omnipresence of parasites in this dominant bivalve species has important implications for sampling designs and as a potentially confounding variable in e.g. physiological studies. It suggests strong and cumulative negative effects on the cockle hosts.