As climate change progresses and severe disturbances become routine, understanding rates and mechanisms of recovery in habitat-forming species is central to predicting the broader response of ecosystems to climate change. Here, we combined acute experimental heat stress and RNA sequencing to explore patterns of transcriptome plasticity and resilience to heat stress in a common Acropora coral from the World Heritage-listed Ning...

Cell size is an important trait that is often correlated with organisms’ survival under different thermal environments, and in the case of phytoplankton, it is also related to survival under different light irradiance. While smaller phytoplankton thrive under warm and high light (summer conditions), larger cells seem to be more efficient under cool and low light conditions (winter conditions). In this study, we used different...

Aim Genetic connectivity is a key component of species resilience to climate change in terms of recovery capacity following disturbance and capacity to disperse to novel locations as the climate warms and isotherms shift poleward. We aimed to strengthen our understanding of resilience in this context by characterizing patterns of connectivity and genetic diversity in a broadcast spawning coral across a tropical–temperate trans...

Terrestrial‐breeding amphibians are likely to be vulnerable to warming and drying climates, as their embryos require consistent moisture for successful development. Adaptation to environmental change will depend on sufficient genetic variation existing within or between connected populations. Here, we use Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) data to investigate genome‐wide patterns in genetic diversity, gene flow and local ada...

Global climate change poses a serious threat to the future health of coral reef ecosystems. This calls for management strategies that are focused on maximizing the evolutionary potential of coral reefs. Fundamental to this is an accurate understanding of the spatial genetic structure in dominant reef‐building coral species. In this study, we apply a genotyping‐by‐sequencing approach to investigate genome‐wide patterns of genet...

Habitat fragmentation can have profound effects on the distribution of genetic variation within and between populations. Previously, we showed that in the ornate dragon lizard, C tenophorus ornatus , lizards residing on outcrops that are separated by cleared agricultural land are significantly more isolated and hold less genetic variation than lizards residing on neighbouring outcrops connected by undisturbed native vegetation...

Newly established populations are susceptible to founder events that reduce genetic variation. This may be counterbalanced by gene flow after populations become established or founders coming from genetically different populations. However, initial gains in genetic diversity may be short‐lived if there is limited mixing between lineages and subsequent inbreeding, or if one lineage sweeps to fixation through selection or geneti...

Empirical tests of sexual selection theory generally utilize model systems under laboratory settings, and extend conclusions to evolutionary processes occurring in nature. The biological significance of laboratory findings will depend largely on the mating rates of females and patterns of paternity in natural populations, information on which is generally lacking. Here we use microsatellite markers to provide rare estimates of...