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Synopsis Mitochondrial function is critical for energy homeostasis and should shape how genetic variation in metabolism is transmitted through levels of biological organization to generate stability in organismal performance. Mitochondrial function is encoded by genes in two distinct and separately inherited genomes—the mitochondrial genome and the nuclear genome—and selection is expected to maintain functional mito-nuclear interactions. The documented high levels of polymorphism in genes involved in these mito-nuclear interactions and wide variation for mitochondrial function demands an explanation for how and why variability in such a fundamental trait is maintained. Potamopyrgus antipodarum is a New Zealand freshwater snail with coexisting sexual and asexual individuals and, accordingly, contrasting systems of separate vs. co-inheritance of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. As such, this snail provides a powerful means to dissect the evolutionary and functional consequences of mito-nuclear variation. The lakes inhabited by P. antipodarum span wide environmental gradients, with substantial across-lake genetic structure and mito-nuclear discordance. This situation allows us to use comparisons across reproductive modes and lakes to partition variation in cellular respiration across genetic and environmental axes. Here, we integrated cellular, physiological, and behavioral approaches to quantify variation in mitochondrial function across a diverse set of wild P. antipodarum lineages. Wemore »found extensive across-lake variation in organismal oxygen consumption and behavioral response to heat stress and differences across sexes in mitochondrial membrane potential but few global effects of reproductive mode. Taken together, our data set the stage for applying this important model system for sexual reproduction and polyploidy to dissecting the complex relationships between mito-nuclear variation, performance, plasticity, and fitness in natural populations.« less

Net ecosystem carbon balance is a comprehensive assessment of ecosystem function that can test restoration effectiveness. Coastal peatlands are globally important carbon sinks that are vulnerable to carbon loss with saltwater intrusion. It is uncertain how wetland carbon stocks and fluxes change during freshwater restoration following exposure to saltwater and elevated nutrients. We restored freshwater to sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) peat monoliths from freshwater marshes of the Everglades (Florida, U.S.A.) that had previously been exposed to elevated salinity (approximately9 ppt) and phosphorus (P) loading (1 g P m⁻²year⁻¹) in wetland mesocosms. We quantified changes in water and soil physicochemistry, plant and soil carbon and nutrient standing stocks, and net ecosystem productivity during restoration. Added freshwater immediately reduced porewater salinity from >8 to approximately 2 ppt, but elevated porewater dissolved organic carbon persisted. Above‐ and belowground biomass, leaf P concentrations, and instantaneous rates of gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) remained elevated from prior added P. Modeled monthly GEP and ER were higher in marshes with saltwater and P legacies, resulting in negative net ecosystem productivities that were up to 12× lower than controls. Leaf litter breakdown rates and litter P concentrations were 2× higher in marshes with legacies of added saltwater andmore »P. Legacies of saltwater and P on carbon loss persisted despite freshwater restoration, but recovery was greatest for freshwater marshes exposed to saltwater alone. Our results suggest that restoration in nutrient‐limited freshwater wetlands exposed to saltwater intrusion and nutrient enrichment is a slow process.

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