This study analyzed patterns of species loss in a community of four rotifers and six ciliates exposed to three rates of extreme warming. Immediately prior to each +0.5°C increase in temperature, we sampled replicate communities and identified all surviving species. The sampling temperature at which no further organisms of a given species were observed alive represented the temperature of loss for that species and replicate. Recording the identity of all surviving species at each incremental change in temperature allowed us to both observe the sequence of species loss from the community (i.e., the sequence of disassembly) and also generate a corresponding table of the distinct communities surviving at each temperature. To test the effects of warming rate on the sequence of disassembly, we analyzed the sequence (order) of species loss of the ten species in each replicate. An order of “1” was assigned to the first species lost, “2” to the second, “3” to the third, and so on. To assess the contribution of warming rate to variability in community composition, we compared all of the distinct communities of surviving species that were observed in hourly-, daily- and weekly-rate treatments throughout the period of ramping temperature. The percentage of all distinct communities that were rate-specific (observed in at least one but not all rate treatments) provided a quantitative measure of the contribution of warming rate (per se) to variability in community composition. Downloaded files include: a) temperature of species loss data for hourly, daily and weekly rate replicates, b) order of species loss data for hourly, daily and weekly rate replicates, and c) R code for Monte Carlo analyses. 

See methods in corresponding paper.

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