OCE-PRF: ZOOPREDICT - A study of ZOOPlankton Responses to Environmental Determinants with Interns, Classes, and Teachers

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In this project, the investigator will study the response of estuarine zooplankton to predicted consequences of climate change, focusing on the direct effects of changes in water temperature, and indirect effects through changes in food environment and mortality. Changing environmental conditions can have disparate effects on the phenologies of different trophic groups within the plankton community, resulting in an uncoupling of population growth peaks of zooplankton, their predators and prey, changes in the relative roles of bottom-up and top-down factors in regulating zooplankton populations, and a restructuring of the dynamics of the entire plankton community. For example, zooplankton growth often responds more strongly than phytoplankton to temperature changes. Therefore, warmer temperatures may ultimately increase resource limitation of zooplankton. Potential ecosystem level effects include changes in fish recruitment and degree of benthic-pelagic coupling due to the roles of zooplankton as prey for fish and facilitators of vertical flux of organic matter. The investigator will study zooplankton dynamics along the James River, using combined experimental, observational, and quantitative modeling approaches to evaluate the relative importance of temperature, food quantity and quality, and mortality in limiting zooplankton growth under present conditions and predicted scenarios of climate change. Research results will be useful to zooplankton ecologists and ecosystem scientists studying the Chesapeake Bay and other coastal ecosystems. The research activities will address the extent of change in temporal dynamics of the region's zooplankton community since 1985, contribute directly to advance understanding of zooplankton ecology, and improve quantitative modeling of Chesapeake Bay zooplankton population dynamics. The broader impacts include broadening participation in ocean sciences through recruitment of undergraduate students to participate directly in research during eight-week summer internships. The students will be selected with the goal of broadening participation of under-represented groups in ocean sciences, in collaboration with VCU's Environmental Studies program and Hampton University. In addition, the investigator will work in coordination with summer interns, local schools, and VCU's University Special Programs staff to develop semi-annual and summer educational activities that introduce K-12 students to aquatic sciences and plankton ecology. This project is supported under the NSF Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (OCE PRF) program, with goals to support novel research by early career scientists and increase the diversity of the U.S. ocean sciences workforce and research community. With OCE-PRF support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to ocean sciences and broaden participation of under-represented groups in the ocean sciences.