EAPSI: Development of a Novel Method for Monitoring Marine Ecosystem Health Using Red Carotenoid Coloration of Copepods Under Current and Projected CO2 Levels

水生污染物通过抑制正常生长和发育所必需的关键生理过程来影响海洋动物。此外，预计的气候变化可能会加剧现有应激源对海洋生态系统健康的影响。该项目将与国立台湾师范大学海洋生物生理学和气候扰动助理教授曾永哲博士合作，研究当前和预测的二氧化碳水平下重金属毒性对一种富含类胡萝卜素的海洋桡足类动物健康的影响。红色类胡萝卜素的产生对环境胁迫很敏感，因此，桡足类产生红色色素的能力将作为环境污染物诱导的生理胁迫的衡量标准。使用类胡萝卜素颜色作为环境压力的替代品将提供一种简单、廉价和信息丰富的海洋生态系统健康衡量标准。这项拟议的研究成果可能会极大地造福社会，因为它提供了一种监测世界健康的新方法-S海洋。了解海洋动物的表型中细胞对环境应激源的反应将极大地提高我们监测海洋生态系统健康的能力。台湾东海岸有丰富的海洋桡足类虎脚类，生态毒理研究较多。然而，将其鲜红的类胡萝卜素染色用作环境应激的生物标志物在很大程度上还没有被探索过。在96小时的急性毒性测试中，在当前或升高的二氧化碳水平下，桡足类动物将暴露在亚致死剂量的铜中。将分析线粒体功能、铜含量和类胡萝卜素含量，并与对照组进行比较。随着铜浓度的增加，桡足类的颜色预计将从浓郁的红色减少到暗淡的橙黄色。预计在二氧化碳浓度升高的情况下，这种影响会大大增加。这一NSF EAPSI奖项支持一名美国研究生的研究，并与台湾科技部合作提供资金。

Aquatic pollutants affect marine animals by inhibiting key physiological processes necessary for normal growth and development. Moreover, projected climate changes may exacerbate the effects of existing stressors on marine ecosystem health. In collaboration with Dr. Yung-Che Tseng, assistant professor of marine organismal physiology and climate perturbation at National Taiwan Normal University, this project will examine the effects of heavy metal toxicity under current and projected CO2 levels on the health of an abundant marine copepod that has bright red carotenoid coloration. Production of red carotenoids is sensitive to environmental stressors, thus, the ability copepods to produce red pigments will serve as a measure of physiological stress induced by environment pollutants. Using carotenoid color as a proxy for environmental stress will provide a simple, inexpensive, and informative measure of marine ecosystem health. The outcome of the proposed research may greatly benefit society by providing a novel way to monitor the health of the world?s oceans.Understanding how cellular responses to environmental stressors manifest in the phenotypes of marine animals will greatly increase our capacity to monitor marine ecosystem health. The marine copepod Tigriopus japonicus is abundant along the Eastern Coast of Taiwan and has been well studied in ecotoxicology. However, the use of its bright red carotenoid coloration as a biomarker for environmental stress has largely been unexplored. Copepods will be exposed to sub-lethal doses of copper under current or elevated CO2 levels in a 96-h acute toxicity test. Mitochondrial function, copper content and carotenoid content will be analyzed and compared to control groups. As copper concentrations increase copepod coloration is expected to decrease from a rich red color to a dull orange-yellow color. This effect is expected to increase greatly under elevated CO2 conditions. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.