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海洋动物正常生长发育所必需的关键生理过程来影响海洋动物。此外，预估的气候变化可能加剧现有压力源对海洋生态系统健康的影响。本项目将与国立台湾师范大学海洋生物生理学与气候扰动助理教授曾永哲博士合作，研究重金属在当前和预测的二氧化碳水平下对大量具有鲜红色类胡萝卜素的海洋桡足类动物健康的影响。类红色胡萝卜素的产生对环境胁迫非常敏感，因此桡足类动物产生红色色素的能力可以作为环境污染物引起的生理应激的衡量标准。使用类胡萝卜素颜色作为环境压力的代理将提供一种简单、廉价和信息丰富的海洋生态系统健康测量方法。拟议研究的结果可能通过提供一种监测世界健康的新方法而极大地造福社会。年代的海洋。了解细胞对环境压力的反应如何在海洋动物的表型中表现出来，将大大提高我们监测海洋生态系统健康的能力。摘要台湾东部沿海地区有大量的海洋桡足动物日本虎足（Tigriopus japonicus），在生态毒理学方面的研究较多。然而，利用其鲜红的类胡萝卜素作为环境胁迫的生物标志物在很大程度上尚未被探索。在96小时的急性毒性试验中，桡足类动物将在当前或升高的二氧化碳水平下暴露于亚致死剂量的铜中。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，桡足动物的颜色预计会从丰富的红色下降到暗淡的橙黄色。在二氧化碳浓度升高的情况下，这种影响预计会大大增加。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会EAPSI与台湾科学技术部合作资助，支持一名美国研究生的研究。

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.