Assemblage-wide effects of Ocean Acidification and Ocean Warming on Ecologically important Macroalgal-associated Crustaceans in Antarctica

海洋酸化和海洋变暖对南极洲具有重要生态意义的大型藻类相关甲壳类动物的总体影响

• 批准号: 1848887
• 负责人: James McClintock
• 金额: $ 69.88万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama at Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1848887&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Assemblage; wide; effects; Ocean; Acidification

Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification and ocean warming will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs. The project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient), carbon dioxide enriched, and elevated temperature seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative "winners" and some will be relative "losers" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod "winners" and two key amphipod "losers". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

海藻的海底森林主导着南极半岛中部和北部海岸的浅水，并为许多海洋生物提供关键的结构栖息地和碳资源（食品）。大多数海藻都针对草食动物进行化学防御，但支持非常高的草食性虾状的放牧者（甲壳类动物，主要是两亲脚架），这可以通过消费丝状和显微镜藻类来使他们的宿主受益，从而使海藻过度生长。两亲脚架通过从鱼类捕食中获得联想避难所，从与化学捍卫的海藻的关联中受益。该项目基于最近的工作，这表明，当长期暴露于海水酸度（降低的pH值）和代表近未成年海洋的升高温度时，几种与海藻相关的甲壳类组合的主要成员遭受了显着死亡。通过模拟南极帕尔默站的实验室中的这些环境条件，研究人员将检验总体假设，即海洋酸化和海洋变暖将在结构与海藻相关的甲壳类组合中发挥重要作用。 更广泛的影响包括扩大对全球气候变化影响的基本知识，这是通过关注地球的地理区域独特地容易受到气候变化的影响。 该项目还将进一步培训新一代科学家的目标，并为公众提供科学发现。 这包括培训研究生和早期职业科学家，重点是多样性，向K-12团体和公众演讲以及各种基于社交媒体的外展计划。 该项目将比较自然（环境），二氧化碳富含碳和温度海水对海藻相关的甲壳类放牧者组合的范围范围内的影响。 根据先前的结果，有些物种可能是相对的“赢家”，而有些物种在变化的条件下可能是相对的“失败者”。然后，该项目将针对两个关键的Amphipod“获胜者”和两个关键的Amphipod“失败者”进行生长，钙化，矿物学，铸造率以及生化和能量的身体组成的测量。这些测量将允许评估哪些因素在海洋酸化和海面变暖条件下驱动物种特异性增强或降低的性能。该项目将扩大有关变化条件对底栖海甲壳甲甲虫的预期影响的知识，南极洲是一个面临额外的生理压力源的分类群。 该项目可能会提供有关构成南极海底森林的间接调节的更多见解，这些海藻提供了沿海海洋生态系统的关键建筑组成部分，该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估该基金会的知识分子优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。