The adaptive capacity of multitrophic plankton communities in a changing ocean

海洋变化中多营养浮游生物群落的适应能力

• 批准号: 257408949
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Agostino Merico
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Priority Programmes
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/257408949?language=en
• 关键词: adaptive; capacity; multitrophic; plankton; communities

There is broad consensus in the scientific community that the worlds climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. Evidence is accumulating on the ecological consequences of the changing climate. In the aquatic realm, for example, such consequences have involved shifts in the phenology of phytoplankton and zooplankton and reorganizations of phytoplankton community compositions towards species with smaller cell sizes. In a changing environment, ecological communities need to adapt their distribution of phenotypes so that the average fitness increases and the community can thrive under the new environmental conditions. Adaptation can work through a change in the genetic composition (e.g. microevolution) or through different forms of phenotypic plasticity. Whether such mechanisms will play a role in the real ocean, for example by making phytoplankton communities (and therefore the marine foodweb) more resilient to changing environmental conditions, is currently unclear. We propose here a project aiming at integrating a variety of laboratory data and field observations, including those acquired within DynaTrait, into a novel trait-based modelling framework. This modelling framework is based on the adaptive dynamics of phytoplankton cell-size and, critically, on a trade-off emerging from relationships between phytoplankton cell size and 1) phytoplankton nutrient uptake, 2) zooplankton grazing, and 3) phytoplankton sinking. The adaptive capacity of the phytoplankton community is captured by a mechanism of trait variation associated to reproduction so that trait variance is maintained as traits are diffused through subsequent generations of species. With this tool we plan to investigate how shifts in phytoplankton community composition and phenotypic diversity impact the foodweb dynamics of two contrasting regions (temperate and tropical) of the Atlantic Ocean under a number of environmental shocks, disturbances, and future scenarios. Ultimately, our project represents an opportunity to translate the knowledge aquired within the DynaTrait programme into the context of a real ocean environment.

科学界的广泛共识是，世界气候正在以前所未有的速度变化。关于气候变化的生态后果的证据越来越多。例如，在水生领域，这种后果涉及浮游植物和浮游动物的物候变化以及浮游植物群落组成向细胞较小的物种的重组。在不断变化的环境中，生态群落需要适应其表型分布，以便平均适应度增加，群落能够在新的环境条件下茁壮成长。适应可以通过改变遗传组成（例如微进化）或通过不同形式的表型可塑性来实现。目前尚不清楚这种机制是否会在真实的海洋中发挥作用，例如使浮游植物群落（从而使海洋食物网）对不断变化的环境条件更具弹性。我们在这里提出了一个项目，旨在整合各种实验室数据和实地观察，包括DynaTrait内获得的，到一个新的基于特征的建模框架。该建模框架基于浮游植物细胞大小的适应性动态，并且关键地基于浮游植物细胞大小与1）浮游植物营养吸收、2）浮游动物放牧和3）浮游植物下沉之间的关系中出现的权衡。浮游植物群落的适应能力是由与繁殖相关的性状变异机制捕获的，因此，当性状通过后代物种扩散时，性状变异得以维持。有了这个工具，我们计划调查浮游植物群落组成和表型多样性的变化如何影响大西洋两个截然不同的地区（温带和热带）的食物网动态下的一些环境冲击，干扰和未来的情况。最终，我们的项目代表了一个机会，将DynaTrait计划中获得的知识转化为真实的海洋环境。