Where are the jellyfish? An integrative molecular study to reveal the gelatinous zooplankton species diversity, distribution, and connectivity within a changing Southern Ocean

水母在哪里？

• 批准号: 501995788
• 负责人: Dr. Gerlien Verhaegen
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Zoologisches Institut und Museum
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/501995788?language=en
• 关键词: Where; jellyfish; integrative; molecular; study

Gelatinous zooplankton (GZP) are a paraphyletic and ecologically diverse planktonic group comprising cnidarian, ctenophores, and tunicates. GZP are notorious for their “jellyfish blooms”, that can have detrimental impacts on human activities at sea and on the structure of marine ecosystems. Recently, a paradigm shift has however occurred, also underlying the widespread importance and benefits of GZP, from playing a key role in the trophic pelagic web, to providing an important ecosystem service with their contribution to the carbon pump through “jelly-falls”. In the Southern Ocean (SO), environmental changes have led in some areas to an abundance shift in microzooplankton grazers from krill to salps. Besides the extensively studied salp, there is still a considerable knowledge gap on other SO GZP taxa. This knowledge gap is primarily due to traditional net surveys being unsuitable to study these fragile organisms. Therefore, the main goal of this project is to integrate molecular methodologies to characterize the species diversity, distribution, and population connectivity of SO GZP and to link these to environmental parameters. In the first objective, environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses will be used to characterize the GZP species composition and how it can be linked to different water masses. The species composition of the eDNA found in marine sediments will also be compared with those of overlaying water column, to better understand the role of GZP in the carbon pump. In a second objective, phylogeographic analyses based on sampled specimens will be employed to answer genetic diversity and connectivity questions related to SO GZP. Whether populations are circumpolar and the role of the Antarctic Polar Front against gene flow will be tested. In a third and final objective, ecological niche modelling in three dimensions will be used to model the distribution range of SO GZP and define their limiting factors. Establishing this baseline information will be crucial to predict how environmental change will affect the GZP community composition and distribution, and by consequence, how it will impact trophic networks and the SO carbon pump in the future.

胶状浮游动物(GZP)是一种寄生和生态多样性的浮游生物类群，由线虫、鞭毛虫和被囊类组成。GZP因其“水母水华”而臭名昭著，这可能对人类在海上的活动和海洋生态系统的结构产生有害影响。然而，最近发生了一种范式转变，这也是GZP广泛重要性和好处的基础，从在营养远洋网中发挥关键作用，到通过“果冻落”对碳泵做出贡献，提供重要的生态系统服务。在南大洋，环境变化导致一些地区的微型浮游动物捕食者从磷虾转向盐生动物。除了被广泛研究的盐生植物外，对其他苏州石竹分类群的认识还存在相当大的差距。这一知识差距主要是由于传统的网络调查不适合研究这些脆弱的生物体。因此，这个项目的主要目标是整合分子方法来表征SO GZP的物种多样性、分布和种群连通性，并将这些与环境参数联系起来。在第一个目标中，将使用环境DNA(EDNA)分析来表征GZP的物种组成以及它如何与不同的水团相联系。在海洋沉积物中发现的EDNA的物种组成也将与上覆水柱的物种组成进行比较，以更好地了解GZP在碳泵中的作用。在第二个目标中，将采用基于样本的系统地理分析来回答与SO GZP有关的遗传多样性和连通性问题。种群是否在极地周围，以及南极极锋对基因流动的作用将得到检验。在第三个也是最后一个目标中，将使用三维生态位模拟来模拟SO GZP的分布范围并确定它们的限制因素。建立这一基线信息对于预测环境变化将如何影响GZP群落组成和分布，以及由此将如何影响未来的营养网络和SO碳泵将是至关重要的。