SD4: Improved understanding of population, community and ecosystem impacts of ocean acidification for commercially important species

预测海洋酸化对渔业的影响是一个迅速发展的兴趣领域。该项目由可持续水产养殖研究中心(斯旺西)、埃克塞特大学和斯特拉斯克莱德大学以及普利茅斯海洋实验室共同实施，将采用综合多学科方法应对这些挑战。我们将利用斯旺西最先进的可持续水产养殖研究中心，研究商业上重要的双壳类、甲壳类和鳍鱼的生理和生活史反应，这些生物和它们的活食物可以在相同的条件下生长。我们将比较选定的生物在不同的水酸度和温度下的生理和生长情况(酸度增加与二氧化碳升高和全球变暖有关)。这些实验的结果将被放大，以确定在人口和社区层面上的影响。然后将探讨这些变化对渔业的影响。然而，海洋生态系统不仅影响商业上重要的物种，因此还将研究海洋生态系统的变化对社会的更广泛影响。OA预计会影响生殖，特别是早期生命阶段；我们的研究将集中在头2-4个月的卵子受精和生长。这些阶段可能是酸性关键阶段(例如，精子游泳对酸性水平很敏感)，而且由于其高表面积：体积比和对内部酸度变化的补偿能力较差，因此最容易受到外部环境的影响。贝壳和骨骼结构的早期形成也容易受到酸变化的影响。办公自动化还将通过改变食物有机体来提供直接和间接影响。虽然不可能改变饲料种类组成，但我们将培育浮游植物、浮游动物和其他目标动物，以考虑在它们最敏感的时期不同酸度水平和温度下对食物链的影响。这将使我们能够考虑粮食数量和质量变化的潜在协同效应、粮食转化为增长和能量的效率以及食物链的支持。继续对幼年阶段的这些研究将为OA对细胞生长最敏感阶段的影响提供数据。在对早期生命阶段的研究中获得的结果将得到更详细的研究的补充，以确定导致有机体易受酸度和温度变化影响的生物机制。来自实验的数据将被用来开发生物生长模型，这将为我们未来对其他物种上的OA的理解提供坚实的基础。在从其他开放式获取项目收集的数据的支持下，将开发这些模型，以便与能够探讨鱼类种群变化对渔业造成的社会和经济后果的模型相联系。现有的此类估算模型尚处于起步阶段，但该项目将整合将渔业生产与整个生态系统生态联系起来的新发展，以改进传统但过于简单化的渔业模型。考虑到全球气候变化和办公自动化的影响，这一点尤其重要，因为生物体与其环境之间的相互作用各不相同。利用这项研究产生的结果和其他开放式获取项目得出的结果，将探讨开放式获取对海洋生态系统的更广泛影响。这些将被用来研究我们从海洋环境变化中获得的好处(例如，可用于水产养殖和娱乐活动的清洁水的可用性、对健康的好处以及对气体和气候的调节)以及这些好处的价值如何变化。将探讨这些变化对行业和社会意味着什么。

Predicting the impacts of ocean acidification (OA) upon fisheries is a rapidly evolving sphere of interest. This project, conducted between the Centre of Sustainable Aquaculture Research (Swansea), Exeter and Strathclyde Universities, and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, will address these challenges using a holistic multi-disciplinary approach. We will examine the physiological and life history responses of commercially important examples of bivalves, crustacea and finfish, using the large (750 m2 floor, 150 m3 water) state-of-the-art Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture Research at Swansea in which these organisms, together with their live food items, can be grown under the same conditions. We will compare the physiology and growth of the selected organisms at different water acidity and temperatures (increased acidity being associated with elevated CO2 and global warming). The output from these experiments will be scaled-up to identify effects at population and community levels. The consequences of these changes for the fishing industry will then be explored. OA, however, will not only affect commercially important species, and so the wider impacts for society of changes in marine ecosystems will also be examined. OA is expected to affect reproduction and early life stages in particular; our research will focus on egg fertilization and growth over the first 2-4 months. These stages can be acid-critical (e.g. sperm swimming is sensitive to acid levels) and are the most susceptible to the external environment due to their high surface-area: volume ratio and poor ability to compensate for changes in internal acidity. Early formation of shell and skeletal structures are also vulnerable to acid changes. OA will also provide direct and indirect effects through changes to food organisms. While it is not possible to change feed species composition, we will grow phytoplankton, zooplankton and other target animals to consider food chain impacts at different acidity levels and temperatures during their most sensitive period. This will enable us to consider the potentially synergistic effects of changes to food quantity and quality, the efficiency of food conversion into growth and energy, and the support of the food chain. Continuing these studies into juvenile stages will provide data for the impact of OA upon the most sensitive stages of cell growth. The results obtained during the studies of early life stages will be complemented by more detailed studies to identify the biological mechanisms that result in an organism's vulnerability to acidity and temperature change. Data from experiments will be used to develop models of organism growth which will provide a sound base for the future development of our understanding of OA upon other species. Supported with data collected from other OA projects, these models will then be developed to link with models that can explore the social and economic consequences to the fishing industry resulting from changes in fish populations. Existing models for such estimates are in their infancy but this project will integrate new developments that relate fisheries production to whole ecosystem ecology to improve upon classic, but simplistic, fisheries models. This is especially important when considering the impacts of global climate change and OA because of the varied interactions between organisms and their environment. Using the findings generated by this study and those arising from other OA projects, the wider impacts of OA on marine ecosystems will be explored. These will be used to examine how the benefits we obtain from the marine environment change (e.g. the availability of clean water for aquaculture and recreational activities, health benefits, and the regulation of gases and climate) and how the value of these benefits change. What these changes mean for industry and society will be explored.