Salinity in a changing world: salts as modifiers of aquatic animal physiology and fitness

气候变化的影响将受到水系盐度的影响。因此，迫切需要调查盐度和水生生物群之间的相互作用，以便了解快速变化的环境对生态系统健康的影响。这个项目寻求发展盐度-生物相互作用的机械知识，以及这可能如何影响未来的水环境。其中一个研究目标将调查盐度对欧洲青蟹入侵成功的影响。最近的研究表明，这种物种可以直接从水中摄取氨基酸，这可能在螃蟹抵御盐度波动的能力中发挥作用，从而入侵河口环境。研究将使用分子、生化和生理技术来研究氨基酸运输与盐和水平衡的机制，以确定这种入侵蟹类是否比本地蟹类更适合使用氨基酸。研究将考察整个动物水平的影响，但入侵物种以牺牲本地物种为代价茁壮成长的能力也将在实验环境系统中进行调查。第二个研究目标是了解淡水动物对其自然栖息地中日益增加的盐度(例如，通过道路盐流)的耐受性。使用许多用于其他目的的相同的分子、生化和生理工具，将检查不同盐成分的毒理学影响，并将探索这些盐发挥作用的机制。第三个研究重点将研究盐度如何影响生活在北方水域的水生动物的毒性。这些物种表现出与更多温带物种明显不同的生物学特征，鉴于保护水生系统的法规已经在来自较温暖气候的动物身上制定，这种法规可能不足以保护冷水物种。金属是极地水域中一类重要的新兴毒物，它通过干扰水盐平衡发挥作用。因此，北方鱼类和水生无脊椎动物对金属毒物的敏感性将取决于盐度及其对盐度的生物反应。分子、生化和生理测量将与毒理学分析相结合，以表征北方生物群对金属毒物(铜)的敏感性，并辨别盐度对这种相互作用的影响。总的来说，这项计划将通过加强以下方面的知识，扩大我们对盐度在塑造生物和生态健康中所起作用的理解：成功的生物入侵的驱动因素；淡水动物对盐的敏感性；以及当前保护北方水生生物免受金属毒性影响的监管指南的适用性。

Impacts of climate change will be mediated by the salinity of aquatic systems. Thus, there is an urgent need to investigate interactions between salinity and aquatic biota in order to understand the effects of a rapidly changing environment on the health of ecosystems. This program seeks to develop mechanistic knowledge of the salinity-organism interaction, and how this might influence future aquatic environments. One research objective will investigate how salinity contributes towards the invasive success of the European green crab. Recent work shows that this species can take up amino acids directly from the water, and that this may play a role in the crab's ability to withstand salinity fluctuations, and thus invade estuarine settings. Research will employ molecular, biochemical and physiological techniques to investigate amino acid transport in concert with mechanisms of salt and water balance to determine whether this invasive crab species is better equipped to use amino acids than native crab species. Studies will examine effects at a whole animal level, but the ability of the invasive species to thrive at the expense of a native species will also be investigated in experimental environmental systems. A second research objective seeks to understand the tolerance of freshwater animals to the increasing presence of salinity (e.g. via road salt run-off) in their natural habitats. Using many of the same molecular, biochemical and physiological tools employed in other objectives, the toxicological impact of different salt compositions will be examined, and the mechanisms by which these salts exert their effects will be explored. A third research focus will examine how salinity influences toxicity in aquatic animals living in Northern waters. These species exhibit biological characteristics that differ markedly from more temperate species, and given that regulations for the protection of aquatic systems have been developed in animals from warmer climates, such regulations may not be adequately protective of cold-water species. Metals are one important class of emerging toxicants in polar waters, and exert their effects through interfering with salt and water balance. Consequently, the sensitivity of Northern fish and aquatic invertebrates to metal toxicants will depend upon salinity, and their biological responses to salinity. Molecular, biochemical and physiological measurements will be combined with toxicological assays to characterize the sensitivity of Northern biota to a metal toxicant (copper) and to discern the influence that salinity has on this interaction. Collectively, this program will broaden our understanding of the role that salinity has in shaping organismal and ecological health, through enhanced knowledge of: the drivers of successful biological invasion; the sensitivity of freshwater animals to salts; and the applicability of current regulatory guidelines for the protection of Northern aquatic biota against metal toxicity.