EAPSI: Investigating the behavioral and physical responses of the lemon damselfish to ocean acidification

每年约有四分之一的大气二氧化碳（CO2）进入海洋，与水反应导致海洋酸化。研究表明，二氧化碳水平的增加会极大地影响鱼类的行为和生理，对依赖海洋渔业的生态系统结构和人类社会经济系统产生潜在的可怕后果。在二氧化碳浓度升高的影响下，鱼类会被捕食者吸引，而不是厌恶它们，归巢行为也会受到其他影响。该项目将调查鱼类科普与气候变化相关的海洋酸化加剧的能力。这项研究将与菲利普芒迪博士合作进行，他是澳大利亚詹姆斯库克大学首批研究海洋酸度增加对鱼类影响的研究人员之一。这些数据将在大堡礁的吕宋岛研究站收集。虽然这些实验的结果令人震惊，但鱼类是否有适应能力来应对海洋酸化的渐进速度仍然是未知的;这是制定管理和缓解战略的关键知识。这项研究将确定在六周内酸度的缓慢增加是否会引起柠檬雀鲷（Pomacentrus moluccensis）对pH值变化的代内应对反应。将测量认知和形态反应的组合。首先，认知影响将通过不同CO2条件下的空间学习任务来确定。这将通过鳃的生理措施来补充。由于鳃是鱼类与其环境之间的直接界面，并且已知在淡水中对应激和酸性条件显示出塑性反应，因此它们可能是对酸化沃茨可能发生塑性表型反应的第一个地方之一。这个NSF EAPSI奖是与澳大利亚科学院合作资助的。

Approximately one quarter of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) enters the ocean each year, reacting with water to cause ocean acidification. It has been shown that resulting increases in CO2 levels dramatically affect fish behavior and physiology, suggesting potentially dire consequences for ecosystem structure and human socioeconomic systems dependent on marine fisheries. Under the influence of elevated CO2, fish become attracted to predators instead of aversive of them, and homing behavior is disrupted among other effects. This project will investigate the capacity for fish to cope with increasing ocean acidification associated with climate change. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Phillip Munday, one of the first researchers to investigate the impacts of increasing ocean acidity on fish at James Cook University in Australia. The data will be collected at the Lizard Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef. While the results from these experiments are striking, it remains unknown whether fish have an adaptive capacity to contend with a gradual rate of ocean acidification; critical knowledge for developing management and mitigation strategies. This research will determine whether a slow increase in acidity over a six week period will induce a within-generation coping response to changing pH in the lemon damselfish, (Pomacentrus moluccensis). A combination of cognitive and morphological responses will be measured. First, cognitive impacts will be determined by means of a spatial learning task under different CO2 conditions. This will be complemented by physiological measures the gill. As gills are the direct interface between a fish and its environment, and are known to show plastic response to stress and acid conditions in freshwater, they are likely to be one of the first places a plastic phenotypic response to acidifying waters may occur. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Science.