CoccoTrait: Revealing Coccolithophore Trait diversity and its climatic impacts

由于有一种叫做浮游植物的微小生物，海洋在调节大气中的二氧化碳和气候方面起着至关重要的作用。浮游植物是主要的生产者，利用二氧化碳和光来生长。尽管很小，但它们在海洋中生长数量巨大，使它们成为地球上最重要的初级生产者之一。其中一种海洋浮游植物——球石藻尤为重要，因为它们在吸收二氧化碳的同时也会钙化。钙化也至关重要，因为它改变了海洋吸收二氧化碳的能力。球石藻使形状独特的精美装饰板钙化。每种形状占据不同的海洋区域，证明形态对控制球石团分布和海洋二氧化碳吸收的贡献至关重要。海洋中生活着大约250种球石藻，它们的形态、细胞大小和方解石含量各不相同。然而，大多数对颗石藻的研究都依赖于单一物种。本种是最丰富的，但最小和最少钙化的颗石藻种之一；因此，它不能代表整个颗石藻群落。CoccoTrait旨在通过更全面地了解其生物多样性，重新评估球石团在气候系统中的作用。我们将利用描述球石藻主要特征（如大小、形态、方解石含量）的新数据，并应用统计和机制相结合的方法来实现两个目标：(1)定义表征球石藻生物多样性的关键物种。并不是所有的物种都重要，所以确定对碳循环最重要的物种是至关重要的。为了做到这一点，我们将使用基于特征的生态学，它识别具有相似特征和功能的物种群，使我们能够以一种简单而有意义的方式研究复杂的生物系统。(2)确定了球岩藻多样性对海洋碳循环的影响及其随气候变化的变化规律。一旦我们确定了关键的颗石藻物种，我们将估计它们对海洋碳产生的贡献以及随气候变化的变化。球石藻已经受到海洋变暖和酸化的影响，改变了影响海洋碳循环的物种。我们将使用最先进的模型来评估它们对现代和未来气候的全球贡献。该项目结合了统计和机械方法，这是研究海洋浮游生物生态学的独特方法，但对于准确估计海洋生物多样性的气候影响至关重要。我们将用颗石藻来验证这种方法，显示出充分代表其他浮游生物的复杂生态的潜力，以绘制它们在气候系统中的作用。

Thanks to tiny organisms called phytoplankton, the ocean plays a crucial role in regulating atmospheric CO2 and hence our climate. Phytoplankton are primary producers and use CO2 and light to grow. Despite being tiny, they grow in enormous quantities in the ocean, making them one of the most important primary producers of the planet. One marine phytoplankton, the coccolithophores, are particularly important because they take up CO2 and calcify simultaneously. Calcification is also vital because it changes the ocean's ability to take up CO2. Coccolithophores calcify beautifully ornamented plates of distinctive shapes. Each shape occupies a different ocean region, proving that morphology is critical at controlling coccolithophore distribution and contribution of the ocean CO2 uptake. About 250 species of coccolithophore live in the ocean, showing a variety of morphology, cell size and calcite content. However, most studies of coccolithophores rely on a single species. This species is the most abundant but one of the smallest and least calcified coccolithophore species; hence it is not representative of the coccolithophore community as a whole. CoccoTrait aims to re-assess the role of coccolithophore in our climate system by including a fuller appreciation of its biodiversity. We will take advantage of new data that describe coccolithophore's main traits (e.g., size, morphology, calcite content) and apply combined statistical and mechanistic methods to address two goals: (1) Defining the key species that characterise coccolithophore biodiversity. Not all species matter, so it is critical to identify the ones that matter the most for the carbon cycle. To do that, we will use trait-based ecology, which recognises groups of species with similar traits and functions, allowing us to study complex biological systems in a simple yet meaningful way. (2) Determining the influence of coccolithophore diversity on the ocean carbon cycle and how it will change with climate change. Once we identify the critical coccolithophore species, we will estimate how much they contribute to ocean carbon productions and vary with climate change. Coccolithophores are already impacted by ocean warming and acidification, changing which species influence the ocean carbon cycle. We will use state-of-the-art modelling to assess their global contribution to modern and future climate. The project combines statistical and mechanistic methods, which is unique in studying marine plankton ecology but essential to accurately estimate the climatic impacts of ocean biodiversity. We will validate this approach with coccolithophore, showing the potential to fully represent the complex ecology of other plankton to map their role in the climate system.