Offensive Sea-Snot

地球上的生命在很大程度上依赖于生活在我们海洋中的微小浮游生物。这些浮游生物（主要在海洋中漂流的生物）可分为3类：（1）浮游植物：通过光合作用利用二氧化碳和太阳能制造食物和氧气的微观“植物”（2）浮游动物：吃浮游植物的微观“动物”，反过来又是小鱼的食物（3）混合浮游生物：微生物结合联合收割机“植物+动物”，光合作用（制造食物和释放氧气）以及吃猎物在这个项目中，我们将探索世界性的浮游生物，原甲藻，形成大生长（“水华”）沿着海岸全球的生活方式。原甲藻的直径只有0.015毫米;如果把160个原甲藻放在一把尺子上，它们的集体大小将等于1毫米。原甲藻通常被认为是“植物样”的浮游植物，产生粘液作为“海鼻涕”-作为一种防御机制，以阻止浮游动物。部分由于这种海鼻涕，原甲藻的大量繁殖会影响渔业，造成数百万美元的经济损失。原甲藻大量繁殖也会对人类健康产生有害影响，如哮喘和皮炎等急性呼吸道问题，以及阻塞港口和扰乱旅游业。随着气候的变化，原甲藻的大量繁殖很可能会变得更加普遍。最近我们看到原甲藻积极地操纵海鼻涕来建造陷阱捕获猎物。因此，原甲藻是混合浮游生物（“植物+动物”），而不是传统认为的浮游植物。利用这些陷阱，原甲藻可以捕获小到细菌的生物，甚至比它大的浮游生物;因此，它们可以清除竞争对手，从而可能促进它们自己的水华的生长。此外，这些捕集器定期被废弃和更换，留下捕集器中捕获的未消耗的微生物死亡。然后，这些废弃的捕集器从表面沃茨降解和/或下沉到更深的海洋沃茨。我们的初步研究结果表明，原甲藻在海水温度升高（超过15摄氏度）和未受干扰的沃茨中形成海鼻涕陷阱-这两种情况预计将随着气候变化而增加。令人担忧的是，随着气候变化，原甲藻可能会形成更多的海鼻涕陷阱，从而导致更长时间和持续的有害水华。这种水华有可能影响：（一）海洋健康，包括渔业，可能导致经济损失，也影响粮食安全;（二）人类健康，进而可能影响旅游业和其他沿海社会活动。利用原甲藻形成海鼻涕作为攻击性捕猎工具是一种新发现的现象。因此，我们没有足够的知识的条件下，加强形成与破坏的海鼻涕陷阱与建立模型。我们将探讨在三种不同温度（15，20，25摄氏度）下如何形成陷阱，以及这些陷阱在稳定与湍流沃茨中的耐久性。这个雄心勃勃的快节奏项目将由来自英国，德国和澳大利亚的专家组成的团队交付;工作将在卡迪夫大学新成立的混合浮游生物研究中心完成。这四名团队成员拥有开发新的实验室方法所需的独特和互补的技能，以及最先进的计算机模拟模型来研究海鼻涕陷阱现象。通过实验室实验和生态系统建模，我们旨在了解海水温度的上升如何为国际性的原中心体提供战胜竞争对手的战略。在这个联合国海洋十年中，该项目将为未来的研究提供基础，重点是预测海鼻涕陷阱形成的有害生物，并帮助努力实现更健康和可持续的海洋。

Life on Earth is heavily dependent on microscopic plankton that live in our oceans. These plankton (organisms that mainly drift in the oceans) can be divided between 3 types: (1) phytoplankton: microscopic "plants" that make food and oxygen through photosynthesis by using carbon dioxide and energy from the sun (2) zooplankton: microscopic "animals" that eat the phytoplankton and are in turn food for small fish (3) mixoplankton: microbes that combine "plant+animal", photosynthesising (making food and releasing oxygen) as well as eating preyIn this project we are going to explore the lifestyle of the cosmopolitan plankton, Prorocentrum, which form large growth ("blooms") along coasts globally. Prorocentrum are only 0.015mm in diameter; if 160 Prorocentrum are placed next to each other on a ruler, their collective size will equate to 1 mm. Prorocentrum have typically been considered as "plant-like" phytoplankton which produce mucus as "sea-snot" - as a defensive mechanism to deter zooplankton. Blooms of Prorocentrum, in part due to this sea-snot, can affect fisheries causing economic losses in the range of millions of US dollars. Prorocentrum blooms can also have deleterious effects on human health such as acute respiratory problems with asthma and dermatitis, as well as blocking harbours and disrupting tourism. There is a good possibility that blooms of Prorocentrum will become more common with climate change.Recently we have seen that Prorocentrum actively manipulate sea-snot to build traps to capture prey. Therefore, Prorocentrum are mixoplankton ("plant+animal"), not phytoplankton as traditionally thought. Using the traps, Prorocentrum can capture organisms as small as bacteria through to plankton larger than itself; they can thus remove competitors potentially boosting growth of their own blooms. Further, these traps are regularly abandoned and replaced leaving unconsumed microbes captured in the trap to die. These abandoned traps then degrade and/or sink from the surface waters to deeper ocean waters. Our preliminary findings suggest that Prorocentrum form the sea-snot-traps under elevated sea water temperatures (over 15 deg C) and, also in undisturbed waters - both these conditions are expected to increase in frequency with climate change. The concern is that with climate change, Prorocentrum could be expected to form more sea-snot traps which could then lead to longer and sustained harmful blooms. Such blooms have the potential to affect - (i) ocean health including fisheries which could lead to economic losses and also impact food security, and, (ii) human health which in turn could affect the tourist industry and other coastal societal activities. Formation of sea-snot by Prorocentrum as an offensive hunting device is a newly discovered phenomenon. Therefore, we do not have sufficient knowledge about the conditions enhance the formation versus destruction of the sea-snot traps with which to build models. We will explore how the traps are formed under three different temperatures (15, 20, 25 degree C) and the durability of these traps in stable versus turbulent waters. This highly ambitious fast-paced project will be delivered by a team consisting of experts from UK, Germany and Australia; the work will be done in the newly established mixoplankton research hub in Cardiff University. The four team members have unique and complimentary skills required to develop new laboratory methodologies as well as state-of-the-art computer simulation models to study the sea-snot-trap phenomenon. Using laboratory experiments and ecosystem modelling we aim to understand how rising sea water temperatures could provide the cosmopolitan Prorocentrum a winning strategy against their competitors.In this UN Decade of the Ocean, this project will provide the building blocks for future research focussing on prediction of sea-snot-trap forming HABs and help strive towards healthier and sustainable oceans.