Collaborative Research: Zooplankton restarts in a high-latitude marine ecosystem: species-specific recruitment and development in early spring

合作研究：浮游动物在高纬度海洋生态系统中重新启动：早春物种特异性的补充和发育

• 批准号: 2222558
• 负责人: Michelle Jungbluth
• 金额: $ 35.08万
• 依托单位: San Francisco State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222558&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Zooplankton; restarts; latitude

Global climate change and associated extreme weather events are increasingly impacting marine communities at all trophic levels and leading to shifts in the timing of life history events. This project is investigating the annual restart of the spring zooplankton community in the Gulf of Alaska in order to determine the timing of species-specific recruitment and growth. Zooplankton are small pelagic animals that are a critical link between microalgae and protozoans and higher levels in the food web including economically important fishes, birds and marine mammals. While their abundances and species composition have been documented over part of the annual cycle between late spring and fall, this project focuses on winter and early spring. The project integrates traditional methods with modern molecular approaches to characterize the diversity, development, feeding and physiology of zooplankton, especially the early developmental stages of copepods (small crustaceans). The goal is to determine which species are there, how many are present and where they are in the water column, and to reveal indicators of their health. Broader impacts include research training for three graduate students and at least four undergraduates in biological oceanography and physiological ecology. Outreach activities are focusing on broadening the public’s understanding of plankton ecology. An illustrated zooplankton guide for the Gulf of Alaska and plankton module for school teachers and students is being produced in collaboration with the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. Other plans include sponsorship of nature-drawing workshops on zooplankton and the production of an Art & Science traveling exhibit. This project is tracking zooplankton population abundances, species composition and developmental stages through the spring restart in a high-latitude fjord in the northern Gulf of Alaska. While the entire zooplankton community is being characterized, the main focus is on the difficult-to-assess early developmental stages of copepods, which dominate the late spring biomass in the region. Three central hypotheses guide the research: 1) high abundances of copepod nauplii are present before any measurable increases in food in surface waters; 2) species diversity increases between winter and spring, with nauplii from large lipid-rich capital-breeding species appearing first, followed by those from income- and hybrid-strategy species and finally nauplii that emerge from dormant eggs; 3) prior to the appearance of food resources, nauplii from capital-breeding species conserve resources by delaying development and entering a state of dormancy in the second and third naupliar stages. The project entails intensive depth-stratified field sampling to characterize the wild community, in combination with laboratory experiments on nauplii to determine their responsiveness to food. The prey are being characterized by measuring chlorophyll a, dietary and prey community DNA sequencing and flow cytometry to establish diversity and abundances. Size-fractionated zooplankton samples are being analyzed using microscopy and community DNA sequencing to ascertain species diversity, developmental stage distribution and abundances. Feeding activity is being measured using dietary DNA sequencing of nauplii followed by comparisons with the prey field. Dormancy in nauplii is being determined by differential gene expression of target genes (RT-qPCR) and high-throughput sequencing of mRNA of individuals (transcriptomics) and community samples (meta-transcriptomics). Short-term and long-term effects of food availability on dormancy, development and growth are being quantified in laboratory experiments. Broader impacts are focused on training of students in interdisciplinary research and state-of-art techniques, and public outreach to introduce plankton ecology to broader audiences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

全球气候变化和相关的极端天气事件越来越多地影响着各个营养水平的海洋社区，并导致生活历史事件的时机发生变化。该项目正在调查阿拉斯加湾春季浮游生物社区的年度重新启动，以确定规格特定的招聘和增长的时间。浮游动物是小型的小动物，是微藻和原生动物之间的关键联系，而食物网中较高的水平包括经济上重要的鱼类，鸟类和海洋哺乳动物。尽管它们的丰度和物种成分已在春末和秋末之间的年度周期的一部分中进行了记录，但该项目的重点是冬季和早春。该项目将传统方法与现代分子方法相结合，以表征浮游动物（小甲壳类动物）的早期发育阶段的多样性，开发，喂养和生理学。目的是确定那里有哪些物种，有多少种物种以及它们在水柱中的位置，并揭示其健康状况的指标。更广泛的影响包括针对三名研究生的研究培训以及生物海洋学和物理生态学的至少四名本科生。外展活动的重点是扩大公众对浮游生物生态的理解。正在与阿拉斯加沿海研究中心合作生产了阿拉斯加湾和浮游生物模块的插图浮游动物指南。其他计划包括赞助自然绘制的浮游生物和艺术与科学巡回演出的演出。该项目是在阿拉斯加北部的高纬度峡湾中跟踪浮游动物的丰度，物种组成和发育阶段。虽然整个浮游动物社区都在表征，但主要重点是难以评估的copepods的早期发育阶段，该阶段占据了该地区春季晚期生物量的主导地位。三个中心假设指导研究：1）在地表水中的食物中有任何可测量的增加之前，存在高丰富的copepod nauplii； 2）物种多样性在冬季和春季之间增加，来自大脂质资本繁殖物种的Nauplii首先出现，其次是收入和杂种构成物种的物种，最后是来自休眠卵的Nauplii。 3）在出现粮食资源之前，来自资本繁殖物种的Nauplii通过延迟发展并在第二和第三naupliar阶段处于休眠状态来保护资源。该项目需要进行密集的深度分层现场抽样，以表征野生社区，并结合实验室对Nauplii的实验，以确定其对食物的反应。猎物的特征是测量叶绿素A，饮食和猎物社区DNA测序和流式细胞仪以建立多样性和抽象。正在使用显微镜和社区DNA测序分析尺寸的浮游动物样品，以确定物种多样性，发育阶段分布和抽象。使用Nauplii的饮食DNA测序进行喂养活性，然后与猎物场进行比较。 NAUPLII的休眠是通过靶基因的差异基因表达（RT-QPCR）和个体mRNA的高通量测序（转录组学）和社区样本（元转录组学）来确定的。在实验室实验中，正在量化食物可用性对休眠，发育和生长的短期和长期影响。更广泛的影响重点是培训跨学科研究和最先进技术的学生，以及公众推广，以向更广泛的受众介绍浮游生物的生态。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准通过评估来通过评估来获得的支持。