Exploring Long-Term Variation in Arctic Marine Ecosystems through Stable Isotope Analysis and Fatty Acid Biomarkers

通过稳定同位素分析和脂肪酸生物标志物探索北极海洋生态系统的长期变化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04740
• 负责人: Szpak, Paul
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: Trent University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739819
• 关键词: Exploring; Long; Term; Variation; Arctic

The Arctic is changing rapidly and there is growing concern about how these changes may impact various species that are endemic to this region and are of tremendous economic and cultural importance to the indigenous peoples of the north. Long-term studies of the impacts of climate change on marine mammals are typically limited to a few years or at most a few decades, but we know that the environmental conditions in the Arctic have varied substantially through the Holocene and particularly in the last few hundred years. This research program will reconstruct long-term variation in the ecology of Arctic marine mammals (polar bear, ringed seal, walrus, bowhead whale, narwhal, beluga whale) from Baffin Bay and East Greenland over the last 12,000 years by analysing the bulk and compound-specific stable isotope compositions (d13C and d15N) of the proteinaceous component of bone samples (collagen) from natural history collections (materials collected from palaeontological and archaeological sites as well as tissue samples archived by museums). These data will provide insight into variation in the trophic position of these animals and the relative importance of sea ice algae supporting marine food webs. Unlike most palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, these data will shed light on how organisms at or near the top of the food web have responded to long-term environmental variation, a perspective that cannot be accessed except through these unique natural history collections. We cannot adequately address how climate change influences these species today if we lack a long-term perspective. This research program also seeks to develop new biomolecular techniques for studying ancient bones. Past ancient biomolecular research has focused on proteins (isotopic analysis, radiocarbon dating, palaeoproteiomics) and nucleic acids (ancient DNA) and this program seeks to explore the use of lipids extracted from ancient bones as markers of ecological variation. Fatty acid biomarkers from adipose and other soft tissues provide valuable insights into the ecology of modern animal populations and this program will explore the feasibility of applying similar techniques to the lipids preserved within the ultrastructure of dense, cortical bone.

北极正在迅速发生变化，并且越来越关注这些变化如何影响该地区特有的各种物种，并且对北部的土著人民具有巨大的经济和文化重要性。长期对气候变化对海洋哺乳动物的影响的研究通常仅限于几年或最多几十年，但我们知道，北极的环境条件已经通过全新世，尤其是在过去几百种情况下变化了年。该研究计划将通过分析散装和化合物分析散装和化合物，在过去12，000年中重建北极海洋哺乳动物（北极熊，环形海豹，弓形鲸鱼，弓形鲸鱼，贝鲁加鲸）的长期变化 - 自然历史集合（从古生物学和考古遗址收集的材料以及博物馆存档的组织样品收集的材料），特异性稳定的同位素组成（D13C和D15N）（胶原蛋白）的蛋白质成分（胶原蛋白）（胶原蛋白）。这些数据将洞悉这些动物的营养位置的变化以及支持海洋食品网的海冰藻类的相对重要性。与大多数古环境的重建不同，这些数据将阐明食物网的顶部或附近的生物如何响应长期的环境变化，除非通过这些独特的自然历史收集，否则无法访问这种观点。如果我们缺乏长期的观点，我们将无法充分解决当今气候变化如何影响这些物种。该研究计划还旨在开发用于研究古骨的新生物分子技术。过去的古代生物分子研究集中在蛋白质（同位素分析，放射性碳测年，古蛋白质组学）和核酸（古代DNA）上，该程序旨在探索从古代骨骼中提取的脂质作为生态变异的标志物的使用。来自脂肪和其他软组织的脂肪酸生物标志物为现代动物种群的生态提供了宝贵的见解，该计划将探索将相似技术应用于保存在密集的，皮质骨的超微结构中的相似技术的可行性。