Abstract
A warmer climate with less extensive ice cover will lead to higher total primary production in the Arctic, which has the potential to increase the overall secondary production. However, altered climate conditions will affect timing, quantity and quality o f ice algal and phytoplankton food sources with extensive implications for grazers. Depending on the grazers ability to adapt to these new conditions, some organisms will be favored more than others, resulting in ecological winners and losers. We therefor e propose a project that will study Arctic zooplankton and their capability to adapt their current life history strategies and physiology to a changing Arctic. We will focus in our study on Calanus glacialis, the key herbivore in Arctic shelf seas, and c ombine field and laboratory investigations with model development to ultimately arrive at an improved understanding of the physiological and life history adaptations of Arctic zooplankton. A central element of our approach is to move towards individual-b ased zooplankton ecology where states, such as lipid reserves, are measured at the level of individuals. We aim at a tight linkage between data collection through field and experimental studies and the modelling work where models deliver predictions for f ield and laboratory work, securing target-aimed field investigations and well-defined hypotheses. In turn, findings from field and experimental work do not only test model predictions, but also deliver a better basis for improved parameterization and desi gn of models. Long-term data-series acquired through previous projects will be continued and will allow us to include inter-annual variability and different ice-cover scenarios in our investigations. This project will include several national institutions and international collaborators, with strong participation by early career scientists.
Norway