Vulnerability of overwintering Arctic zooplankton to multiple stressors

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2021

End date

12/31/2025

Budget

967,887 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

In the Arctic marine ecosystem, Calanus hyperboreus and C. glacialis are keys species. Copepods account for more than 80% of zooplankton biomass and are a primary lipid-rich food source for fish such as polar cod and Atlantic cod. During the short growing season, they accumulate the energy in the form of lipid for surviving the long, dark, and food-poor winter and for early reproduction in the winter-spring. Millions of Arctic copepods start to overwinter in late summer/early autumn at depths varying between 300 – 1500 m below the sea surface. Numerically, it is one of the largest animal migrations on earth. Overwintering of Arctic copepods has been known to affect the regional climate and carbon sequestrations in the ocean. Arctic regions experience the fastest changes from climate change, a crucial question is how environmental stressors such as ocean warming and acidification may act in concert to affect the overwintering of these key Arctic copepods. Furthermore, extreme warming periods such as the marine heatwaves (MHWs) have caused dramatic changes in marine ecosystems worldwide. The frequency, magnitude and severity of marine heatwaves are predicted to increase rapidly in the Arctic regions, particularly in late summer and autumn, but we do not know how MHWs may affect the Arctic species. Another question is how ocean acidification may modulate the marine heatwave effect. In this Young Research Talent (YRT) project, we will investigate the impacts of marine heatwaves and ocean acidification on the overwintering of these key Arctic copepod species. Furthermore, this YRT project will pave the way for the scientific community to explore multiple-stressor effects on overwintering thousands of high-latitude species from protozoans to reptiles that go into the diapause during the winter.