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Content archived on 2024-05-27

New approaches to assess the responses of phytoplankton to Global Change

Objective

Phytoplankton are responsible for a major part of global primary production due to the immensity of the marine realm and are heavily implicated in global biosphere equilibriums by driving elemental chemistry in surface oceans, exporting massive amounts of C to sediments and influencing ocean-atmosphere gas exchange. Climate change will alter the marine environment within the next 100 years. Increasing atmospheric CO2 has already caused higher aquatic pCO2 levels and lower pH (ocean acidification) and rising temperature will impact ocean stratification, and hence light and nutrient conditions. Phytoplankton will be affected by these Earth system transformations in many ways, altering the complex balance of biogeochemical cycles and climate feedback mechanisms. Prediction of how phytoplankton may respond at the cellular and ecosystem levels is a key challenge in global change research. The proposed project will investigate physiological reactions of 3 important phytoplankton groups (diatoms, coccolithophores, cyanobacteria) to environmental factors which will be affected by global change (pCO2/pH, light, nutrients). Using an innovative combination of cutting-edge mass-spectrometric and fluorometric techniques, a suite of in vivo assays will be applied in lab and field experiments to develop a process-based understanding of cellular responses. Specific biogeochemical issues will be addressed since diatoms are the main drivers of vertical organic C fluxes, coccolithophores regulate ocean alkalinity through calcification, and N2-fixing cyanobacteria control availability of reactive N. These are relevant in different marine zones, from Southern Ocean to equatorial oligotrophic waters. Data will significantly improve understanding of key processes in phytoplankton and will be exploited in multidisciplinary contexts ranging from molecular to ecological processes and, through cellular and ecosystem models, to predictions of marine biosphere responses to future global change

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2007-StG
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant

Host institution

ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR POLAR- UND MEERESFORSCHUNG
EU contribution
€ 1 399 984,00
Address
AM HANDELSHAFEN 12
27570 Bremerhaven
Germany

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Region
Bremen Bremen Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

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Beneficiaries (1)

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