Project description
The impact of Redfield ratio imbalance on phytoplankton
Aquatic ecosystems are crucial to the global climate, providing several ecosystem services, such as water treatment, climate regulation, and carbon sequestration. However, the increasing modification of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles has disrupted the Redfield ratio (N:P = 16) in these ecosystems, leading to significant changes that adversely affect phytoplankton photosynthesis, diversity, and physiology, thereby impacting aquatic ecosystem services. These changes are further exacerbated by current inefficient solutions. With support from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PHYTOLIM project aims to enhance our understanding of reverse eutrophication and its effects on ecophysiology and phytoplankton productivity. Ultimately, the results will be used to identify better solutions for addressing N and P imbalances.
Objective
Aquatic ecosystems offer a wide range of ecosystem services (e.g. climate regulation, carbon sequestration, water treatment, and fisheries). In these ecosystems, Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) cycles have been modified, leading to an increase in nutrient concentration and changes in the stoichiometry of the element. In marine systems, dissolved N and P are, on average, present in an overall stoichiometry balance called the Redfield ratio (N:P=16). The skewness of stoichiometry is exacerbated by a general effort of countries to reverse eutrophication by reducing only P using water treatment plants. This management solution is leading to a global increase of the N:P in the freshwater and coastal marine systems, amplifying the likelihood of P limitation. Phytoplankton that supports the entire trophic web follows the Redfield ratio and is affected by this unbalanced ratio. Photosynthesis, diversity and physiology of the phytoplankton communities are deeply impacted by these changes, thus stressing the need for understanding this arising issue. This project aims to evaluate how reverse eutrophication (causing high N:P) affects the ecophysiology and productivity of phytoplankton. To explore this issue, nutrient experiments at an unbalanced nutrient ratio (N:P = 90) will be performed with a selection of freshwater and marine species to investigate species on the whole water continuum. An increasing diversity (single species; co-cultures; natural communities for freshwater only) gradient will be used while chemical, physiological, photosynthetic and diversity parameters will be measured. This also includes a temperature variation experiment to study the combined issue of climate change reverse and eutrophication. The information delivered by this project will be critical both for the understanding of the response of phytoplankton communities under unbalanced input and for the problem of reverse eutrophication and climate change to improve water management.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries fisheries
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
142 00 PRAHA 4
Czechia
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.