Descrizione del progetto
Studiare gli effetti dell’acidificazione degli oceani sulla calcificazione
L’acidificazione degli oceani provoca la riduzione del contenuto di carbonato di calcio nell’acqua marina, mettendo a rischio di calcificazione un’ampia gamma di specie, compresi i gasteropodi planctonici. I gasteropodi planctonici sono considerati gli organismi più vulnerabili, poiché popolano la superficie dell’oceano e hanno gusci sottili di aragonite. Le ricerche attuali, però, si sono concentrate solo sull’esposizione a breve termine a condizioni estreme di acidificazione degli oceani. Il progetto EPIC, finanziato dall’UE, si propone di studiare i processi di evoluzione della calcificazione nei gasteropodi planctonici e di prevederne il potenziale evolutivo in caso di esposizione a lungo termine all’acidificazione degli oceani. In questo contesto, EPIC studierà gli effetti micro e macroevolutivi di tale fenomeno, in modo da consentire una migliore prognosi dell’impatto del cambiamento globale sui calcificatori marini.
Obiettivo
Calcification by marine organisms can be drastically affected by ocean acidification (OA) due to a reduced availability of calcium carbonate in seawater. Planktonic gastropods (pteropods and heteropods) are believed to be among the most vulnerable organisms to OA as they live at the ocean surface and build thin shells of aragonite. Shelled pteropods have received considerable attention and are reported to decrease calcification rates and experience shell dissolution under high CO2 conditions. Shelled heteropods have received much less attention, but are expected to be equally vulnerable. However, the vulnerability of planktonic gastropods is based on short-term exposures to extreme OA conditions. The aim of the proposed project is to study the evolution of calcification in planktonic gastropods and assess its evolutionary potential under OA. Planktonic gastropods build shells through a biomineralization process, controlled at the molecular level, but the genes underlying this process are unknown. Using shell proteomics will enable to identify for the first time the biomineralization genes in pteropod and heteropod species. Next, these genes will be used to understand how biomineralization evolved in the two independent plankton groups over long and short timescales. Over long timescales will include building solid macro-evolutionary frameworks using fossil-calibrated phylogenomic trees and analysis of the evolution of biomineralization genes. Over short timescales will involve studies at the population-level by measuring gene expression under past, present and future concentrations of CO2. The proposed action will allow the discovery of new molecular markers to investigate the impacts of OA. Combining macro- with micro-evolutionary approaches will shed light on the processes that drive diversity and evolution of calcification in planktonic gastropods and will allow more realistic predictions of the consequences of global change on marine calcifiers.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinatore
2333 CR Leiden
Paesi Bassi