Project description
Transgenerational plasticity could keep marine calcifiers 'calcifying'
Global warming and increased atmospheric CO2 have important impacts on the environment and the earth's ecosystems. CO2 dissolves in the oceans and seas, forming carbonic acid. As carbonic acid concentrations rise, the amount of carbonate (a base) falls. Calcifiers, creatures that use carbonate and calcium ions to form their shells and skeletons, are at risk. Living organisms have the capacity for change (plasticity) over short and long periods, even across generations. Predicting long-term multi-generational effects with short-term laboratory experiments is complicated yet fundamental to understanding the impact of global warming on diverse marine ecosystems. The EU-funded Warming calcifiers project is simulating future warming conditions in the lab and comparing data to carbonate shells from warm periods in the geological record to obtain realistic predictions of how calcifiers' ability to adapt will mitigate their response to ocean warming.
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbotany
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistrybiogeochemistry
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
Coordinator
OX1 2JD Oxford
United Kingdom
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