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Benjamin Mooney

Adapting to Climate Change

Responses in Life-History Traits of Harpacticoid Copepods (Crustacea, Copepoda)

Benjamin Mooney, IMBRSea Professional Practice 2020

Annual global sea surface temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2015 with superimposed a linear trend (Base period 1951-1980), red positive, blue negative.From: https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/ocean_warming_issues_brief_final.pdf

Global Ocean Change

Average global sea surface temperature is undeniably on the rise. The temperatures of the last three decades have been warmer than at any time since records began in circa 1880.

Further global ocean changes such as furthered temperture raise and falling pH are inevitable, and threaten drastic changes in coastal ecosystems. The impact of such changes is predicated to vary from species to species depending on their individual potential to adapt.

Global distribution of species and alterations in life-history traits are well known temperature-driven responses to ocean change.

To answer to progressively urgent requirements to understand organism responses to a changing climate, my professional practice was split into three elements:


Adding literature-based harpacticoid species distribution data to a global distribution database
Constructing a life-history/trait database of harpacticoid copepod species
Modelling the previously constructed life-history/trait data of harpacticoid copepod species using DEBs

Adding literature-based harpacticoid species distribution data to a global distribution database

There are plenty of examples of global distribution databases.

I submitted distribution data for European harpacticoid copepods to Ocean Geographic Information System (OBIS).

The OBIS website can be found below.

My data hadn't been added just yet, but try searching for your favourite marine species!

Constructing a life-history/trait database of harpacticoid copepod species

The second aspect of my professional practice saw me conducting a literature review to collect life-history data for two species of European harpacticoid copepod species, Platychelipus littoralis and Platychelipus laophontoides .

In order to collect relevant life-history data, I was required to learn about Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) theory.

The video on the right is a simplified description of what I learned, and includes a brief description as to why a DEB model was the final goal of my professional practice.

Why P. littoralis and P. laophontoides?

My main motivation for working with these species was the amount of relevant life-history data I was able to collect for them. Jens Boyen, my supervisor, has been working with P. littoralis throughout his PhD (Boyen et al., 2020), so not only was collecting this data useful for him, but it also meant he has already recorded some life-history traits.


How did I select which life-history traits to collect?

I refered to past studies that have created DEB models, including literature that has modelled Nitocra spinipes (Koch et al., 2019), another harpacticoid copepod. More details on how I obtained these data can be found in a final review I wrote on my professional practice.

Grasping behaviour in Tachidius discipes, a harpacticoid copepod (George et al., 2020)

A basic schematic of DEB theory.
From: https://www.debtox.info/about_debtox.html

Modelling the previously constructed life-history/trait data of harpacticoid copepod species using DEBs

DEB models are useful tools that can be used to model lifetime feeding, growth, reproduction, and their responses to changes in environmental conditions, such as a warming ocean.

Existing model data can be accessed through the online portal 'addmypet'.

I modelled P. littoralis, and was able to see the predicted responses in life-history traits under different environmental conditions.

More work is still needed - more information can be found in the report I wrote, summarising my professional practice.

Future direction

More work is needed to produce a more reliable model. The data recovered from past literature was not entirely valid, which I discuss in a review on my professional practice. In it, I also discuss the order of priority that new traits should be collected to produce a new and improved model. I handed this over to my supervisor, Jens Boyen, in order to aid in the continued progression of this project.


Bibliography


Boyen J, Fink P, Mensens C, Hablützel PI, De Troch M. 2020 Fatty acid bioconversion in harpacticoid copepods in a changing environment: a transcriptomic approach. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 375: 20190645. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0645
George, K. H., Khodami, S., Kihara, T. C., Martínez, A., Martínez Arbizu, P., Mercado-Salas, N. F., Pointner, K., Veit-Köhler, G., 2020. Copepoda. In: Schmidt-Rhaesa (ed): A guide to the Identification of Marine Meiofauna. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München, pp 465-533.
Koch, J. and De Schamphelaere, K., 2019. Two dynamic energy budget models for the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes. Journal of Sea Research, 143, pp.70-77.




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