WP 4 leader:

Débora Iglesias-Rodríguez     dir (at) noc.soton.ac.uk   SOTON-SOES

Objectives:

• Further our understanding of the mechanisms involved in calcification
• Determine the effects of ocean acidification on marine calcifiers
• Analyse synergistic effects from other environmental stressors, such as temperature
• Estimate the capacity of organisms to adapt to ocean acidification
• Identify threshold levels (tipping points) at the organism and community level

Description of work and role of participants:

T4.1: Assess membrane transport processes in coccolithophores (MBA), and calcification mechanisms under changing CO2 in coccolithophores (MBA, NOC, SBR, UiB, ULB), foraminifera (AWI, LOV, UCAM, UiB), pteropods (AWI, LOV), corals (IFM-GEOMAR, LOV, SAMS), and bivalves (LOV, NIOO).

T4.2: Determine physiological responses of marine calcifiers to ocean acidification at the species and community levels using genomic and proteomic approaches (LOV, MBA, NOC, SBR).

T4.3: Assess rates of genetic change in calcifying genes in key calcifiers from decadal to geological time scales (MBA, NOC, SBR, with Theme 1)

T4.4: Synthesize physiological and molecular data in WP4 to determine threshold values for ocean acidity resulting in critical calcifying community shifts (all partners, link to WP9, WP13).

T4.5: Test the effect of the phytoplankton community composition on the ballast effect in zooplankton faecal pellets (LOV, SBR), and determine the PIC:POC ratio using optical methods (LOV).