Project: Collaborative Research: Effects of multiple aspects of climate change on marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning

NSF Award Abstract:
This project addresses fundamental gaps in our knowledge of how changing environmental conditions will impact the earth's species and ecosystems. One of the main challenges is predicting impacts of multiple environmental stressors changing at the same time within highly dynamic ecosystems. Climate simulations in coastal marine habitats will, therefore, yield critical information about likely future changes in biodiversity and ecosystem health. This project is a partnership between institutions with a strong focus on serving underrepresented communities of students, and the investigators are committed to participating in K-12 and undergraduate mentorship programs through their respective institutions. Furthermore, the research will be based in Sitka, Alaska, where investigators will collaborate with the Sitka Sound Science Center to incorporate research into the Scientist in the Schools program and a summer day camp for elementary age children.

This work aims to uncover the trajectory of climate change impacts and interactive responses to multiple climatic stressors on coastal marine species, communities, and ecosystem functioning. To uncover these links, the investigators will (1) quantify seasonal and diel dynamics under ambient conditions in a benthic marine community, (2) conduct factorial manipulations of two climatic stressors - increased carbon dioxide concentrations and temperatures - and measure impacts on physiology, diversity, and productivity, and (3) conduct a second field experiment to evaluate whether productivity responses are due to changes in physiology or biodiversity. Climatic changes have the potential to influence ecosystem functioning by altering physiology, abundance, and community structure (i.e., biodiversity), and this research specifically aims to partition these different pathways, leading to more effective predictions of impacts on benthic marine ecosystems.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.