Arctic time capsules: resurrecting marine phytoplankton to investigate adaptation to climate change
Project description
Phytoplankton are single-celled powerhouses that sustain the base of marine food webs, and secure globally important ecosystem services. How will marine phytoplankton adapt to climate change in the Arctic, where warming is happening 3-4 times faster than the global average? Answering this question hinges on developing a new approach that can retrieve genetic variation and eco-physiological data at timescales relevant for climate change effects to be detected. Phytoplankton species produce long-lived and highly-resistance resting stages that accumulate in marine sediments and represent an ideal way to store, protect and propagate genetic information. The goal of this experiment is to resurrect these “time capsules” and establish a living and genomic library of past populations. If successful, this experiment will provide policy-relevant insights into phytoplankton evolutionary change and the resilience of the Arctic marine ecosystem to climate change.
