GlobChangeBehav · Effects of global change on the social behaviour of marine organisms
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-04-01 → 2020-08-19
- EU contribution
- €196,400
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Effects of global change on the social behaviour of marine organisms
Marine global change stressors such as ocean acidification (OA) and warming (OW) are expected to impact marine organisms and ecosystems in various ways. One of the ways in which marine global change might inflict ecosystem-level changes is through altering animal behaviour. Thus, understanding how OA and OW affect the behaviour of animals that are important for ecosystem processes is crucial for predicting ecosystem effects of marine global change. Given that humans have a strong association and reliance on marine ecosystems as a source of food and recreation, understanding how these systems may function in the future is very important from a societal perspective. The initial objectives of this project were to understand the impacts of OA and OW on social behaviours in marine animals, using invertebrates and fish as model organisms. We proposed to conduct experiments on three main areas of interest: 1) shoaling behaviour in fish and invertebrates; 2) aggregative behaviours in echinoderms; and 3) a transgenerational assessment of global change effects on fish behaviour and physiology. Unfortunately, the questions posed initially for this project (in 2016) had been largely studied when the project started in 2018, and we decided to slightly alter the questions of interest that we would tackle in our experiments to be more impactful from a scientific perspective and to have a strong socioeconomic component. We decided to focus our attention on OA and OW effects on animal behaviour in the context of behavioural repeatability. To test behavioural repeatability in the context of marine global change, we chose two organisms and two different behaviours : 1) valve closure responses to tactile predator cues in bivalves; and 2) self-righting responses in sea stars (rather than aggregative behaviours). In addition to these experiments, the relevant literature review for the project gave light to a meta-analysis regarding the effects of OA on marine fish behaviour.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The IPCC projects a 0.2-0.3 unit decrease in oceanic pH and a concurrent 1.0-3.7°C increase in sea surface temperature by 2100. These changes will have considerable impacts on marine organisms and are a threat to European and global biodiversity, food security, and socioeconomic productivity. While physiological impacts associated with marine global change have been well documented, behavioural impacts are less well known, even though behaviour has a major influence on the structure and function of marine communities. Furthermore, of the documented behavioural changes associated with global change, social behaviours - which play a key role in the survival and persistence of marine animals – are largely ignored. This project thus aims to advance current knowledge of global change biology by testing hypotheses pertaining to the impacts of ocean acidification and warming on the social behaviour of marine organisms spanning a wide range of taxa – from invertebrates to fish. Herein, it is hypothesized that predicted near-future (i.e., 2100) CO2 and temperature conditions will alter the social behaviour of crustaceans (shrimp shoaling), echinoderms (urchin and sea star aggregations), and fish (stickleback shoaling). This project will also test for physiological mechanisms underpinning global change-induced behavioural changes (GABAA functioning), as well as transgenerational effects (transgenerational acclimation in stickleback shoaling behaviour). The training, mentorship, and practical experience associated with this project will provide the fellow with the skills and competency to become an international leader in global change biology and marine animal behaviour. Furthermore, the knowledge generated by this project will answer critical questions in global change biology, which can be used by scientists, policy makers, stakeholders, and the general public, and will contribute to a much needed unifying theory of how global change will affect marine species.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU · TrondheimCoordinatorNorway
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/752813
- https://www.researchgate.net/project/Marine-global-change-and-animal-behaviour
Data: CORDIS, © European Union