About the project
Coastal ecosystems harbor most of the marine life on the planet, but they are under increasing pressure from urbanization, industrialization, pollution, and overfishing. This, along with the effects of climate change, leads to the degradation and loss of coastal habitats, with dramatic declines in biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functioning.
The Norwegian coastline spans over 100,000 kilometers, with rocky shores dominated by macroalgae being the most common coastal biotope. MACROCOP focuses on a largely overlooked group in the macroalgae habitat, namely phytal copepods, which are tiny crustaceans closely associated with macroalgae. Although they are likely the most abundant animals in this habitat, we know little about them. In fact, despite the important role of copepods in marine ecosystems, phytal copepods have barely been studied in Norwegian waters since G. O. Sarsʼ investigations over a century ago. We propose that the biomass, biodiversity, and ecological role of phytal copepods for the coastal food web have so far been severely underestimated. Furthermore, the potential trophic links between the macroalgae habitat and the pelagic ecosystem are unaccounted for in marine food web models and carbon budgets.
In MACROCOP we aim to quantify the diversity and abundance of the copepod community in macroalgae habitats and elucidate their ecological role in coastal food webs. The project brings together experts in zooplankton ecology, taxonomy, and coastal macroalgae and uses state-of-the-art metabarcoding, AI-driven image analysis, and modeling approaches, in addition to field sampling, experiments, and citizen science.
Investigating the trophic links between macroalgae, phytal and pelagic copepods, and coastal fish, MACROCOP will increase our understanding of the functioning of coastal ecosystems.
Financing
This project is funded by The Research Council of Norway.
Period
Start: 1.04.2025. End: 31.12.2028