About the project
POICE merges experimentalists, field specialists, and modelers to quantify the effects of parasites on their copepod hosts and the functioning of coastal aquatic ecosystems – presently and in the face of climate change.
By now, we are all painfully aware of the capacity of disease to alter individual states and behavior, as well as communities, ecosystems, and even the globe. All organisms interact with others on different temporal and spatial scales, and most organisms harbor other organisms, or symbionts, within them. Interactions between symbionts may last for part of or the entire life of the partners. Associations that benefit both the host and the symbiont are mutualistic, while parasitism, at the other extreme, damages and ultimately kills or sterilizes the host. Within this range, all kinds of associations are possible.
The grand challenges of the Anthropocene — warming and ocean acidification — affect hosts and symbionts in the ocean via altered distribution ranges and differential responses that may ultimately affect ecosystem function at large. This calls for studies focusing on key host-parasite interactions in essential ecosystems. In the present project, POICE, we focus on copepods and their parasitic and nonparasitic symbionts to quantify the role and effect of parasites on their hosts and pelagic ecosystem functioning, presently and in the face of climate change.
Like all other organisms, copepods carry prokaryotic symbionts (microbiomes) in their guts and on their bodies. Bacterial associations with copepods are often stable, but temporal environmental variability may mask this. We know next to nothing about the role of the copepod’s microbiomes per se. Theory predicts that parts of an organism’s microbiome may be pathogenic to the organism or other constituents of the microbiome. In contrast, other parts contribute to the host’s health and function, including its resistance to infectious agents. There is also an active exchange between the microbial community of the copepods and the microbial community in the water. Any effects of parasites on copepods will also have consequences for the food web at large via effects on the microbial community and impacts on traits affecting copepod mortality or their role as grazers. These routes are virtually unstudied.
Our research approach is divided into four interconnected work packages. The field studies and experimental design complement the modeling so that we can identify and quantify critical parameters. Similarly, our models will generate new predictions that can be tested experimentally and from field data. The project also includes separate outreach and administration work packages.
Financing
This project is funded by The Research Council of Norway.
Period
Start: 18.05.2021. End: 31.12.2025