EAPSI: Determining the Effects of a Changing Global Climate on the Early Life Stages of Jellyfish

Treible Laura M, Wilmington NC

Investigators

Abstract

Jellyfish are important organisms in many coastal systems. Blooms of jellyfish have implications for coastal food webs, including voracious consumption of mesozooplankton, as well as recycling nutrients within the water column and contribution to benthic production. Despite little data, jellyfish are frequently claimed to be robust to many environmental stressors. Interactive effects of multiple climate stressors must be studied to determine what will realistically happen to these organisms with a changing climate. As with any organism, the health and survival of early life stages is a major factor determining the size of the adult populations. The growth and survival of early life stages can directly determine the size of adult populations, but most jellyfish research has focused on the adult forms, or medusae. This study will determine the combined or interactive effects of environmental stressors on jellyfish polyps, the early life stage which directly determines the size of adult populations. This research will be conducted under mentorship of Dr. Kylie Pitt, one of the top global jellyfish scientists, at Griffith University School of the Environment in Gold Coast, Australia. In hypoxic waters, pH will decrease due to enhanced respiration. Even under normal oxygen conditions, if CO2 concentrations are high, organisms are not able to respire normally despite the normoxic conditions. Thus, it is essential to look at the interaction of acidification and hypoxia, because in nature they occur concurrently. This study will test the response of Catostylus mosaicus polyps to hypoxia, reduced pH (i.e. more acidic conditions) and the synergistic effect of both, by determining changes in rates of growth, asexual reproduction, and respiration. In addition to results specific to forecasting localized jellyfish blooms, data produced from this project will allow direct quantification of the response of jellyfish polyps to a changing climate; information which can be built in to climate and ecosystem models. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Science.