UNC researcher Dr. John Bruno and Dr. Margarita Brandt of USFQ are partnering on a three year, one million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation to untangle the interactive roles of temperature, nutrient flux, and predation in structuring the Galapagos marine food web.The project is titled Temperature Regulation of Top-Down Control in a PacificUpwelling System and all work will take place at the Galapagos Science Center on San Cristobal, Galapagos. According to Brandt, This new funding will allow us to understand the effect of temperature on the structure and the functioning of the Galapagos marine ecosystems.

Nearlyall the animals that inhabit the ocean are cold-blooded orectothermic, meaning their body temperatures match the temperature of theoceanaround them. This has important consequences for their physiology and morebroadly for the way marine ecosystems function. Whenectotherms warm up, theirmetabolism increases; meaning they breathe more rapidly, and eat more just tostay alive. This is bad news for preysince a warm predator is a hungrypredator. But warming also enables prey species to crawl or swim away morequickly when being hunted.Thus, everything speeds up in warm water. Energyflows more quickly from the sun to seaweeds (via photosynthesis), to the herbivores,thenon up to the large predators at the top of the food chain.

The research team, led by Bruno and Brandt, is testing these ideas in the Galapagos Islands to determine how temperature influences marine ecosystems. Ongoing work in this iconic natural laboratory is helping marine ecologists understand the role of temperature and how this and other ecosystems could function in the future as climate change warms the ocean. Other broader impacts of the project include student training and on-site outreach to tourists and the local community about ocean warming and some of the lesser-known species that inhabit the Galapagos.

Thebroad goal of this project is to understand the effect that temperature has onpatterns and processes in upwelling systems. Our findings will also help us to forecast how global warming will affect this unique ecosystem in the near future, says Bruno. Specifically,the team is measuringthe temperature-dependence of herbivory and carnivory in rocky subtidalhabitats of the Galapagos. They areperforming field experiments to measure therelative and interactive effects of temperature, herbivory, and nutrient fluxon the productivity andstanding biomass of benthic macroalgae. Additionally,they are usingin situpredation assays across spatial and temporaltemperaturegradients and mesocosm experiments to determine the relationshipbetween ocean temperature and predation intensity for predator-preypairingsincluding whelkbarnacle, sea starurchin, and fishsquid.

The team is also looking to have broader impacts in the Galapagos and beyond. The project findings will help scientists andmanagers anticipate how ongoing anthropogenic warming in this region willimpact the ecosystem and theinvaluable resources and services it provides. Theproject outreach also includes training Latino (mainly Ecuadorian) high school,undergraduate, andgraduate students. All will receive research experienceon-site under the guidance of the PI. This training will increase sciencecapacity in the region andemployment opportunities to the many youngGalapagueosinterested in science and natural history byproviding them with skills and experience.

To learn more you can view this comprehensive video about the broader project and also a recent talk about this project by UNC Graduate Student Isabel Silva.

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Jointly led UNC and USFQ research team receives $1m grant from National Science Foundation to conduct research in Galapagos and help determine how...