PRIN 2022 - FUTURE

A warmer Future world: effects on plankton commUnities and paThogens in mediterranean vUlneRable Ecosystems

                                

 

Funding Source: European Union - Next Generation EU. Bandi PRIN 2022 MUR

Duration: 2 Years (2023-2025)

Summary: Global warming is altering the dynamic and structure of aquatic ecosystems. The Mediterranean region is considered as one of the most sensitive areas regarding global warming and Mediterranean artificial lakes and coastal lagoons are considered particularly vulnerable environments that deserve attention as they provide fundamental goods and ecosystem services. Temperature rise is expected to cause plankton biodiversity loss and to favour the selection of smaller-sized organisms and pathogenic bacteria.

This may produce strong alteration in the food web efficiency and energy flux in artificial lakes and coastal lagoons and, consequently, on the all related goods and services, such as good quality of water for agriculture and drinking in artificial lakes or fishing in lagoons. Despite it represents a health, social and economic emergency, only very few studies have focused on the responses of an entire plankton community to heating in coastal lagoons and nothing has been made for lakes in the Mediterranean basin so far. In this context, the main objective of this project is to investigate the effects of the forecasted climate warming on Mediterranean natural plankton communities, including several trophic levels, from bacteria to mesozooplankton.

Specifically, we aim to evaluate the effects of warming on the plankton community biodiversity, the plankton food web size-structure and the abundance of potentially pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacteria. To increase knowledge on the ecological responses of Mediterranean aquatic ecosystems to warming, two different natural plankton communities from a Mediterranean artificial lake and a coastal lagoon will be considered in this proposal. Our goals will be addressed by running a laboratory experiment and a field monitoring activity. The laboratory experiment will allow to directly investigate the entire plankton community responses to warming under experimentally controlled conditions. In addition, the field activity in each ecosystem will also permit investigating the entire plankton community dynamics over the seasonal variations of temperature. Moreover, for investigating effects of warming on biodiversity, we will apply two different approaches to analyse the field and experimental samples: i) a traditional approach, such as optical microscopy and flow cytometry, and ii) a more advanced technological approach, such as the Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS).

 

Project participants

PI: Prof. Silvia Pulina (University of Sassari)

PI Substitute/Unit Leader CNR: Andrea Di Cesare (CNR-IRSA)

Team

Bachisio Mario Padedda (University of Sassary)

Antonella Lugliè (University of Sassary)

Cecilia Satta (University of Sassary)

Lyudmila Kamburska (CNR-IRSA)

Ilaria Rosati (CNR-IRET)