Speaker

This week’s PDG speaker will be Dr. Nova Mieszkowska from Marine Biological Association of UK (Plymouth).

Abstract

The MarClim intertidal time-series documents the annual abundance and distributions of  rocky intertidal species of Boreal, Lusitanian and Invasive origins around the UK and wider Europe. Some of the fastest biogeographic responses to climate change in any system globally have been recorded by MarClim for invertebrates along the coastline of the UK. Shifts in range limits have been accompanied by directional shifts in population dynamics and relative dominance of co-occurring congeneric species from different biogeographic origins, driven primarily by changes in recruitment success. Long-term mesocosm experiments are being run to determine the biological mechanisms by which species of differing thermal evolutionary origins respond to chronic changes in temperature, ocean pH and localized anthropogenic stressors including microplastics and nutrient loading of coastal waters. Studies into the transcriptiona l response of invertebrates are revealing the genes and pathways by which ectothermic species are impacted by, and respond to alterations in the marine climate and ocean carbonate chemistry.