Seasonal transcriptomes of the Antarctic pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica

Preparing the Next Generation of Integrative Organismal Biologists

Pursuing cutting edge questions in organismal biology in the future will require novel approaches for training the next generation of organismal biologists, including knowledge and use of systems-type modeling combined with integrative organismal biology. We link agendas recommending changes in science education and practice across three levels: Broadening the concept of organismal biology to promote modeling organisms as systems interacting with higher and lower organizational levels; enhancing undergraduate science education to improve applications of quantitative reasoning and modeling in the scientific process; and K-12 curricula based on Next Generation Science Standards emphasizing development and use of models in the context of explanatory science, solution design, and evaluating and communicating information. Out of each of these initiatives emerges an emphasis on routine use of models as tools for hypothesis testing and prediction. The question remains, however, what is the best approach for training the next generation of organismal biology students to facilitate their understanding and use of models? We address this question by proposing new ways of teaching and learning, including the development of interactive web-based modeling modules that lower barriers for scientists approaching this new way of imagining and conducting integrative organismal biology.

WOS, Steinberg DK, Swadling KM, Tarling GA, Thorpe SE, Veytia D, Ward P, Weldrick CK, Yang G. Status, Change, and Futures of Zooplankton in the Southern Ocean

In the Southern Ocean, several zooplankton taxonomic groups, euphausiids, copepods, salps and pteropods, are notable because of their biomass and abundance and their roles in maintaining food webs and ecosystem structure and function, including the provision of globally important ecosystem services. These groups are consumers of microbes, primary and secondary producers, and are prey for fishes, cephalopods, seabirds, and marine mammals. In providing the link between microbes, primary production, and higher trophic levels these taxa influence energy flows, biological production and biomass, biogeochemical cycles, carbon flux and food web interactions thereby modulating the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Additionally, Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and various fish species are harvested by international fisheries. Global and local drivers of change are expected to affect the dynamics of key zooplankton species, which may have potentially profound and wide-ranging implications for Southern Ocean ecosystems and the services they provide. Here we assess the current understanding of the dominant metazoan zooplankton within the Southern Ocean, including Antarctic krill and other key euphausiid, copepod, salp and pteropod species. We provide a systematic overview of observed and potential future responses of these taxa to a changing Southern Ocean and the functional relationships by which drivers may impact them. To support future ecosystem assessments and conservation and management strategies, we also identify priorities for Southern Ocean zooplankton research.

Evolution and biomineralization of pteropod shells

Shelled pteropods, known as sea butterflies, are a group of small gastropods that spend their entire lives swimming and drifting in the open ocean. They build thin shells of aragonite, a metastable polymorph of calcium carbonate. Pteropod shells have been shown to experience dissolution and reduced thickness with a decrease in pH and therefore represent valuable bioindicators to monitor the impacts of ocean acidification. Over the past decades, several studies have highlighted the striking diversity of shell microstructures in pteropods, with exceptional mechanical properties, but their evolution and future in acidified waters remains uncertain. Here, we revisit the body-of-work on pteropod biomineralization, focusing on shell microstructures and their evolution. The evolutionary history of pteropods was recently resolved, and thus it is timely to examine their shell microstructures in such context. We analyse new images of shells from fossils and recent species providing a comprehensive overview of their structural diversity. Pteropod shells are made of the crossed lamellar and prismatic microstructures common in molluscs, but also of curved nanofibers which are proposed to form a helical three-dimensional structure. Our analyses suggest that the curved fibres emerged before the split between coiled and uncoiled pteropods and that they form incomplete to multiple helical turns. The curved fibres are seen as an important trait in the adaptation to a planktonic lifestyle, giving maximum strength and flexibility to the pteropod thin and lightweight shells. Finally, we also elucidate on the candidate biomineralization genes underpinning the shell diversity in these important indicators of ocean health.

Diapause vs. reproductive programs: transcriptional phenotypes in a keystone copepod

Many arthropods undergo a seasonal dormancy termed "diapause" to optimize timing of reproduction in highly seasonal environments. In the North Atlantic, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus completes one to three generations annually with some individuals maturing into adults, while others interrupt their development to enter diapause. It is unknown which, why and when individuals enter the diapause program. Transcriptomic data from copepods on known programs were analyzed using dimensionality reduction of gene expression and functional analyses to identify program-specific genes and biological processes. These analyses elucidated physiological differences and established protocols that distinguish between programs. Differences in gene expression were associated with maturation of individuals on the reproductive program, while those on the diapause program showed little change over time. Only two of six filters effectively separated copepods by developmental program. The first one included all genes annotated to RNA metabolism and this was confirmed using differential gene expression analysis. The second filter identified 54 differentially expressed genes that were consistently up-regulated in individuals on the diapause program in comparison with those on the reproductive program. Annotated to oogenesis, RNA metabolism and fatty acid biosynthesis, these genes are both indicators for diapause preparation and good candidates for functional studies.

Antarctic ecosystems in transition - life between stresses and opportunities

Important findings from the second decade of the 21st century on the impact of environmental change on biological processes in the Antarctic were synthesised by 26 international experts. Ten key messages emerged that have stakeholder-relevance and/or a high impact for the scientific community. They address (i) altered biogeochemical cycles, (ii) ocean acidification, (iii) climate change hotspots, (iv) unexpected dynamism in seabed-dwelling populations, (v) spatial range shifts, (vi) adaptation and thermal resilience, (vii) sea ice related biological fluctuations, (viii) pollution, (ix) endangered terrestrial endemism and (x) the discovery of unknown habitats. Most Antarctic biotas are exposed to multiple stresses and considered vulnerable to environmental change due to narrow tolerance ranges, rapid change, projected circumpolar impacts, low potential for timely genetic adaptation, and migration barriers. Important ecosystem functions, such as primary production and energy transfer between trophic levels, have already changed, and biodiversity patterns have shifted. A confidence assessment of the degree of 'scientific understanding' revealed an intermediate level for most of the more detailed sub-messages, indicating that process-oriented research has been successful in the past decade. Additional efforts are necessary, however, to achieve the level of robustness in scientific knowledge that is required to inform protection measures of the unique Antarctic terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and their contributions to global biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Combined stress of ocean acidification and warming influence survival and drives differential gene expression patterns in the Antarctic pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica

The ecologically important thecosome pteropods in the Limacina spp. complex have recently been the focus of studies examining the impacts global change factors - e.g., ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming (OW) - on their performance and physiology. This focus is driven by conservation concerns where the health of pteropod populations is threatened by the high susceptibility of their shells to dissolution in low aragonite saturation states associated with OA and how coupling of these stressors may push pteropods past the limits of physiological plasticity. In this manipulation experiment, we describe changes in the transcriptome of the Antarctic pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica, to these combined stressors. The conditions used in the laboratory treatments met or exceeded those projected for the Southern Ocean by the year 2100. We made two general observations regarding the outcome of the data: (1) Temperature was more influential than pH in terms of changing patterns of gene expression, and (2) these Antarctic pteropods appeared to have a significant degree of transcriptomic plasticity to respond to acute abiotic stress in the laboratory. In general, differential gene expression was observed amongst the treatments; here, for example, transcripts associated with maintaining protein structure and cell proliferation were up-regulated. To disentangle the effects of OA and OW, we used a weighted gene co-expression network analysis to explore patterns of change in the transcriptome. This approach identified gene networks associated with OW that were enriched for transcripts proposed to be involved in increasing membrane fluidity at warmer temperatures. Together these data provide evidence that L.h.antarctica has a limited capacity to acclimate to the combined conditions of OA and OW used in this study. This reduced scope of acclimation argues for continued study of how adaptation to polar aquatic environments may limit the plasticity of present-day populations in responding to future environmental change.