Impact of global climatic changes on planktonic food webs

Global change places organisms under enormous pressure by radically changing the environment in which they live. Despite this threat, our understanding of the consequences of global change is incomplete since most studies to date have focused on single stressors. This project will realistically assess the impact of simultaneous changes in temperature, pH, nutrients, and salinity on planktonic organisms and will provide a robust evaluation of how planktonic organisms are and will be affected by abiotic changes. To do so, the candidate will study the interactions between phytoplankton, microzooplankton, and mesozooplankton by analyzing multifactorial data from mesocosm experiments conducted in 2018. The student will compute the growth rate, grazing rate and selectivity, thereby characterizing how these food web interactions are affected by multiple climatic stressors.

Additional costs to be covered by the student: 
No