Ocean acidification

Ocean acidification is occurring throughout the world’s oceans due to the release of terrestrially sequestered CO2 into the atmosphere and the subsequent diffusion of that anthropogenically released CO2 into the ocean.

There is a significant concern that ocean acidification could disrupt the productivity of fishery species. This pattern of ocean acidification (OA) is co-occurring with long-term increases in the temperatures of the world’s oceans that have already been shown to impact distribution and abundance of marine organisms. High latitude seas are predicted to be most affected by the combination of rising temperatures and OA. Previous work on OA interactions with other environmental factors in Alaska groundfish has focused on the potential for OA-induced changes to prey production to exacerbate the direct physiological effects of OA on early life stages. There has yet been little research examining the interaction between OA and elevated temperatures on fish productivity. To address this understanding gap, we will examine the interactive effects of OA and elevated temperatures on three fish species that are critical to Alaska and Arctic fisheries and foodwebs: Pacific cod which supports a major regional fishery and has previously been shown to be sensitive to OA; yellowfin sole which supports the world’s largest flatfish fishery; and Arctic cod which is a keystone species throughout Arctic ecosystems.

The incumbent will work as part of a research team examining the interactive effects of temperature and CO2 on the early life stages of Alaska fishery species and will be responsible for conducting laboratory experiments, biological measurements, statistical analyses, and production of peer-reviewed manuscripts. Experiments will examine the growth and survival responses, with the incumbent expanding the scope of research with additional response metrics and experimentation based on individual interest, experience, and expertise. Candidates with experience in the experimental culture of marine organisms will be strongly encouraged to apply. Anticipated start date December 2021.

We invite applications for a fully funded PhD position on a three-year project to assess the impact of ocean warming and acidification on the general health, macromolecular composition, silicate formation and sinking rates of diatoms. Diatoms are one of the most diverse and ecologically important group of microalgae in the ocean, whose growth and silicification (cell-wall formation using silica) is modulated by their environment. Understanding to what extent growth and silicification are stimulated or inhibited by concurrent changes in temperature and ocean acidification, as a result of increasing atmospheric CO2, is needed to enable reliable predictions on the future role of diatoms in ocean food webs and biogeochemistry. Through a combination of laboratory and field studies (including algae culturing and incubation experiments, chemical analysis, FTIR-microspectroscopy as well as ship expeditions for sampling and on-board experiments), the candidate will explore the physiological response of diatoms to future ocean conditions and be responsible for collecting data that will be used to model projections of these changes to predict how ongoing global warming will change ocean ecology and biogeochemistry.

The Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies (CICOES) has existed since 1977 for the purpose of fostering research collaboration between UW and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). CICOES’s research is at the forefront of investigations on climate change, ocean acidification, fisheries assessments, and tsunami forecasting.

CICOES has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Scientist in Marine Carbon. This position will support various ongoing research projects associated with marine carbon chemistry, specifically local and global efforts to quantify ocean carbon cycling and ocean acidification.

Job description

The Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University in cooperation with NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) seeks a postdoctoral research associate or more senior scientist to assess modes of variability in biogeochemical observations and assess the necessary scope of observations to constrain boundary conditions and underlying biogeochemical functioning towards improved predictability of living marine resources. The incumbent will leverage an existing degree ocean biogeochemical eddying simulation along with a suite of coarse resolution ocean biogeochemical retrospective forecast experiments to a) assess daily variability in BGC ARGO observables, as well as the relationship to underlying biogeochemical interactions, in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) b) conduct additional model simulations as needed, and c) inform GFDL Earth System Model (ESM) initialization for improved representation and understanding of the CCLME. The incumbent will also assess the large scale variability in water mass structure to contrast large scale drivers of shifting biogeochemical provinces, mesoscale dynamics, and drivers of physical and biogeochemical variability at the ocean weather scale. This multiscale assessment of the underlying variability and its drivers will inform not only interpretation of individual floats, but also serve as a framework to better characterize biogeochemical variability in boundary conditions for regional models, and evaluate the potential for seasonal to decadal scale predictability of hypoxia, ocean acidification, algal blooms and living marine resources. Personnel will join an active group at Princeton and GFDL studying the connections between biogeochemistry, ecosystems, and climate (https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/marine-ecosystems/). These are two-year positions (subject to renewal after the first year) based at GFDL in Princeton, New Jersey. Complete applications, including a cover letter, CV, publication list, a one to two-page statement of research interests and names of at least 3 references in order to solicit letters of recommendation, should be submitted online by April 30, 2020 for full consideration, though evaluation will be ongoing. Essential Qualifications: PhD is required. Candidates with quantitative, interdisciplinary knowledge from subsets of fields including climate dynamics, ocean and coastal biogeochemistry, marine ecosystem dynamics, and fisheries science and management are particularly encouraged to apply. Experience analyzing large data sets and/or model output is also critical, as is model development experience for those positions. This position is subject to Princeton University’s background check policy. 

Job title : Physiological adaptation of marine bivalves to global changes (M/F)

Reference:  PV-2020-096

Department/Office: Département des Ressources Biologiques et Environnement, Unité de recherche Physiologie Fonctionnelle des Organismes Marins, Laboratoire de Physiologie des Invertébrés

Duty station:  Landunvez, Bretagne, FR , France

Deadline for applications : 07/02/2021

Continue reading ‘Physiological adaptation of marine bivalves to global changes (M/F) in Argenton at IFREMER (in English)’

Lieu de travail Argenton – Bretagne – France

Champ: scientifique

Principal: Biologie

Date: limite de candidature  07/02/2021

Fonction: Recherche et Développement

Employeur

L’Ifremer

Reconnu dans le monde entier comme l’un des tout premiers instituts en sciences et technologies marines, l’Ifremer s’inscrit dans une double perspective de développement durable et de science ouverte. Il mène des recherches, innove, produit des expertises pour protéger et restaurer l’océan, exploiter ses ressources de manière responsable, et partager les connaissances et les données marines afin de créer de nouvelles opportunités pour une croissance économique respectueuse du milieu marin.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Ocean life contributes ~50% to global primary production and understanding implications of global change for the microbial primary producers at the base of the food web is critically important to predict consequences for global carbon cycling. While the photosynthetic microbes collectively referred to as phytoplankton, are traditionally regarded as purely photosynthetic, many of them can also feed on other microbes. These so-called mixotrophs thus combine a ‘plant-like’ with an ‘animal-like’ nutrition, and the relative importance of these two processes to their growth may shift in response to environmental conditions and affect the net impact of mixotrophs on carbon cycling. This project will assess the responses of mixotrophs to future ocean conditions including warming and ocean acidification.

In this project you will perform experiments with cultured marine mixotrophs that differ in their nutritional strategies and assess their response to ocean warming and acidification. Experiments will quantify changes in rates of growth, photosynthesis and ingestion, and characterize transcriptional responses that underly physiological reactions. The ecological consequences of physiological responses to future ocean conditions will be assessed in competition experiments. While this project is mainly focused on laboratory experiments, you will also have the opportunity to participate in oceanographic research cruises.

OFFER DESCRIPTION

Applications are invited for a 12-month postdoctoral position from candidates with a PhD in biogeochemical oceanography or similar. The postdoc will work within the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS France) using carbon observations from ships. The successful candidate will be based at the LOCEAN laboratory in Sorbonne Université, in Paris (https://www.locean-ipsl.upmc.fr/).

Context:

The ocean plays an important role in the carbon cycle as it absorbs about 25% of the annual CO₂ emissions by fossil fuel combustion and cement production. There is uncertainty on how much CO₂ the oceans will absorb in the future under increasing atmospheric CO₂. The ocean includes regions of sources of CO₂ (e.g. tropical Atlantic) and sinks of CO₂ (e.g. North Atlantic) and shows significant year-to-year variability in surface CO₂ concentrations. In addition, the uptake of CO₂ by the global ocean leads to ocean acidification by decreasing the pH but the rate of acidification is likely to vary from one oceanic region to another.

ICOS is a European research infrastructure (https://www.icos-cp.eu/) designed to monitor the increase of atmospheric CO₂ and the exchange of CO₂ between the ocean and the terrestrial biosphere. We are hiring a postdoctoral fellow to work within the marine component of ICOS-France.

Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Reference Code: EPA-ORD-CPHEA-PESD-2020-05

EPA Office/Lab and Location: A research training opportunity is available at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development (ORD), Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA), Pacific Ecological Systems Division (PESD) in Newport, Oregon.

Research Project: The research participant will participate in a research project focused on assessing the role of land-based drivers of coastal acidification in estuaries of the United States. The project will utilize existing and novel biogeochemical, spatial, and model data to evaluate the patterns and trends of estuarine acidification in estuaries around the U.S.  This research project will help inform a vulnerability assessment of U.S. estuaries to land-based sources of acidification, including the roles of eutrophication and land use change. Activities that the research participant may be involved in include:

• Field activities including sampling streams and estuaries for water chemistry, and servicing water quality instrumentation.
• Compiling and analyzing datasets of stream and estuarine water quality (including nutrients, pH, alkalinity, and stable isotopes), land use, and other relevant indicators of land-based sources of acidification.
• Compiling scientific literature relevant to the project.
• Collaborating with government and academic researchers to help develop hydrodynamic and biogeochemical models of coastal and estuarine systems.
• Contributing to scientific manuscripts and presentations on this research project, including opportunities for presenting at scientific conferences.