Can maternal exposure to low pH/elevated pCO2 seawater provide protection to the offspring of the keystone copepod Calanus glacialis to ocea

Emission of CO2 from anthropogenic sources has increased at unprecedented rates since the advent of industrialisation. The increased absorption of atmospheric CO2 by the oceans has led to an imbalance in seawater carbonate chemistry and to a reduction in seawater pH : a process known as ocean acidification (OA). Whilst this phenomenon is global, Arctic regions are thought to be much more vulnerables to future conditions. Over the next century, marine animals in polar environment will have to face considerable challenges impose by OA. In order to deal with this stressful condition, organisms can change their energy budget allocation to boost their capacity for cellular maintenance and repair, but at the expenses of other energy demanding functions, such as growth and reproduction. Further, changes in energy budget allocation can affect offspring survival through differential parental investment in eggs and progeny. On the other hand, it is known that an offspring phenotype is not only determined by the parent's genetic heritage, but it is also the product of the environment experienced by parents: the so called maternal effects. It is thus essential that we broaden our knowledge on maternal effects in polar zooplankton populations, also because virtually no research has been undertaken in this area on these ecological important organisms, which are at the base of polar marine trophic networks. The proposed project aim at shedding light on the existence and importance of maternal effects in a the keystone polar zooplankton species, Calanus glacialis, exposed to future OA conditions.