The coastal lagoons of the Arabian Gulf are among the most extreme marine environments on Earth, yet they teem with life—species that survive daily swings in temperature, salinity, and oxygen that would kill most organisms elsewhere. Most climate change research has focused on a narrow range of species from a few ecosystems. This project targets a glaring blind spot: how do organisms that already live at their physiological limits cope, and what happens when those limits are pushed just a little further? Many lagoon species appear to be living at the edge of what their bodies can tolerate, with substantial physiological costs. Even a slight increase in heat or pollution could push them over the threshold. The research will examine how benthic invertebrates—worms, crabs, and other bottom-dwellers—respond to current and future climate conditions, both with and without environmental contaminants. The findings will apply beyond the Arabian Gulf, to species that underpin food security and ecosystem services in other extreme or rapidly changing coastal systems. This is primarily fundamental science. It will not directly change a water treatment plant or a supply chain tomorrow. But understanding the biological limits of tolerance—how organisms fail or adapt—has historically informed everything from aquaculture to conservation planning.
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Our understanding of the effects of marine climate change is still in its infancy. One reason for this is that most work to-date has been focussed on a narrow range of species from a restricted number of ecosystems. If we are to fully characterise the mechanisms that will allow species to cope, or not, with future conditions this remit needs to be widened. This project is focussed on the coastal lagoons of the Arabian Gulf which have been termed a 'natural laboratory' for climate change studies. This is because they experience some of the most extreme environmental conditions of any marine system on earth, yet remain productive and biodiverse, with species able to tolerate the extreme and highly variable conditions they experience daily, and seasonally, (desiccation, salinity, temperature, and oxygen fluctuations), together with exposure to environmental contaminants resulting from anthropogenic activities. However, it has been suggested that many lagoon species are living at their upper physiological limits and this tolerance is accompanied by substantial physiological costs. If so, even slight increases in the intensity of environmental drivers could push those species beyond their tolerance thresholds. This project aims to establish a new long-term international partnership via co-implementation of a project to characterise the mechanisms underpinning benthic invertebrate species' abilities to survive under these extreme conditions at different life stages and levels of biological organisation. Our objectives are to examine these abilities i) under both current, and future projected climate change conditions, and ii) in the absence and presence of environmental contaminants. The results will produce impactful benefits to wider society, as they will also be applicable to other species, including those that provide ecosystem services such as food security within the region and beyond. This project will bring together a new international partnership of researchers and expertise from the Ecophysiology and Development Research Group (EDRG) at the University of Plymouth (UoP) (Turner (PL), CoLs Spicer, Tills, and Collins) and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) (Reinardy), and the Burt Marine Biology Lab (BMBL) (Burt) (PP), New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), United Arab Emirates. It will combine the unique knowledge, expertise, and experience of Burt from his > 15 years of work characterising the responses of Arabian Gulf marine species to ongoing and projected climate change with that of the EDRG at UoP and Reinardy (SAMS) who together have a track record of characterising and understanding the ability of species throughout their life histories to respond to environmental stressors in the context of regular fluctuations (e.g. daily, seasonally) as well as extreme environments and events. To cement this new partnership this project will comprise a series of workshops (x2), exchange visits (x3), and field experiments (x2). These activities will also facilitate the mentoring of ECRs (x2 from each country) who are at the heart of this project, growing their network and enhancing their skills. The first workshop will allow all project participants (including ECRs) to meet, and to exchange ideas, experimental plans, and methodologies. At the project's end a second workshop will facilitate the discussion of findings, manuscript preparation, co-writing of an immediate follow-on grant, and dissemination of findings to local stakeholders. The exchange visits will enable training in specific skills and techniques, and to plan and execute the multi-taxa, multi-stressor experiments that are integral to this project's aim.
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