About this Research Topic
Understanding and forecasting the effect of global change on ecosystem functioning and services and its potential to reorganize complex food webs is a key challenge in ecology. Copepods are the dominant component of the zooplankton biomass of the upper ocean and surface waters worldwide. At the same time, copepods are particularly susceptible to environmental changes due to anthropogenic pressure, including pollution, climate change, and the introduction of allochthonous species. In the last 150 years, aquatic organisms, including copepods, have faced an increase in short- and long-term environmental changes that may affect biodiversity of many taxonomic levels, diverse functional traits, and ecological roles in marine and estuarine copepods. These alterations might impair ecosystem structure and functioning as copepods play a key role in aquatic ecosystems as consumers of detritus and phytoplankton and food for other invertebrates, fishes, and mammals.
The objective of this topic is to create a collection of the most recent studies and applied techniques relating to measures of copepod traits, rates, and functions that can provide adequate and accessible information on the effects of climate change, contaminants, and introduction of exotic species, as well as on the interaction between two or more of these factors, at the individual, population, and community levels and in general within food webs. The ultimate goal of assembling these studies is to provide an accessible resource on and increase understanding of the role of copepods in aquatic food webs, which can be employed in synthesis and modeling studies to quantify and reduce uncertainty in the flow of energy and material from primary producers to higher trophic levels.
Laboratory and field studies encompassing stressor-induced alterations at the biochemical, physiological, and individual levels with potential consequences at the population, community, and ecosystem levels are welcome. Literature reviews aiming at identifying suitable traits for assessing the health of copepod populations and assemblages are welcome too. To better understand the importance of the role of copepods and to contribute to the implementation of prognostic models that attempt to represent the functioning of the biological carbon pump, products on this topic are also expected and encouraged.
The objective of this topic is to create a collection of the most recent studies and applied techniques relating to measures of copepod traits, rates, and functions that can provide adequate and accessible information on the effects of climate change, contaminants, and introduction of exotic species, as well as on the interaction between two or more of these factors, at the individual, population, and community levels and in general within food webs. The ultimate goal of assembling these studies is to provide an accessible resource on and increase understanding of the role of copepods in aquatic food webs, which can be employed in synthesis and modeling studies to quantify and reduce uncertainty in the flow of energy and material from primary producers to higher trophic levels.
Laboratory and field studies encompassing stressor-induced alterations at the biochemical, physiological, and individual levels with potential consequences at the population, community, and ecosystem levels are welcome. Literature reviews aiming at identifying suitable traits for assessing the health of copepod populations and assemblages are welcome too. To better understand the importance of the role of copepods and to contribute to the implementation of prognostic models that attempt to represent the functioning of the biological carbon pump, products on this topic are also expected and encouraged.
Keywords: Climate Change, Invasive Species, Biodiversity, Carbon pump, Pollution
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