The rocky intertidal zone is a model ecosystem for evaluating the impacts of weather, climate, and climate change on natural ecosystems, as animals and plants living in this habitat frequently live very close to their thermal tolerance limits. Moreover, two organisms exposed to identical physical environments can experience radically different conditions at the level of the niche. Environmental signals measured at large spatial and temporal scales must be translated to the level of an organism's niche to hindcast, nowcast, and forecast the effects of climate and weather on the survival, reproduction and ecological interactions of organisms. The investigator has developed models and sensors for several species of intertidal organisms, specifically the mussel Mytilus californianus and the predatory seastar Pisaster ochraceus. Data relevant to mussels has been collected nearly continuously at a series of 9 sites along the west coast of North America since 1999, and these data show that patterns of physiological stress are likely to be far more complex than those predicted based on measurements at the habitat level (i.e. by buoy or satellite). Increases in body temperature have been observed over the last 5 years that are not reflected by onshore or offshore water or air temperature measurements, but instead are the result of complex interactions between multiple environmental parameters. Moreover, preliminary results suggest that predator and prey may experience markedly different patterns of temperature in space and in time. This result has significant implications for where and when we look for evidence of the impacts of climate change. The investigator will continue monitoring intertidal temperatures, currently the only long-terms series of its kind, and will expand the study to include the predatory seastar Pisaster through the use of thermally-matched sensors. He will use these data to test a series of hypotheses relating to patterns of risk of high and low temperature extremes. Data will also serve as an important source of information for physiological, ecological and biogeographic studies conducted by labs throughout the US. The investigator will produce a searchable, publicly-accessible database where individual temperature records can be downloaded by researchers and applied to physiological and ecological studies.
This project develops a collaboration between departments of Biological Science and Computer Science and Engineering to develop a database and user-friendly web-based interface that will provide access to data by multiple end-users. It will also feed into existing outreach efforts that make lesson plans for K-12 students, using data as part of lesson plans and other activities to teach students about the effects of climate change on coastal organisms.
Overview: By definition climate change is a global phenomenon, and its unequivocal impacts are being observed in ecosystems around the planet. However, we also know that there is high variability in where these impacts occur, and that species vary from one another in their vulnerability. Moreover, solutions to climate change in the form of societal adaptation often occur at local scales. For example, reducing the impacts of stressors such as pollution and overharvesting can help prevent populations of organisms from hitting their "tipping point." The goal of this NSF award was to deploy a series of sensors in the intertidal zone along the west coast of North America, in an effort to document where trouble spots are most likely to occur in response to altered weather patterns driven by climate change. Using a series of "biomimetic" sensors- microcomputers that record temperatures within mussel beds- we continuously recorded temperatures that can inform physiological studies, and then created a database usable by other researchers, educators, and the public. Intellectual Merit: These instruments show that simple measurements of weather such as air temperature are surprisingly uninformative of what most animals experience in nature. Our results strongly suggest that because of the interactions between climatic and nonclimatic stressors that occur on very local scales, often the places where climate change is most likely to exert its impacts may be in unexpected- but predictable- locations. For example, because low tides in summer typically occur in the middle of the day at some sites in Washington State, they occur in early morning in parts of California. The result are a series of "hot spots" where sites farther to the north are actually much more stressful for intertidal organisms than sites to the south. Making predictions at scales useful for management and coastal adaptation therefore requires that we move past broad generalizations such as "poleward range migrations" and instead focus on the impacts of climate change at more local scales. Broader impacts: This grant supported the research projects of 5 graduate students, 4 undergraduates, 6 K-12 Teachers (as part of a Research Experience for Teachers supplemental award) and 2 High School students. It also supported the development of an educational website (northeastern.edu/helmuthlab) where we present a series of virtual tours, lesson plans, and materials that can be used by educators when discussing climate change and coastal ecology. Twenty peer reviewed journal articles, including 13 with student coauthors, cite this award.
