O2ZOOM · Impacts of ocean oxygen loss on zooplankton behavior and the carbon cycle

The oceans are losing oxygen due to climate change. Among the largest impacts of oxygen loss may be in altering the behavior of zooplankton, the small animals that play a central role in marine ecosystems: as prey, predators, and carbon-flux mediators. The expansion of low-oxygen zones in deep waters may decrease the depth to which zooplankton migrate on a daily and seasonal basis. This change in their migratory behavior would impact the foraging success of their predators as well as reduce the ability of zooplankton to export carbon out of surface waters. O2ZOOM examines how the migratory behavior of krill, a key zooplankton species, is modified by low oxygen in a fjord habitat, and the ramifications for the global carbon pump, through a combination of novel acoustic observations, incubation experiments, and computational models. In O2ZOOM, I will 1) Investigate behavioral changes in krill in response to low oxygen through laboratory incubation experiments 2) Determine the migratory response of krill to low oxygen in a Norwegian fjord using novel acoustic techniques 3) Quantify the effect of low oxygen-induced behavioral changes in krill on carbon export in an individual-based model. O2ZOOM will produce a nuanced picture of the behavioral responses of krill to low oxygen, which would help disentangle the still-unquantified consequences of low oxygen for ecologically important fjord ecosystems, deep-ocean habitats, and, more broadly, the global carbon pump. Furthermore, through O2ZOOM, I will further develop my technical expertise (e.g. in acoustic tracking, advanced modeling, biogeochemistry analysis), expand my scientific network, and increase the impact of my research, steering my career towards answering big-picture questions on the cutting-edge of interdisciplinary ecology.