A small window to the future of our oceans: genomic divergence, plasticity and microbiome shifts in marine invertebrates along natural pH gradients

Ocean acidification (OA) is a global problem caused by the rapidly increased CO2 emissions to the atmosphere since the Industrial revolution. Ocean acidity is predicted to increase from 100% to 150% by 2100, which will affect half of the marine biodiversity. The resilience, adaptive and survival potential of marine organisms to OA can highly vary among species, and the broader implications for ocean ecosystems are far from known. In this sense, marine CO2 vents, which generate pH gradients over short geographical distances, provide a perfectly designed natural laboratory to study the long-term effects of OA and to look into the future of our oceans. The project aims to understand the biological strategies of calcifying marine species to overcome the effects of OA, using a keystone echinoderm widely distributed across a current natural gradient of pH. We will use an innovative and multidisciplinary approach combining transcriptomics and metagenomics together with physiological and ecological data to provide a deeper understanding of the adaptation and plasticity of echinoderms. This proposal will focus on different biological characteristics that determine the potential of the species to survive and adapt to changing environments and generate important knowledge about 1) intra- and inter-specific processes to cope with rapid environmental change, 2) adaptative evolution versus phenotypic plasticity in the biological responses of organisms, 3) larval microbiome to modulate responses to environmental stresses and 4) the vulnerability of the different life phases of organisms to climate change. This information will allow us to understand the buffering systems and adaptation strategies used by the species, predict the resilience of organisms to OA and finally, fill a relevant knowledge gap in ecological genomics.