Award: OCE-1736635

Intellectual merit: Planktonic food webs are foundational to human dependence on ocean ecosystems. Much of human benefits from the oceans rest on organic matter production, which is limited by the amount of grazing by zooplankton. Here we identified how temperature affects grazing controls of primary production. Temperature varies predictably with seasons and also among regions but temperature effects on grazing rates are poorly known. Understanding the relationship between temperature and grazing is critical to conduct cross-ecosystem comparisons in food web structure and function, elemental flux in marine ecosystems as well as predicting responses to a warming ocean. To overcome this knowledge gap, we determined (1) the temperature dependence of unicellular zooplankton growth and grazing rates over a polar to tropical temperature gradient and establish empirically justifiable model parameterizations of physiological and metabolic rates of singled celled herbivores (Franz� & Menden-Deuer 2020). Physiological rates can be affected by sudden changes in conditions and so we quantified, to our knowledge for the first time (2) the importance of acclimation on plankton growth rates (Strock & Menden-Deuer 2020). For three species of unicellular, herbivorous zooplankton we (3) parameterized temperature dependence of their growth (Franz� & Menden-Deuer 2020). The work required high resolution sampling and novel methodology which we developed through instrument-cross validation and newly available 3D technology (McNair et al. 2021). In addition to the proposed laboratory work, we acquired grazing data in the coastal ocean to understand temperature effects on food web connectivity in seasonally contrasting conditions in coastal New England (Menden-Deuer et al. 2018, Marrec et al. 2021 L&O, Anderson et al. 2022, Franz� et al. 2023). These results were foundational to several collaborative efforts that involved meta-, modeling- and statistical analyses (Chen et al. 2023, Strock et al. 2023, Taniguchi et al. 2023) and spurred novel theoretical developments (Menden-Deuer et al. 2021). PI Menden-Deuer contributed to perspectives and visioning efforts (Lindeman et al. 2017, Menden-Deuer et al. 2021, 2023, Osborne et al. 2023, Taniguchi & Menden-Deuer 2023). Broader Impacts: The project supported the career development of 2 technicians, 11 undergraduate students, including in REU programs, 7 graduate students and 4 postdoctoral fellows. Many individuals were recruited from underrepresented groups and there is clear demonstration of career advancement for a large number of mentees, including facilitating hands on research despite the pandemic (Marrec et al. 2021 Oceanography). Participants contributed to numerous outreach activities, reaching literally thousands of people through open houses, exhibits in zoos and at large scale events (e.g. the Volvo Ocean Races had >100,000 visitors). A continuous collaboration with a digital media artist yielded exhibits of plankton related art at scientific conferences and in numerous art shows, including virtual exhibits during the pandemic. The project also supported collaborative efforts with the University of Rhode Island Metcalf Institute's through which we develop training modules as part of the Institute's highly-competitive Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists. Most journalists covering environmental issues do not have a background in statistics; this is a significant limitation in their coverage of complex environmental�issues like climate change. In 2020, Dr. Menden-Deuer developed an introductory lecture and activities to make statistical concepts more understandable to participants, with a focus on real-life examples in climate science. The lecture component of the workshop was recorded, allowing Metcalf Institute to make the video a required pre-viewing component of the Annual Science Immersion Workshop. In sum, 60 journalists representing 11 nations and 24 states were beneficiaries of the training supported through this grant. Outputs, outcomes and research product availability: Results were disseminated in 17 publications of which 11 have student or post-doc first authors. The PI and participants gave 25 talks at conferences and Universities (8 invited). The PI lead or co-lead multiple sessions at scientific meetings (e.g. Ocean Sciences) and workshops (e.g. Ocean Carbon Biogeochemistry summer workshop). Contributions and participation in conferences was reduced due to the pandemic. Research Products and their availability:��Data obtained within this research are publicly available through the BCO-DMO repository and most publications are open access. Plankton strains obtained through this research were deposited with the National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota formerly Center for the Culture of Marine Algae) that makes these strains accessible to the scientific community and industry. Last Modified: 02/13/2024 Submitted by: SusanneMenden-Deuer