2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Plankton in polar regions-toward an understanding of their characteristics

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	15H05712
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Environmental dynamic analysis
Research Institution	Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Principal Investigator	Harada Naomi 国立研究開発法人海洋研究開発機構, 地球環境部門(地球表層システム研究センター), センター長 (70344281)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	西野茂人国立研究開発法人海洋研究開発機構, 地球環境部門(北極環境変動総合研究センター), 主任技術研究員 (10421885) 広瀬侑豊橋技術科学大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (30616230) 木元克典国立研究開発法人海洋研究開発機構, 地球環境部門(地球表層システム研究センター), 主任技術研究員 (40359162)
Project Period (FY)	2015-05-29 – 2020-03-31
Keywords	北極海 / 生物海洋 / 海洋酸性化 / アルカン / プランクトン / 炭酸塩骨格密度
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Arctic Ocean is affected by the ocean acidification and global warming most seriously in the world. Focusing on the phyto and zooplankton that are basement of Arctic marine ecosystem, goals of this research are to understand their (1) fragility, (2) robustness and (3) marked specificity. (1) In terms of fragility, we have analyzed that carbonate density of marine calcifiers decreased by maximum 40% of the test due to the low saturation index. The Arctic original benthic-pelagic type marine ecosystem has already collapsed in the Canada Basin and is going to change in pelagic type ecosystem. (2) In terms of robustness, we have observed that nitrogen fixation occurred in the Arctic Ocean, of which has been considered as a primary production process in the sub-tropical and tropical area only. (3) In terms of marked specificity, we found that a unique phytoplankton, Dicrateria rotunda, Haptophyceae, has the capability to produce a series of straight-chain alkanes, C10H22 to C38H78.
Free Research Field	環境学・環境解析学・環境動態解析
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	MXCTの開発により生物の酸性化影響評価を担う唯一の研究機関として海洋酸性化国際プロジェクトGlobal Ocean Acidification Observing Networkに登録し全世界から受託分析を受けることになった。また、Dicrateria rotunda種の一連のalkane合成の発見は将来的に新しいバイオエネルギーの創造を示唆するものであり、学術的にも社会的にも大変意義のある成果が得られている。