There is an urgent need for a better understanding of the adaptive potential in marine phytoplankton if we are to understand and predict future ecosystem responses to global warming accurately. A key challenge is the limited awareness of evolution in a ‘real-life’ global warming scenario. The aim of AWARE is to reveal novel, yet undescribed biodiversity and assess the scope for realistic adaptation to global warming across European coastal waters. This is achieved by 1) resurrecting pre-Anthropocene and modern strains of phytoplankton from sedimented resting cells from the seafloor and by producing thermal performance curves for key species from Europe across the past 100 years. In addition, we will 2) sequence the genomes of resurrected strains to investigate the genetic basis for temperature adaption in phytoplankton. In this way, we can study evolution that has already occurred in relation to documented global warming. Such knowledge is of central value when trying to predict the response of marine phytoplankton to future warming. Our most recent research using resurrected strains has shown that adaptation to progressing global warming of a keystone marine diatom species is ongoing in the Archipelago Sea (SW Finland). This is the first discovery of its kind globally and warrants further research into the topic to clarify the exact mechanisms and to create a more realistic understanding of temperature adaptation in phytoplankton globally.

2024