Amount Awarded: $20,000
Global climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity are challenges to a sustainable future. These challenges may also interact; as happens when climate change modulates the toxicity of pollutants. In an environment with high seasonal amplitude, this natural variation in drivers adds another dimension to the responses. Global climate change alters the environmental settings for organisms, which may alter their environmental distribution and timing of seasonal processes such as winter dormancy, reproduction and food availability. These changes affect the physiological responses in organisms, as well as their exposure to, and effects of environmental pollutants (climate-induced toxicant sensitivity). In this project, we propose to link strong research groups working on invertebrate ecophysiology (UCB - Williams and Stillman) and ecotoxicology (UiO - Borgå) through two workshops, with targeted discussions to identify and prioritize knowledge gaps, and create a framework for future research proposals. The first workshop will be in UC Berkeley in late spring 2023, to initiate pilot projects and a research framework towards grant proposals for spring 2024. The second workshop will be organised by UiO in late spring 2024 to synthesize the insights from pilot projects, and to prepare for initiation of a full-scale project or revision of proposals.