Climate change has begun to significantly impact some of our most treasured habitats. Invertebrates producing carbonate skeletons are key ecosystem engineers but are likely to be on “the losing side” of climatic changes given their vulnerability to pH and temperature fluctuations. Species such as serpulid annelids and bryozoans are important reef-builders globally. To date, the molecular machinery responsible for their skeletal formation and how it will be affected by environmental stressors largely remains unknown.
We are using a multidisciplinary approach to understand how climate change-related stressors may affect these animals, and specifically biomineralization. Whole genome sequencing, comparative transcriptomics, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and single cell sequencing are being used to investigate the complex process of skeleton formation in the tubeworm Spirobranchus cariniferus and the bryozoan Watersipora subatra, using samples exposed to contrasting environmental conditions.
This work provides unprecedented insight into the fundamental mechanisms underpinning biomineralization in these animals, and the impacts of heat stress and ocean acidification on these processes. Understanding biomineralization at a molecular level will be critical for predicting the broader impact of climate change on other invertebrates producing carbonate skeletons.