ICW3P aims to assess primary production variability on the Portuguese continental margin over the last millennium (Little Ice Age to present climate warming), through a high-resolution reconstruction combining biological, biogeochemical and genomic proxies.
ICW3P will reconstruct the microplankton community structure through assemblages, biogeochemical compounds and 18S metabarcoding of sedimentary ancient DNA (SedaDNA) to reconstruct primary production (PP) variations and disentangle their main drivers.
Sediment records offshore Porto, Lisbon and Faro will be studied by a multidisciplinary international team eager to contribute to UN 2030 Agenda SDG goals; to the education of young researchers; to the ocean literacy of the society at large; and to provide reliable data to advance numerical modelling of PP evolution in a warming world.
Project Tasks:
Task 1:
Physico-chemical characterization of sediments
Physical Properties
Chemical analysis of inorganic elements
Task 2:
Origin of the organic matter
Lipid biomarkers as primary production (PP) proxies
C and N istopic composition of sedimentary organic matter
Task 3:
Microplankton community reconstruction
Diatoms
Dinoflagellates
Coccolithophores
Planktonic and Benthic Foraminifera
Task 4:
Molecular microplankton community reconstruction
Metabarcoding sequencing
Amplicon data processing
Task 5:
Paleoceanography and Paleoclimate assessment and C stable isotopic composition of foraminifera
UK'37-SST Reconstructions
Upwelling vs continental-runoff derived PP
Task 6:
Results integration dissemination and publication
Main results/outputs
Physico-chemical characterization of sediments
Phytoplankton and OM isotopes’ time-series
Coccolithophores and Sedimentary DNA
Lipid biomarkers & Forams’ isotopic composition
Conceptual Model of the impact of climate warming in the coastal upwelling system and primary production off Portugal over the last millennium
Outputs:
Scientific diffusion through the publication of project results in international journals, master thesis, technical reports and at international meetings;
Promotion of ideas debate and knowledge exchange in a brainstorming meeting;
Training of students and young researchers;
Production of one institutional animated short film and participation at school/society events to explain how this project’s main results impact on society daily life.
