Urgent project to deepen understanding of Antarctic krill in a changing Southern Ocean

• Natural History Museum leads UKRI Natural Environment Research Council-funded project to investigate how Antarctic krill is being impacted by the Anthropocene
• The species is crucial to the Southern Ocean’s role as one of the largest carbon sinks in the world
• Historic specimens in the Museum will be compared to recently collected krill to track gene changes over the past century

A new project, known as KRILLGUARD, launches today which aims to protect the Southern Ocean ecosystem by focusing on Antarctic krill, a keystone species in the ecosystem. Rising ocean temperatures are causing the krill’s habitat to shrink meaning it is now essential to understand how they are adapting to climate change.

To study how the animal is being impacted by the Anthropocene, the KRILLGUARD researchers have developed ‘DNA probes’ to identify important genes within the krill’s sequenced genome. They aim to target 10,000 gene sequences, including those associated with the krill’s response to temperature.

They will then compare historic specimens in the Natural History Museum and krill collected more recently by the British Antarctic Survey to see how these genes have changed over the past century.

Dr Matt Clark, Research Leader at the Natural History Museum and senior member of the KRILLGUARD team, says, “It's hard to overstate just how important Antarctic krill are to the ecosystem. As many as 10% of them are fed on by whales alone, while many more are eaten by everything from sea birds to squid.

“As cold-water specialists, krill are vulnerable to the effects of the warming Southern Ocean. We hope that by improving our understanding of their genetics, we can find out more about their populations and support decisions to conserve this vital species.”

The species is among the most numerous animals on earth. As well as being an important food source, krill play a key role in the carbon cycle removing up to 40 million tonnes annually. They also have considerable commercial importance: the krill fishing industry has an annual catch value exceeding $200 million.

The project will also be researching whether the species is comprised of distinctive groups as opposed to one large population surrounding Antarctica. This means that certain subpopulations which may be fished in open waters might be the ones better adapted to higher temperatures. If this is the case, krill’s ability to adapt to rising ocean temperatures might be hampered by removing the genes that enable this evolution.

KRILLGUARD will run a one-day workshop at the NHM, bringing together representatives of regulatory bodies responsible for marine life preservation to share the findings of the project.

Notes to editors

The KRILLGUARD initiative is being led by the Natural History Museum, with British Antarctic Survey and University of East Anglia as partners. The Project has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation

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