ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Resilience and Recovery in Aquatic Systems, 4-9 June 2023, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.-- 1 page, figures, Marine sciences and the effects of climate change in the oceans are usually not a substantial part, if any, of school curricula. The result of such a deficiency in knowledge will be a new generation of adults with little comprehension of the importance of the ocean. To fill this gap, we as scientists should do our best to communicate and educate. Stories for children and comics are valuable tools to reach this goal are. I present a story in which Fred the copepod explains, in an educational and entertaining way, what copepods are, what they do in the sea, and the problems he experiences during his life. He introduces concepts such as predation, reproduction, vertical migration, and pollution and presents other components of plankton, such as microplankton and meroplankton. The ultimate goal is to make children and adults aware of the fragility and importance of plankton and the need to take care of the sea. The original book has two levels of reading: one designed for children from 6 years old and another for adults who want to know more about marine plankton. This dual way of providing information will reach a much larger audience. If you want to have access to this additional content, you can use the QR code at the bottom of the poster, This poster was funded by Grant PID2020-118645RB-I00 by To learn more MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Resilience and Recovery in Aquatic Systems, 4-9 June 2023, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.-- 1 page, figures, Temperature is one of the most prominent climate-change variables affecting marine zooplankton activity and distribution. The impact of warming on zooplankton depends not only on physiological sensitivity, but also on the temporal scale of exposure and the species acclimation capacity. Warming events of a few days or weeks of duration will mainly impact at the intragenerational level, while longer-term warming will reflect on multigenerational responses. In this study, we compare the effects of +3 and +6ºC thermal stress on the vital rates of the copepod <em>Paracartia grani</em> at short (2 and 7 days, acclimation response) and long (>10 generations, multigenerational response) time scales. <em>P. grani</em> showed high phenotypic plasticity after 2-d exposure, increasing feeding and egg production rates. This acute response, however, declined quickly and after 7 days of exposure the enhancement of physiological rates was still positive but of lesser magnitude (Q₁₀ <2). Multigenerational rearing at the tested temperatures resulted in a further reduction of the copepod response to temperature and the apparent loss of thermal effects, implying further adaptive compensation processes. The metabolic costs of the thermal responses, estimated as the copepod gross-growth efficiency, did not appear to be influenced by temperature, suggesting the species has high thermal tolerance, This research was funded by Grants [CTM2017-84288-R and PID2020-118645RB-I00] by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe.”

ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Resilience and Recovery in Aquatic Systems, 4-9 June 2023, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, The temperature-size rule proposes there is a negative relationship between the size (volume) of an ectothermic organism and the environmental temperature experienced during its development. We question how to validate this hypothesis for the particular case of protozoans because in these unicellular organisms body volume is directly related to the consumption of prey and, on most occasions, the true volume of the cell is unknown. In our opinion, to approach this question, the actual size of the protozoan should be measured when prey are fully digested. To prove our arguments, we designed a series of experiments with the heterotrophic dinoflagellate <em>Oxyrrhis marina</em>, including functional and numerical responses, estimation of the protozoan volume during starvation, and time-dependent acclimation responses. We found that after the digestion of the prey, the size of <em>Oxyrrhis marina</em> was the same regardless of the temperature. We believe that the previous reports on the temperature-size rule using protozoans that show important cellular volume changes because of feeding are biased by imbalances between ingestion and digestion of prey. These imbalances disappear after sufficient acclimation, This work was funded by PID2020-118645RB-I00 grant by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033