A comprehensive survey of endosymbiotic and free-living Symbiodinium diversity in the corals and reef environments of Hawaii

珊瑚礁是世界上最具生物多样性、经济重要性和环境敏感性的海洋栖息地之一。珊瑚礁在气候变化中生存的能力最终可能是由硬核菌宿主与共生属鞭毛藻之间的内共生的持久性和灵活性所驱动的。夏威夷群岛代表了一个广泛的、地理上孤立的、独特的珊瑚礁系统，其中共生菌的多样性几乎完全没有被探索过。在这个由海洋科学和EPSCOR支持的为期三年的项目中，盖茨博士将全面描述该地区的内共生和自由共生生物多样性。这将极大地提高我们对这些共生群落的分类复杂性水平的理解。此外，对生态系统多个区室的多样性进行比较将解决生态系统内共生的特异性水平和栖息地划分的程度。采样设计的背景是夏威夷热应力异常累积数量的空间变异性，这代表了一个强大的全球相关框架，用于探索温度历史如何塑造整个群岛共生菌的多样性。为了建立一个合理的解释框架，多样性调查将使用一种新开发的分子标记来完成，这种分子标记不是基因组内可变的，并且在共生门c分支中提供了出色的系统发育分辨率。该项目将通过与珊瑚礁环境中自由生物多样性池的相互作用来改变其内共生群落，从而开始解决核菌共生是否具有适应气候变化的能力和生态背景。更广泛的影响珊瑚礁在稳定其周围的陆地和支持其所连接的国家的经济方面发挥着关键作用。因此，最近因日益频繁的环境干扰而导致的珊瑚礁健康状况下降具有深远的影响，关注这一问题的工作与社会息息相关。这项研究将通过多种渠道进行传播：首先，将在同行评议的文献中发表；在国内和国际科学会议上发表和讨论。此外，这里产生的方法和数据将在墨西哥、菲律宾、东非和澳大利亚与全球珊瑚礁目标研究和能力建设项目合作、由世界银行（全球环境基金）资助的讲习班上举行的强化培训课程中转让给国际学生和学者。这些方法和结果也将被纳入每年夏天由盖茨和其他人在HIMB教授的珊瑚分子生物学技术研讨会，该研讨会由国际学生和博士后组成。作为HIMB社区教育计划的一部分，研究结果将通过非正式演讲向社区传达。最后，数据将直接输入并通过新开发的全球共生菌数据库和地图网站广泛传播。为了完成这个项目，一名博士后学者，一名研究生和一名本科生将加入PI在HIMB的活跃和多样化的研究计划。PI和她的实验室是夏威夷EPSCoR的成员，这里详细的工作将代表这一努力的进化遗传学推力领域的一个组成部分（http://www.epscor.hawaii.edu/about.asp）。EPSCoR促进了盖茨实验室的学术互动，包括不同校区科学家之间的思想交流，方法发展和研究实习，以及拨款提案和论文的发展。参与当前项目的人员已成为高度互动和多样化的夏威夷EPSCoR网络的组成部分。盖茨实验室还与夏威夷一些少数民族服务机构的师生建立了良好的关系，这些机构包括修道院学校、卡米哈米哈学校、普纳霍、太平洋佛教学院和Myron B. Thompson学院。该项目的研究将在与夏威夷学校的互动中展示，并在向社区学院和夏威夷大学马诺阿分校的本科生介绍的客座讲座中展示。这项研究的重点是夏威夷的珊瑚礁，努力将我们的工作细节转移到如此多样化的受众群体，将提高对夏威夷面临的问题的认识。并最终反映出全州环境管理的改善。

Coral reefs represent some of the most biologically diverse, economically important and environmentally sensitive marine habitats in the world. The capacity of reefs to survive in the face of climate change may ultimately be driven by persistence and flexibility in the endosymbioses between scleractinian hosts and dinoflagellates belonging to the genus Symbiodinium. The Hawaiian archipelago represents an extensive, geographically isolated and unique reef system in which the diversity of Symbiodinium is almost completely unexplored. In this three-year project, Supported by Ocean Sciences and EPSCOR, Dr. Gates will comprehensively describe the endosymbiotic and free-living Symbiodinium diversity in the region. This will dramatically improve our understanding of the levels of taxonomic complexity in these Symbiodinium communities. In addition, a comparison of the diversity in multiple compartments of the ecosystem will resolve the levels of specificity in the endosymbiosis and the extent of habitat partitioning within the ecosystem. The sampling design is contextualized by spatial variability in the cumulative number of the Thermal Stress Anomalies in Hawaii, which represents a powerful and globally relevant framework for exploring how temperature history has shaped the diversity of Symbiodinium across the Archipelago. To create a sound interpretation framework, the diversity surveys will be completed using a newly developed molecular marker that is not intra-genomically variable and that provides excellent phylogenetic resolution within Symbiodinium clade C. When complete, this project will begin to resolve whether scleractinian symbioses have the capacity and ecological context to adapt to climate change by modifying their endosymbiotic communities through their interactions with pools of free-living diversity in the coral reef environment. Broader ImpactsCoral reefs play a pivotal role in stabilizing the landmasses they surround and in supporting the economy of the countries they bound. As such, the recent declines in coral reef health in response to increasingly frequent environmental disturbances have profound ramifications and work focusing on this problem is relevant to society. The research will be disseminated through a variety of channels: first, it will be published in the peer reviewed literature; presented and discussed at national and international scientific conferences. In addition the methodologies and data generated here will be transferred to international students and scholars during intensive training sessions held in workshops in Mexico, Philippines, East Africa and Australia in collaboration with the Global Coral Reef Targeted Research & Capacity Building Project and funded by the World Bank (Global Environmental Fund). The methods and results will also be incorporated into the Molecular Biology of Corals Techniques Workshop taught by Gates and others at HIMB every summer, with an international pool of students and postdocs. The research results will be conveyed to the community through informal presentations given as part of Community Education Program at the HIMB. Lastly, the data will be ported directly into, and disseminated broadly via a newly developed Global Symbiodinium Database and Mapping Website. To complete this project, a postdoctoral scholar, a graduate student and an undergraduate will join the PI's active and diverse research program at HIMB. The PI and her lab are members of Hawaii EPSCoR and the work detailed here will represent a component of the Evolutionary Genetics Thrust area of this endeavor (http://www.epscor.hawaii.edu/about.asp). EPSCoR facilitated academic interactions in the Gates Lab involve the exchange of ideas among scientists at different UH campuses, methodological development and research internships, and the development of grant proposals and papers. The personnel involved in the current project with become an integral part of the highly interactive and diverse Hawaii EPSCoR network. The Gates Lab also has a well-developed relationship with the teachers and students of a number of minority serving institutions in Hawaii including the Priory School, Kamehameha Schools, Punahou, the Pacific Buddhist Academy, and the Myron B. Thompson Academy. The research in this project will be showcased in both interactions with the Hawaiian schools and in guest lectures presented to community colleges and undergraduate at UH Manoa. The research is focused on the coral reefs of Hawaii and efforts to transfer the details of our work to such a diverse set of audiences will promote awareness of the issues facing Hawaii?s coral reefs and ultimately reflect as improved environmental stewardship across the state.