Predicting the effects of ocean warming on larval dispersal by measuring adaptive potential of corals

通过洋流传播幼虫是固着海洋生物的一种常见策略，因此空间上不连续的种群保持着共享的基因库。长寿的造礁珊瑚利用这种策略将它们的浅水种群连接到荒凉的开阔海域。预计海水温度的升高将加快幼虫的发育，从而使平均扩散距离预计将减少。与此同时，目前受海水年最低温度限制的物种可能会在未来几年向极地扩展其活动范围。该项目的目标是测量高和低海水温度对早期生命阶段的影响，并最终预测由于全球变暖而导致的连接模式的变化。预计物种内的个体和种群对不断变化的环境条件作出反应的能力各不相同。将通过基因表达实验和种群基因组学相结合的方法来测量造礁珊瑚Acropora palmata中个体和种群之间的适应性性状变异。无共生体的幼虫从两个先前鉴定的加勒比A的每一个的对照杂交中获得。palmata种群（佛罗里达和波多黎各）将暴露于一系列海水温度，并记录其发育模式。幼虫池将通过使用下一代测序开发的40，000个探针微阵列进行询问。据推测，这两个种群的幼虫表现出类似的反应，增加海面温度，但佛罗里达幼虫能够更好地生存冷冲击。因此，微阵列数据将产生珊瑚温度适应的候选基因。这些数据将首次提供估计的全基因组适应性状变异的珊瑚，可以纳入实时扩散模型，以预测连接模式的变化，作为一个结果，全球warming.This研究将提供第一个范围广泛的估计适应珊瑚开发新的基因组工具的非模式物种。这项研究将侧重于温度对造礁珊瑚散布的影响，鉴于全球变暖和珊瑚对温度变暖的敏感性，这是一个特别相关的主题。Acropora palmata特别值得关注，因为它是目前根据美国濒危物种法案被列为受威胁的两种珊瑚物种之一。通过识别物种范围内的选择特征，保护工作可以根据适应性相似性优先考虑恢复材料的来源种群。这里产生的转录组数据将对更广泛的生物界和整个社会都有价值。这项研究包括对公众和公共机构进行教育和培训的外联工作。通过SECORE（SExual Coral Reproduction）自2005年以来举办的一系列研讨会，拟议的项目将有助于建立一个公共水族馆和研究机构的国际合作网络，为A.掌形的研究生和本科生是这个项目的组成部分，并将接受实地和实验室工作和讲座课程的培训。

Dispersal of larvae via ocean currents is a common strategy among sessile marine organisms and so spatially discontinuous populations maintain a shared gene pool. Long-lived reef building corals employ such strategies to connect their shallow-water populations across stretches of inhospitable open-ocean. Increasing seawater temperatures are predicted to quicken larval development so that average dispersal distances are expected to decrease. At the same time, species currently limited by minimum annual seawater temperatures may extend their ranges pole ward in the coming years. The objectives of this project are to measure the effect of high and low seawater temperatures on early life stages and ultimately predict changes in connectivity patterns as a result of global warming. It is expected that individuals and populations within species differ in their abilities to respond to changing environmental conditions. Adaptive trait variation among individuals and populations in the reef-building coral Acropora palmata will be measured by a combination of gene expression experiments and population genomics. Symbiont-free larvae obtained from controlled crosses from each of the two previously identified Caribbean A. palmata populations (Florida and Puerto Rico) will be exposed to a range of seawater temperatures and their development patterns documented. The larval pools will be interrogated by a 40,000 probe microarray developed with next generation sequencing. It is hypothesized that larvae from both populations show a similar response to increased sea-surface temperatures but that Florida larvae are better able to survive cold shocks. The microarray data will thus yield candidate genes for temperature adaptation in corals. These data will for the first time provide estimates of genome-wide adaptive trait variance in corals that can be incorporated into real-time dispersal models to predict changes in connectivity patterns as a result of global warming.This study will provide the first range wide estimates of adaptation in a coral by developing novel genomic tools for a non-model species. This research will focus on the effects of temperature on dispersal of a reef-building coral, a topic particularly relevant in light of global warming and the sensitivity of corals to warming temperatures. Acropora palmata is particularly worthy of attention because it is one of two coral species currently listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. By identifying signatures of selection over the range of the species, conservation efforts can prioritize source populations for restoration material based on adaptive similarity. The transcriptome data generated here will be invaluable to the wider biological community and benefit society at large. This study includes outreach missions to educate and train the public and public institutions. Through continuing a series of workshops held since 2005 by SECORE (SExual COral REproduction), the proposed project will help build a cooperative international network of public aquariums and research institutions to establish coral breeding programs for ex situ and field populations of A. palmata. Graduate and undergraduate students are in integral part of this project and will receive training in field and laboratory work and lecture courses.