International Research Fellowship Program: Vulnerability and Resilience of Sponge Populations and their Bacterial Symbionts to Climate Change and Anthropogenic Disturbances

国际研究奖学金计划：海绵种群及其细菌共生体对气候变化和人为干扰的脆弱性和恢复力

• 批准号: 0853089
• 负责人: Patrick Erwin
• 金额: $ 14.98万
• 依托单位: Erwin Patrick M
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-01-01 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0853089&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: International; Research; Fellowship; Program; Vulnerability

0853089ErwinThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Patrick M. Erwin to work with Dr. Xavier Turon at the Centre of Advanced Studies of Blanes and at the Spanish Research Council in Blanes, Spain.The short-term vulnerability and long-term resilience of marine organisms to anthropogenic stressors will dictate the future of aquatic ecosystems and will, in turn, have a large impact on humankind's interactions with the sea. The negative consequences of human activities affect nearly all marine organisms; however, sessile, filter-feeding invertebrates inhabiting coastal environments are especially susceptible, due to adult immobility, concentrated exposure to waterborne pollutants and proximity to dense human populations. Sponges are ancient, filter-feeding organisms that thrive in a variety of marine environments and are essential to the healthy functioning of marine ecosystems. Sponge-microbial associations represent unique symbioses between a basal and primitive multi-cellular animal group and ancient bacterial lineages that appear to have co-evolved and endured a wide range of environmental conditions. Changes in the composition of microbial symbionts are an early signal of the disruption of the relationships within the sponge holobiont, with the loss of beneficial bacteria and proliferation of infectious and parasitic microbes. The critical importance of associated microbial communities to host sponge health offers an ideal system to study the impact of natural and anthropogenic stressors on host-symbiont stability and the consequences of disrupting bacterial symbiont communities on host sponge fitness.Assessing the vulnerability and resilience of individual organisms and entire ecosystems to increasing pollution and climate shifts involves monitoring the effects of both lethal and sub-lethal levels. The effects of lethal pollution are studied at the community and species level, documenting shifts in community composition and tracking bioindicator species. These responses are ultimate and are evidenced only after prolonged exposure. In contrast, sub-lethal responses to pollution and climate change are studied at the cellular and molecular level because small doses of pollutants or temperature changes may affect the physiological functions and behavior of organisms without killing them. Thus, changes at the molecular level occur before those that can be detected by classical monitoring and bioassays so that molecular biomarkers can be considered as early warning systems for sub-lethal effects of contamination and stress.The current study is a multi-scale research project examining the ecological (growth and survival), physiological (host-symbiont interactions) and cellular (gene expression) responses of Mediterranean sponges and their symbiotic microflora to natural and anthropogenic stressors. The field component of the study involves monitoring undisturbed and experimentally shaded sponges (Ircinia fasciculata and I. variabilis) over 1.5 years to assess seasonal variability in gene expression of the hsp70 stress protein, symbiont photosynthetic activity and symbiont diversity and to determine the role of autotrophic nutrition from symbionts in host sponge growth and stress status. The laboratory component of the study involves exposing the same sponge species to heavy metals, pesticides and increased seawater temperatures under controlled aquaria conditions to assess the potential effects of pollutants and climate change on the community structure of microbial symbionts and the cellular stress responses of host sponges. In the face of increasing human populations and unprecedented environmental conditions resulting from global climate change, addressing the vulnerability and resilience of organisms to new disturbance regimes is critical to the preservation of current ecosystems and the forecasting of future anthropogenic impacts on natural systems.

0853089 Erwin该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9到24个月的研究。 该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，以及使用独特或互补的设施，专业知识和国外的实验条件。Erwin将与布拉内斯高级研究中心和西班牙布拉内斯西班牙研究理事会的Xavier Turon博士合作。海洋生物对人为压力的短期脆弱性和长期恢复力将决定水生生态系统的未来，并将反过来对人类与海洋的互动产生重大影响。 人类活动的负面后果影响到几乎所有海洋生物;然而，栖息在沿海环境中的固着滤食性无脊椎动物特别容易受到影响，因为它们成年后不动，集中暴露于水传播的污染物，而且靠近密集的人口。 海绵是古老的滤食性生物，在各种海洋环境中茁壮成长，对海洋生态系统的健康运作至关重要。 海绵微生物协会代表了基础和原始多细胞动物群与古老细菌谱系之间的独特共生关系，这些细菌谱系似乎共同进化并承受了广泛的环境条件。 微生物共生体组成的变化是海绵全生物内关系破坏的早期信号，伴随着有益细菌的丧失以及感染性和寄生性微生物的增殖。 相关微生物群落对宿主海绵健康的至关重要性为研究自然和人为压力对宿主共生体稳定性的影响以及破坏细菌共生体群落对宿主海绵fitness的影响提供了一个理想的系统，评估单个生物体和整个生态系统对日益严重的污染和气候变化的脆弱性和恢复力涉及监测致命和亚致命水平的影响。 致命污染的影响是在社区和物种一级进行研究，记录社区组成的变化和跟踪生物指示物种。 这些反应是最终的，只有在长时间接触后才能证明。相反，对污染和气候变化的亚致死反应是在细胞和分子水平上研究的，因为小剂量的污染物或温度变化可能会影响生物体的生理功能和行为，而不会杀死它们。 因此，分子水平的变化发生在那些可以通过经典监测和生物测定检测到的变化之前，因此分子生物标志物可以被认为是污染和压力亚致死效应的早期预警系统。（生长和存活），生理（宿主-共生体相互作用）和细胞（基因表达）地中海海绵及其共生微生物群落对自然和人为压力的反应。 该研究的实地部分包括监测未受干扰和实验遮蔽的海绵（Ircinia fasciculata和I。variabilis）进行了1.5年的研究，以评估hsp 70应激蛋白基因表达的季节性变化、共生体光合活性和共生体多样性，并确定共生体的自养营养在宿主海绵生长和应激状态中的作用。 该研究的实验室部分涉及在受控的水族箱条件下将相同的海绵物种暴露于重金属、农药和海水温度升高，以评估污染物和气候变化对微生物共生体群落结构和宿主海绵细胞应激反应的潜在影响。 面对全球气候变化造成的人口不断增加和前所未有的环境状况，解决生物体对新的干扰制度的脆弱性和复原力问题，对于保护当前生态系统和预测未来人类活动对自然系统的影响至关重要。