COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Impact of the 2010 Caribbean Coral Bleaching Event: Assessing Changes in Coral Immune Function

研究人员要求RAPID资助，以评估2010年加勒比海白化事件对珊瑚基因表达、免疫功能和珊瑚礁群落的影响。目前，2010年是有记录以来最热的一年，可能会在加勒比海盆地和加勒比海东南部造成最大的热异常之一，超过2005年创纪录的温度。这些调查人员将在这次短暂事件期间和之后在加勒比海东南部的选定地点进行珊瑚调查，并在波多黎各收集样本，将珊瑚健康措施与之前收集的事件前数据进行比较。这项研究将综合若干层面的数据，从遥感卫星记录到珊瑚健康、覆盖和多样性调查，再到个别珊瑚免疫功能和微生物组合的研究。这一热事件的规模足够大，以至于研究人员假设疾病水平将在此事件后增加，正如2005年加勒比白化事件和2002年澳大利亚白化事件后观察到的那样。RAPID研究还将验证这样一个假设，即这种大规模的热异常将对波多黎各的珊瑚造成压力，并下调热敏物种（蒙塔斯特里亚）的免疫基因表达，但可能上调热弹性物种（柳珊瑚）的表达。研究人员还假设，这种预期的珊瑚白化水平将改变这两个物种的表面微生物群落，使其更倾向于以弧菌为基础的群落，这是增加对机会性病原体的疾病易感性的第一步。知识价值：该项目与了解海洋生态系统的恢复能力以及海洋变暖事件对珊瑚生理和生物多样性的影响有关。目前对温暖温度异常影响的了解主要局限于珊瑚本身的漂白反应，而对温暖温度如何通过微生物成分和/或珊瑚的免疫反应改变珊瑚全息生物的功能知之甚少。通过这样一个极端和短暂的事件，跟踪珊瑚在野外的生理和基因表达是非常有价值的。实验室研究永远无法真正复制这些野外条件，特别是对珊瑚全息生物至关重要的天然常驻微生物群落的破坏。该RAPID项目将侧重于存在事前数据/样本的目标：1)监测波多黎各、格林纳达、特立尼达、墨西哥尤卡坦和巴拿马的珊瑚疾病水平、珊瑚物种多样性和珊瑚覆盖率。2)评估珊瑚的免疫反应和免疫基因表达在有弹性的柳珊瑚（Gorgonia ventalina）和易感的珊瑚（Montastraea spp）中。取样将在漂白前、加热期间和回收后进行。3)评价两种植物在升温前、升温中、升温后总微生物群落的变化。更广泛的影响：珊瑚白化的戏剧性视觉影响将以照片和视频的形式呈现，并在网站、媒体和讲座场所使用，有助引起公众对珊瑚健康的关注（例如www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/27/harvell.coral.reefs/index.html）。然后，这种兴趣将被用来提高公众对海洋中更微妙的气候影响的理解。通过这个RAPID项目，研究人员将与伊萨卡科学中心、古生物研究所、科学歌舞表演、阿灵顿独立学区以及“拓展你的视野”计划和“莎莉莱德女孩科学节”等国家外展活动一起建立正在进行的当地公共外展项目。这项工作也体现了康奈尔可持续未来中心的许多目标，因此，该中心将为该项目提供配套资金。

The investigators requested RAPID funding to assess the impact of the 2010 Caribbean bleaching event on coral gene expression, immune function and coral reef communities. 2010 is currently tracking as the warmest year ever on record, potentially creating one of the largest thermal anomalies in the Caribbean basin and in the southeastern Caribbean, exceeding the previous record-breaking temperatures of 2005. These investigators will perform coral surveys at selected sites in the southeastern Caribbean and sample collections in Puerto Rico during and after this transient event to compare coral health measures with previously collected pre-event data. The study will integrate several levels of data, from remote temperature sensing satellite records, to coral health, cover and diversity surveys, to studies of individual coral immune function and microbial assemblages. The scale of this thermal event is significant enough that the investigators hypothesize levels of disease will increase following this event, as was observed after the 2005 Caribbean bleaching event and the 2002 Australian bleaching event. The RAPID study will also test the hypothesis that this large scale thermal anomaly will stress corals in Puerto Rico and down-regulate immune gene expression in thermally sensitive species (Montastrea spp), but potentially up-regulate expression in a thermally resilient species (Gorgonia ventalina). The investigators also hypothesize that this expected level of coral bleaching will change the surface microbial communities of both species toward more Vibrio-based communities, and this is the first step in increased disease susceptibility to opportunistic pathogens.Intellectual merit: This project is relevant to an understanding of the resilience of marine ecosystems and the impact of ocean warming events on coral physiology and biodiversity. Current understanding of the impacts of warm thermal anomalies is largely restricted to the bleaching response of the corals themselves, with much less known about how warm temperatures change the functioning of the coral holobiont via the microbial constituents and/or the immune responses of corals. There is tremendous value in following the physiology and gene expression of corals in the field through an extreme and transient event like this. Laboratory studies could never truly duplicate these field conditions, particularly with respect to disruptions to the natural resident microbial community that is so critical to the coral holobiont. This RAPID project will focus on objectives for which pre-event data/samples exist:1) Monitoring levels of coral disease, coral species diversity and coral cover in Puerto Rico, Grenada, Trinidad, the Mexican Yucatan, and Panama.2) Assessment of coral immune responses and immune gene expression in a resilient gorgonian (Gorgonia ventalina) and a susceptible scleractinian (Montastraea spp). Sampling will occur pre-bleaching, during the heating event and after recovery.3) Assessment of changes in total microbial community before, during and after the heating event in the two above mentioned species.Broader Impacts: The dramatic visual impacts of coral bleaching will be captured in photos and videos that, when used in website, media and lecture outlets will help to garner public interest in coral health (e.g. www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/27/harvell.coral.reefs/index.html). This interest will then be leveraged to raise public understanding of more subtle climate impacts in the ocean. Through this RAPID project the investigators will build upon ongoing local public outreach programs with the Ithaca Science center, Paleontological Research Institution, Science Cabaret, Arlington Independent School District as well as national outreach such as the "Expanding your Horizons" program and the "Sally Ride Science Festival for Girls". This work also embodies many of the objectives of the Cornell Center for Sustainable Futures, and for this reason, the center will contribute matching funds to this project.