Collaborative Research: Controls on Hadal Megafaunal Community Structure: a Systematic Examination of Pressure, Food Supply, and Topography

合作研究：对深渊巨型动物群落结构的控制：对压力、食物供应和地形的系统检查

• 批准号: 1130494
• 负责人: Paul Yancey
• 金额: $ 9.39万
• 依托单位: Whitman College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-15 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1130494&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Controls; Hadal; Megafaunal

Intellectual Merit. Severe technical challenges associated with the extremes of hydrostatic pressure have prevented major advances in hadal ecological studies, and relegated hadal systems to among the most poorly investigated habitats on Earth. The recent development of the fully functional Hybrid Remotely-Operated Vehicle Nereus has now prompted scientists from around the world to join together to identify the foremost standing questions in hadal science. Through this project, Hadal Ecosystems Studies (HADES) program, PIs from 7 Institutions from around the world will determine the composition and distribution of hadal species, the role of hadal pressures (piezolyte concentrations, enzyme function under pressure), food supply (distribution of POC with the abundance and biomass of trench organisms, and metabolic rates/energetic demand), and depth/topography (genetic divergence and spatial connectivity of populations) have on impacting deep-ocean community structure. This project will examine these factors using the world's first full-ocean depth hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV) in conjunction with the only full-ocean depth imaging lander (Hadal-Lander). This will pose a comparative framework for investigating hadal and abyssal community structure as driven by pressure (and associated factors), food supply, physiological adaptations, and topographic relationships. The investigators' first order hypotheses to explain how faunal diversity and communities are structured in trenches completely lack the data necessary to test them. Thus this project will provide the first seafloor data and samples in one of the world's best, yet little known trenches- the Kermadec Trench (SW Pacific Ocean). The first international Trench Connection Symposium in 2010 concluded the need to identify patterns of trench faunal composition and understand the first order factors that play a role in structuring these ecosystems. Megafaunal community structure and the relationship between POC and benthic bacterial biomass will be examined as a function of depth and location by systematic high-definition imaging and sediment/faunal sampling transects from abyssal to full trench depths both along and perpendicular to the trench axis. Population genetic approaches will provide levels of genetic divergence and evolutionarily independent lineages to assess the role of depth and topography in trenches and their adjacent abyssal plain in promoting the formation of species. Physiological constraints will be investigated by examining in-situ respiration of selected fauna and tissue concentrations of such protein stabilizers as trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), and the structural adaptations of macromolecules. These objectives represent an achievable and powerful combination of current technological capability, scientific understanding and theory, and the expertise of an international consortium of scientists.Broader impacts. The project will direct new avenues of research in the deep ocean. The expedition and results will be disseminated broadly to the scientific community and the public through both active metadata and data sharing mechanisms, award winning sea-going web-based education curricula and data-posting web portals, museum exhibits, and a major National Geographic television event featuring trench and deep-sea science, including life forms at the deepest depths on earth will engage the imagination of scientists and public alike. Outreach with respect to global scientific literacy will focus on the fundamental planetary processes associated with hadal faunal ecology and evolution at the world's deepest trenches. A daily-updated web site from sea will provide real-time public, museum, and aquaria access to the ongoing cruise activities and discoveries. The integral involvement of postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students will foster professional and educational advancement opportunities for underrepresented groups. In addition, we will stimulate a broader collective of interested biologists, chemists, geologists, and others to advance the application of ecological and evolutionary theory to better understand the biodiversity that inhabits hadal ecosystems. To this end, the investigators will develop an international consortium for hadal science dedicated to training the next generation of marine scientists and in conjunction with INDEEP, international collaboration for deep-sea research. The use of the HROV Nereus will advance this vehicle's capabilities for a broad range of disciplinary use, drive advances in applying technologies for conducting rigorous hadal and abyssal science, and further off-shoot technologies for use by the broader scientific community. The results of this project will be the first of its kind regarding the environmental variables that structure trench communities and lay the essential foundation for future work on the dynamic processes that create and maintain biodiversity in the deep ocean.

智力优势。与极端静水压力相关的严峻技术挑战阻碍了超深渊生态学研究的重大进展，并将超深渊系统降级为地球上研究最少的栖息地之一。最近开发的功能齐全的混合动力遥控飞行器Nereus现在已经促使来自世界各地的科学家联合起来，以确定hadal科学中最重要的问题。通过该项目，Hadal生态系统研究（HADES）计划，来自世界各地的7个机构的PI将确定Hadal物种的组成和分布，以及Hadal压力的作用（压电解质浓度，压力下的酶功能），食物供应（POC的分布与海沟生物的丰度和生物量，以及代谢率/能量需求），和深度/地形（种群的遗传差异和空间连通性）对深海群落结构的影响。该项目将使用世界上第一个全海洋深度混合遥控潜水器（HALOSE）结合唯一的全海洋深度成像着陆器（Hadal-Lander）来研究这些因素。这将构成一个比较框架，调查超深渊和深海群落结构驱动的压力（及相关因素），食物供应，生理适应，地形关系。调查人员解释战壕中动物多样性和群落结构的一阶假设完全缺乏必要的数据来检验它们。因此，该项目将提供世界上最好的但鲜为人知的海沟之一-Kermadec海沟（西南太平洋）的第一批海底数据和样本。2010年首届国际海沟连接研讨会得出的结论是，需要确定海沟动物群组成的模式，并了解在构建这些生态系统中发挥作用的一阶因素。将通过系统的高清晰度成像和沉积物/动物取样断面，从深海到整个海沟深度，沿沿着和垂直于海沟轴线，研究巨型动物群落结构以及颗粒有机碳和底栖细菌生物量之间的关系，作为深度和位置的函数。群体遗传学方法将提供遗传差异和进化上独立的谱系水平，以评估海沟及其邻近深海平原的深度和地形在促进物种形成方面的作用。生理限制将通过检查选定的动物和组织浓度的蛋白质稳定剂，如氧化三甲胺（TMAO），和大分子的结构适应的原地呼吸进行调查。这些目标是现有技术能力、科学认识和理论以及国际科学家联合会的专门知识的有力结合，是可以实现的。该项目将为深海研究开辟新的途径。将通过积极的元数据和数据共享机制、屡获殊荣的航海网络教育课程和数据发布门户网站、博物馆展览和国家地理频道的一项重大电视活动，向科学界和公众广泛传播这次考察及其成果，其中将介绍海沟和深海科学，包括地球最深处的生命形式，激发科学家和公众的想象力。在全球科学知识方面的外联活动将侧重于与世界最深海沟的深渊动物生态和进化有关的基本地球进程。每天更新的海上网站将为公众、博物馆和水族馆提供实时的游轮活动和发现。博士后、研究生和本科生的整体参与将为代表性不足的群体提供专业和教育发展机会。此外，我们将刺激感兴趣的生物学家，化学家，地质学家和其他人的更广泛的集体，以推进生态和进化理论的应用，以更好地了解栖息在hadal生态系统的生物多样性。为此，调查人员将建立一个国际深海科学联合会，专门培训下一代海洋科学家，并与国际深海研究合作机构INDEEP合作。海冥星的使用将提高这一飞行器的能力，使其能够用于广泛的学科用途，推动在应用技术进行严格的Hadal和深海科学方面取得进展，并进一步发展分支技术，供更广泛的科学界使用。这一项目的成果将是关于构成海沟群落的环境变量的第一个此类成果，并为今后关于创造和维持深海生物多样性的动态过程的工作奠定重要基础。