Cold Corals in Hot Water - Investigating the Physiological Responses of Antarctic Coral Larvae to Climate change Stress

西南极半岛正在经历地球仪上最快的气候变化。加速的气候变化可能以目前尚未查明的方式影响到生活在沿着南极大陆架狭窄温度窗口内的许多海底海洋无脊椎动物。然而，目前关于气候变化对冷水珊瑚敏感幼虫阶段的生理影响的数据很少，关于生活在极地沃茨等极端高温环境中的物种的数据也没有。该项目将收集非季节性、育雏的石珊瑚Flabellum impensum的幼虫，用于帕尔默站为期一个月的气候变化实验。多学科技术将被用来检查幼虫的发育和细胞应力，使用电子显微镜，流式细胞术和电感耦合等离子体质谱仪的组合。该项目的数据将构成对极地冷水珊瑚幼虫阶段的首次系统研究，以及这些阶段如何在细胞和发育层面受到温度压力的影响。冷水珊瑚已被证明是重要的生态系统工程师，为数千个相关物种提供栖息地，其中包括许多具有商业重要性的物种。了解这些珊瑚的幼虫如何对我们今天在海洋中看到的变暖趋势作出反应，将使研究人员能够预测地球仪周围重要底栖生物群落的未来变化。相关的教育和推广活动包括：1）通过让博士后和本科生参与实地和研究计划，增加学生对极地研究的参与; 2）通过研究网站，Twitter和当地校内会谈提供信息，促进K-12教学和学习计划; iii）通过同行评审的出版文献向更广泛的研究界提供所收集的数据，iv）通过大众媒体的采访等途径接触更多的公众受众，You Tube和其他受欢迎的媒体，以及当地公众的谈话。

The Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing climate change at one of the fastest rates of anywhere around the globe. Accelerated climate change is likely to affect the many benthic marine invertebrates that live within narrow temperature windows along the Antarctic Continental Shelf in presently unidentified ways. At present however, there are few data on the physiological consequences of climate change on the sensitive larval stages of cold-water corals, and none on species living in thermal extremes such as polar waters. This project will collect the larvae of the non-seasonal, brooding scleractinian Flabellum impensum to be used in a month-long climate change experiment at Palmer Station. Multidisciplinary techniques will be used to examine larval development and cellular stress using a combination of electron microscopy, flow cytometry, and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectometry. Data from this project will form the first systematic study of the larval stages of polar cold-water corals, and how these stages are affected by temperature stress at the cellular and developmental level. Cold-water corals have been shown to be important ecosystem engineers, providing habitat for thousands of associated species, including many that are of commercial importance. Understanding how the larvae of these corals react to warming trends seen today in our oceans will allow researchers to predict future changes in important benthic communities around the globe. Associated education and outreach include: 1) Increasing student participation in polar research by involving postdoctoral and undergraduate students in the field and research program; ii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by providing information via a research website, Twitter, and in-school talks in the local area; iii) making the data collected available to the wider research community via peer reviewed published literature and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as interviews in the popular media, You Tube and other popular media outlets, and local talks to the general public.