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

南极半岛西部正以全球最快的速度经历着气候变化。加速的气候变化很可能以目前尚未确定的方式影响生活在南极大陆架狭窄温度窗内的许多底栖海洋无脊椎动物。然而，目前很少有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，而没有关于生活在极端热环境（如极地水域）的物种的数据。这个项目将收集非季节性的、孵育的白僵菌（sculactinian Flabellum impensum）的幼虫，用于帕尔默站为期一个月的气候变化实验。将采用多学科技术，结合电子显微镜、流式细胞术和电感耦合等离子体质谱来检查幼虫的发育和细胞应激。这个项目的数据将形成对极地冷水珊瑚幼虫阶段的第一个系统研究，以及这些阶段如何在细胞和发育水平上受到温度胁迫的影响。冷水珊瑚已被证明是重要的生态系统工程师，为成千上万的相关物种提供栖息地，其中包括许多具有重要商业价值的物种。了解这些珊瑚的幼虫如何对今天我们海洋中看到的变暖趋势做出反应，将使研究人员能够预测全球重要底栖生物群落未来的变化。相关的教育和推广包括：1)通过让博士后和本科生参与实地研究和研究项目，增加学生对极地研究的参与；ii)通过研究网站、Twitter和当地的校内讲座提供信息，促进K-12的教学计划；iii)通过同行评议的已发表文献，将收集到的数据提供给更广泛的研究界；iv)通过大众媒体、youtube和其他大众媒体的采访等方式，以及与当地公众的谈话等方式，接触到更多的公众受众。

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.