OCE-PRF: How larval behavior and microbes govern the assembly of Caribbean coral communities

在扩散期间，许多海洋物种的幼虫受益于水柱和表面上的微生物(细菌和古生菌)向它们提供的详细的、特定地点的导航信息。在底栖生物上，微生物群落可能会迫使幼虫定居并增加死亡率。如果一个物种能够进化到从高死亡率环境中发现线索并远离它们，这种威胁就会减少。国际和平研究所以前使用一种产卵的加勒比海珊瑚物种所做的工作表明，珊瑚礁微生物群落影响幼虫的定居和存活；暴露在同种成体珊瑚附近收集的水中的幼虫遭受更高的死亡率和更低的定居率。由于寄主特定病原体致死的风险增加，该物种可能进化为检测和避免同种成虫附近的微生物。这会是控制珊瑚群落聚集的普遍现象吗？在目前NSF的资助下，PI还分离和鉴定了第一种在加勒比海珊瑚物种中诱导幼虫定居的培养细菌。拟议的项目将在库拉索岛的CARMABI基金会研究站与赞助科学家Mark Vermeij博士一起进行。PI将在实验室和野外实验中使用多种物种的游泳期珊瑚幼虫，以调查珊瑚礁上微生物群落的异质性如何为珊瑚定居提供信息。智力价值：珊瑚礁每年通过渔业、旅游业和文化价值为人类提供数十亿美元的商品和服务，但它们受到人类活动的巨大威胁。随着成年珊瑚以越来越快的速度死亡，世界珊瑚礁的存续将越来越依赖于幼年珊瑚的成功捕食。因此，这项研究将促进对一组具有生态意义的海洋生物的关键行为的了解，同时测试一个新的生态学假设的普遍性：珊瑚幼虫已经进化到使用微生物群落作为导航信息来检测同种生物。产品将包括关于珊瑚招募模式的新知识，以及关于导致定居的细菌的具体知识。更广泛的影响：珊瑚礁健康：将向加勒比地区的珊瑚礁恢复小组提供导致定居的细菌菌株，从而提高他们饲养、定居和种植幼年珊瑚的速度，以加快退化珊瑚礁的恢复。培训和扩大参与：对于代表人数不足的群体的学生来说，要想成功竞争博士项目和资金，获得导师、研究培训和实地工作经验至关重要。然而，这些机会往往仅限于那些有能力做志愿者或自掏腰包的学生。为了解决这一问题，该项目每年将把两到三名来自代表性不足群体的美国本科生/硕士学生带到库拉索岛的学习地点，进行他们在珊瑚礁生态学和实地研究方面的第一次实践培训。交流：研究成果将通过公开讲座、新闻采访和CARMABI的自然教育项目在库拉索岛分享，该项目每年为库拉索岛14,000名学童提供服务。除了库拉索岛，PI还将继续开展创造性的沟通项目。作为TED全球研究员，她将与TED-ED合作制作关于生物多样性的动画片段，并专门就促进海洋科学的多样性发表TED演讲。TED是一个致力于分享想法并将来自技术、娱乐和设计领域的人聚集在一起的非营利性组织(www.ted.com)。这个博士后奖学金由海洋科学部门管理，由国际和综合活动办公室国际科学和工程科资助。

During dispersal, larvae of many marine species benefit from the richly detailed, site-specific navigational information provided to them by microbes (Bacteria and Archaea) in the water column and on surfaces. On the benthos, microbial communities may stress settling larvae and increase mortality. This threat is reduced if a species can evolve to detect cues from high-mortality environments and navigate away from them. Previous work by the PI using a spawning Caribbean coral species demonstrated that coral reef microbial communities affect both larval settlement and survival; larvae exposed to water collected near conspecific adult corals suffered higher mortality and lower settlement rates. This species may have evolved to detect and avoid the microbes near conspecific adults, due to the increased risk of mortality from host-specific pathogens. Could this be a general phenomenon governing the assembly of coral communities? Under current NSF funding, the PI has also isolated and identified the first cultured bacteria that induce larval settlement in a Caribbean coral species. The proposed project will be conducted at CARMABI Foundation Research Station in Curacao with sponsoring scientist Dr. Mark Vermeij. The PI will use swimming-stage coral larvae of multiple species in laboratory and field experiments to investigate how microbial community heterogeneity on coral reefs provides information to settling corals. Intellectual Merit: Coral reefs provide humans with billions of dollars in goods and services each year through fisheries, tourism, and cultural value, yet they are massively threatened by human activity. As adult corals die at increasing rates, the persistence of the world's coral reefs will depend increasingly on successful recruitment by juvenile corals. This study will therefore advance knowledge of a crucial behavior in an ecologically significant group of marine organisms while testing the generality of a novel ecological hypothesis: that coral larvae have evolved to use microbial communities as navigational information to detect conspecifics. Products will include new knowledge about coral recruitment patterns and specific knowledge about bacteria that induce settlement. Broader Impacts : Reef health: Settlement-inducing bacterial strains will be provided to reef restoration groups in the Caribbean, thus increasing the rate at which they can raise, settle, and outplant juvenile corals to speed the recovery of degraded reefs. Training and broadening participation: For students in underrepresented groups to successfully compete for Ph.D. programs and funding, access to mentorship, research training, and fieldwork experiences are critical. Yet these opportunities are often limited to students who can afford to volunteer or pay out-of-pocket. To address this problem, the project will bring two to three U.S. undergrad/Master's students from underrepresented groups to the study site in Curacao each year for their first hands-on training in reef ecology and field research. Communication: Research results will be shared across Curacao through public lectures, news interviews, and via CARMABI's nature education program, which reaches 14,000 Curacaoan schoolchildren yearly. Beyond Curacao, the PI will continue to pursue creative communication projects. As a TED Global Fellow, she will produce an animated segment about biodiversity in collaboration with TED-Ed and give a TED Talk specifically about promoting diversity in ocean science. TED is a nonprofit devoted to sharing ideas and bringing people together from technology, entertainment, and design (www.ted.com).This postdoctoral fellowship is managed by the Division of Ocean Sciences and funded by the International Science and Engineering Section of the Office of International and Integrative Activities.