Collaborative research: Ecology and functional biology of octocoral communities

最近的过去对珊瑚礁来说并不好，期刊上充斥着珊瑚覆盖率下降，鱼类种群崩溃，大型藻类覆盖率上升以及未来可能充满粘液的例子。然而，珊瑚礁不仅仅是珊瑚和鱼类，它们是最出名的，它们的生物多样性受到其他生物群体的强烈影响。由于急于评估珊瑚和鱼类的损失，珊瑚礁的非珊瑚动物群被忽视了，这个项目将通过研究软珊瑚来补充正在进行的长期生态研究。该项目将重点关注美属维尔京群岛圣约翰珊瑚礁上软珊瑚的生态，以了解软珊瑚在不断变化的世界中的过去，现在和未来的群落结构。对于过去，主要调查人员将完成对1992年至今圣约翰的珊瑚丰度以及1960年代以来整个加勒比的珊瑚丰度的回顾性分析。目前，他们将：㈠评估软珊瑚和珊瑚之间的时空变化，㈡测试与大型藻类的竞争以及软珊瑚和珊瑚之间的竞争在推动软珊瑚数量增加的过程中的作用，㈢探索软珊瑚作为“动物森林”在改变其树冠下的物理条件方面的作用，从而调节补充动态。对于未来，该项目将对主要软珊瑚进行人口分析，以评估人口过程的年度变化，并预测未来受全球气候变化影响的人口。该项目将在多个教育层面产生更广泛的影响。在大学一级，该项目将对RUI机构（CSUN）和领先的博士学位授予机构（布法罗大学）的学术环境质量产生影响。此外，它将为研究生提供独特的培训和研究机会，以及通过现有资金和REU补充本科生参与实地考察的机会。 该PI将建立在现有的关系，在圣约翰，USVI自2006年以来的高中。我们将举办：（1）通过教师，博士后研究助理和研究生的参与，在学校的海洋生物学俱乐部活动，（2）实验室的机会，重点是软珊瑚的生物学，（3）来自美国的教师在圣约翰工作的实地机会，以及（4）在家长和CSUN的支持下，将为当地学校的学生提供圣约翰实地考察。这些机会的范围将通过与洛杉矶县公立学校的两名教师进行新的合作来扩大。最后，在加勒比，将利用东道海洋实验室设立的“生态营地”，与加勒比岛屿的儿童合作，提供以生态和养护为重点的教育经验。

The recent past has not been good for coral reefs, and journals have been filled with examples of declining coral cover, crashing fish populations, rising cover of macroalgae, and a future potentially filled with slime. However, reefs are more than the corals and fishes for which they are known best, and their biodiversity is affected strongly by other groups of organisms. The non-coral fauna of reefs is being neglected in the rush to evaluate the loss of corals and fishes, and this project will add on to an on-going long term ecological study by studying soft corals. This project will be focused on the ecology of soft corals on reefs in St. John, USVI to understand the Past, Present and the Future community structure of soft corals in a changing world. For the Past, the principal investigators will complete a retrospective analysis of octocoral abundance in St. John between 1992 and the present, as well as Caribbean-wide since the 1960's. For the Present, they will: (i) evaluate spatio-temporal changes between soft corals and corals, (ii) test for the role of competition with macroalgae and between soft corals and corals as processes driving the rising abundance of soft corals, and (iii) explore the role of soft corals as "animal forests" in modifying physical conditions beneath their canopy, thereby modulating recruitment dynamics. For the Future the project will conduct demographic analyses on key soft corals to evaluate annual variation in population processes and project populations into a future impacted by global climate change. The broader impacts of this project will be at multiple educational levels. At the university level, the project will have impacts on the quality of the academic environment at an RUI institution (CSUN) and a leading PhD-awarding institution (University of Buffalo). Additionally, it will provide unique opportunities for training and research by graduate students, as well as opportunities for undergraduate participation in fieldwork through existing funding and REU supplements. The PIs will build on an existing relationship with a high school in St. John, USVI since 2006. We will host: (1) marine biology club activities at the school through participation of faculty, a postdoctoral research associate and graduate students, (2) laboratory opportunities focused on the biology of soft corals, (3) field opportunities for teachers from the US to work in St. John, and (4) with the support of parents and CSUN, will offer a St. John field trip for select students from local schools. The reach of these opportunities will be broadened through new collaborations with two teachers based in the public schools of LA County. Finally, in the Caribbean established "ecocamps" at the host marine laboratory will be used to work with children from Caribbean islands to provide educational experiences focused on ecology and conservation.