Collaborative research: Ecology and functional biology of octocoral communities

最近对珊瑚礁来说并不好，期刊上充斥着珊瑚覆盖面积下降、鱼类数量锐减、大型藻类覆盖面积上升以及未来可能充满黏液的例子。然而，珊瑚礁不仅仅是它们最为人所知的珊瑚和鱼类，它们的生物多样性受到其他生物群体的强烈影响。在评估珊瑚和鱼类损失的匆忙中，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增加正在进行的长期生态研究。本项目将重点研究美属维尔京群岛圣约翰珊瑚礁上的软珊瑚生态，以了解在不断变化的世界中软珊瑚群落结构的过去、现在和未来。对于过去，主要研究人员将完成对圣约翰从1992年至今以及自1960年代以来整个加勒比地区的八珊瑚丰度的回顾性分析。就目前而言，他们将：(i)评估软珊瑚与珊瑚之间的时空变化；（ii）测试与大型藻类的竞争以及软珊瑚与珊瑚之间的竞争在推动软珊瑚丰度上升的过程中所起的作用；以及（iii）探索软珊瑚作为“动物森林”在改变其树冠下的物理条件，从而调节招募动态方面的作用。未来，该项目将对主要软珊瑚进行人口统计分析，以评估种群过程的年度变化，并预测未来受全球气候变化影响的种群。这个项目将在多个教育层面产生更广泛的影响。在大学层面，该项目将对一个RUI机构（CSUN）和一个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，它将为研究生的培训和研究提供独特的机会，并通过现有资金和REU补充为本科生提供参与实地工作的机会。自2006年以来，ppi将与USVI圣约翰的一所高中建立现有关系。我们将举办：(1)由教师、博士后研究员和研究生参加的学校海洋生物学俱乐部活动，(2)专注于软珊瑚生物学的实验室机会，(3)为来自美国的教师提供在圣约翰工作的实地机会，(4)在家长和CSUN的支持下，将为当地学校的精选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位教师的新合作而扩大。最后，在加勒比，在东道国海洋实验室建立的“生态营地”将用于与加勒比岛屿的儿童合作，提供以生态和保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.