Understanding Biotic Response to Environmental Change in Tropical Ecosystems Through a Place-Based Context

在国家科学基金会的支持下，夏威夷大学希洛分校(UHH)将进一步发展热带保护生物学和环境科学中心(TCBES)，并开展研究，重点是通过基于地点的背景来加强对热带生态系统中环境变化的生物反应的理解。该中心将详细的生态、进化和基因组研究与生物信息学分析和地理信息系统建模相结合。该中心将培训下一代科学家和专业人员，特别是来自夏威夷原住民和太平洋岛民社区的科学家和专业人员，他们需要跨学科的视角来研究和有效管理整个地区壮观而脆弱的生态系统。该中心将成为一个完全建立的、自给自足的研究和培训中心，并在TCBES领域发展首个此类博士项目，能够推进进化、生态学和基因组学方面的最先进研究和培训。智力优势：该中心将专注于三个协同研究主题：1)生物对环境变化的反应：该项目将研究关键生物对一系列环境条件的短期和长期反应，包括稳定和波动的环境条件，并将这些结果纳入景观水平对气候变化反应的模型；2)对环境变化的行为反应：该项目将使用新兴的遗传学和声学工具来研究人类变化对从节肢动物到鲸鱼等动物的重要社会行为的影响；3)共生与环境之间的动态相互作用：该项目将探索互惠-发病-寄生连续体在多种共生系统中的适应。下一代DNA测序和生物信息学分析在每个研究领域的集成将使人们能够前所未有地深入了解生物对环境变化反应的分子基础。广泛的影响：这个CREST中心项目将扩大中心教员在生态、进化和遗传学领域建立的地区和国家合作伙伴关系，以培养一支多样化的、具有技术和科学素养的劳动力队伍，以满足夏威夷脆弱的自然资源健全管理日益增长的需求。这项工作预计将：(1)提高教师在应用基因组工具预测生物对气候变化和其他环境挑战的反应方面的全国竞争力；(2)培养能够在文化相关背景下应用这些概念和技术的博士级别的科学家；(3)阐明气候变化将对夏威夷和广大太平洋地区物种的地理范围以及社会和共生互动产生的影响。中心研究人员将与现有的遗传、分析和空间数据分析核心研究设施合作，推出生物信息学和生物声学实验室，以进一步提高夏威夷培养精通技术的科学家的能力，这些科学家能够应对该州和太平洋地区面临的保护挑战。

With National Science Foundation support, the University of Hawaii Hilo (UHH) will further develop the Center for Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) and pursue research focused on enhancing the understanding of biotic response to environmental change in tropical ecosystems through a place-based context. The Center integrates detailed ecological, evolutionary, and genomic research with bioinformatics analysis and Geographic Information Systems modeling. The center will train the next generation of scientists and professionals, particularly from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, with the interdisciplinary perspective that is required to both study and effectively steward the spectacular yet fragile ecosystems found throughout the region. The Center will become a fully established, self-sustaining locus of research and training and grow a first-of-its-kind Ph.D. program in TCBES fields, capable of advancing state-of-the-art research and training in evolution, ecology and genomics.Intellectual Merit:The Center will focus on three synergistic research themes: 1) organismal response to environmental change: this project will examine the short- and long-term responses of key organisms to a range of environmental conditions, both steady and fluctuating, and will incorporate those results into models of landscape-level response to climate change; 2) behavioral responses to environmental change: this project will use emerging genetic and acoustic tools to examine the effect of anthropogenic change on important social behaviors in animals ranging from arthropods to whales; 3) dynamic interactions between symbioses and environment: this project will explore adaptations of the mutualism-pathogenesis-parasitism continuum in multiple symbiotic systems. Integration of next-generation DNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis in each of the research areas will allow unprecedented insight into the molecular basis of biotic responses to environmental change.Broader Impacts:This CREST Center project will expand on regional and national partnerships developed by Center faculty in the areas of ecology, evolution, and genetics to generate a diverse, technologically and scientifically literate workforce to meet the growing need for sound management of Hawaii's fragile natural resources. This work is expected to: (1) advance faculty to a nationally competitive level in applying genomic tools to predict organismal responses to climate change and other environmental challenges; (2) produce Ph.D.- level scientists who will be able to apply these concepts and techniques in a culturally relevant context; and (3) elucidate the impacts climate change will have on the geographic ranges and social and symbiotic interactions of species in Hawaii and the broaderPacific region. Center researchers will launch bioinformatics and bioacoustics laboratories in association with established genetic, analytical and spatial data analysis core research facilities to further enhance Hawaii's capacity to train technologically-proficient scientists who can address the conservation challenges facing the state and Pacific region.