RUI-LTREB Renewal: Three decades of coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: 2014-2019

描述像珊瑚礁这样的生态系统是如何变化的，是评估全球气候变化和海洋酸化的生物后果的前沿工作。珊瑚礁已成为这些努力的典型代表。在人们担心它们可能在一个世纪内生态灭绝的情况下，描述它们已经失去了什么，剩下了什么，还有什么处于危险之中，是至关重要的。这个项目利用了从1987年开始的无与伦比的信息遗产来评估珊瑚礁将持续存在的形式，以及它们能够抵抗环境挑战进一步冲击的程度。这个长期项目继续对加勒比海珊瑚礁进行了27年的研究。收集到的各种数据将使研究人员能够确定局部和全球干扰在珊瑚礁退化中的作用。这些数据还将揭示未来人类干扰更多的珊瑚礁的结构和功能，届时珊瑚可能不再主导热带珊瑚礁。该项目的广泛社会影响包括促进对生态系统的理解，长期以来，生态系统一直被视为生物世界美丽、多样性和精致的象征。拟议中的研究将使新一代的本科生和研究生接触到自然历史，以及对地球变化方式的定量评估。这项培训将使人们对当代生态学有更深刻的理解，同时促进STEM职业的卓越发展，并支持美国的技术基础设施。大学和高中之间将建立伙伴关系，使大学教师和学生与k-12教育工作者及其学生接触，允许教师在鼓舞人心的珊瑚礁地点进行研究，并激励孩子们追求STEM职业。开放获取数十年的遗留数据将刺激进一步的研究和教学。

Describing how ecosystems like coral reefs are changing is at the forefront of efforts to evaluate the biological consequences of global climate change and ocean acidification. Coral reefs have become the poster child of these efforts. Amid concern that they could become ecologically extinct within a century, describing what has been lost, what is left, and what is at risk, is of paramount importance. This project exploits an unrivalled legacy of information beginning in 1987 to evaluate the form in which reefs will persist, and the extent to which they will be able to resist further onslaughts of environmental challenges. This long-term project continues a 27-year study of Caribbean coral reefs. The diverse data collected will allow the investigators to determine the roles of local and global disturbances in reef degradation. The data will also reveal the structure and function of reefs in a future with more human disturbances, when corals may no longer dominate tropical reefs. The broad societal impacts of this project include advancing understanding of an ecosystem that has long been held emblematic of the beauty, diversity, and delicacy of the biological world. Proposed research will expose new generations of undergraduate and graduate students to natural history and the quantitative assessment of the ways in which our planet is changing. This training will lead to a more profound understanding of contemporary ecology at the same time that it promotes excellence in STEM careers and supports technology infrastructure in the United States. Partnerships will be established between universities and high schools to bring university faculty and students in contact with k-12 educators and their students, allow teachers to carry out research in inspiring coral reef locations, and motivate children to pursue STEM careers. Open access to decades of legacy data will stimulate further research and teaching.