Ocean Acidification: Coral reef adaptation and acclimatization to global change: resilience to hotter, more acidic oceans

珊瑚礁是世界上四分之一的海洋物种的栖息地，为世界上超过10亿人提供食物、就业机会和抵御风暴的保护。尽管珊瑚礁具有很高的生物多样性和价值，但它们似乎特别容易受到海洋酸化的影响，这是大气二氧化碳增加的结果。许多钙化的珊瑚礁生物生长速度减慢，在这些条件下它们的繁殖受到干扰。同样，伴随而来的较高的平均海洋温度可能会导致珊瑚漂白，直接杀死珊瑚或增加疾病暴发。加在一起，这些影响可能对许多珊瑚物种来说太多了，导致这些令人难以置信的生态系统在未来几十年内退化和崩溃的预测。这项研究考察了占整个群岛珊瑚覆盖率95%的八种主要夏威夷珊瑚物种，产生了与数据广泛相关的结果。此外，这些珊瑚包括目前正在考虑根据美国《濒危物种法》列入名单的两个物种复合体。研究结果将用于制定适应性管理计划，以保护世界遗产Papahanaumokukea海洋国家纪念碑的生物多样性。Papahanaumokukea海洋国家纪念碑是地球上现存的最原始、最受保护的珊瑚礁之一。该项目在短期、单一物种研究和珊瑚礁社区对与全球其他海洋生态系统有关的全球变化作出的反应之间提供了一个重要的联系。为博士后学者、研究生和本科生提供培训机会，以及为当地K-12学生提供培训机会。外展活动包括通过互动的K-12教育、与怀基基水族馆的互动、高峰时段的脱口秀节目、与当地资源经理的直接接触以及国际博客来广泛传播研究结果。众所周知，不同的珊瑚物种，甚至同一物种的不同个体，对较低的PH值和较高的温度的容忍度是不同的。因此，重要的是要知道环境的变化是否太快，珊瑚和珊瑚礁无法有效应对，或者珊瑚的驯化或适应是否会在珊瑚礁的未来发挥重要作用？研究了海水pH值长期降低和海水温度升高对珊瑚以及依赖珊瑚礁和生活在珊瑚礁中的各种珊瑚礁群落的作用。首先，将评估珊瑚在适应一定范围的海水pH和温度后，利用共聚焦显微镜和对pH敏感的活性染料调节其钙化部位pH的能力，以了解以前的历史(驯化)和固定的、可遗传的差异(适应)对单个珊瑚容忍环境变化的能力的影响。其次，珊瑚适应较低pH值和较高温度的潜力将在一项为期两年的中观实验中进行经验估计，该实验包括所有八种主要夏威夷珊瑚物种。将确定各种自然环境的特征，并调查各抽样地点重点珊瑚物种的种群连通性模式，以评估当地适应的潜力。最后，由于低pH和较高的海洋温度对珊瑚以外的珊瑚礁生物的影响知之甚少，但这些数千种其他物种构成了珊瑚礁生物多样性的主体，并在珊瑚礁上发挥着重要的生态功能，一项为期两年的中观研究将审查长期降低的pH和较高的温度对生物多样性珊瑚礁群落的生物多样性、群落结构和生态系统功能的影响。

Coral reefs house one-quarter of all marine species and provide over a billion people around the world with food, jobs, and protection from storms. In spite of their high biodiversity and value, coral reefs appear to be particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification, a consequence of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Many calcifying reef organisms have reduced growth rates and their reproduction is disrupted under these conditions. Likewise the accompanying higher average sea temperatures can lead to coral bleaching, directly killing corals or increasing disease outbreaks. Combined, these impacts may be too much for many coral species to cope with, leading to predictions of degradation and collapse of these incredible ecosystems over the next few decades. This study examines the eight dominant Hawaiian coral species that constitute 95% of the coral cover across the archipelago, yielding broad relevance for the data. Further, the corals include two species-complexes currently being considered for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The results will be used to develop adaptive management plans for preserving biodiversity in a World Heritage Site, the Papahanaumokukea Marine National Monument, which is renowned as one of the most pristine and highly protected coral reefs remaining on the planet. This project provides a critical link between short-term, single-species studies and coral reef community responses to global change relevant to other marine ecosystems across the globe. Training opportunities for a post doctoral scholar, graduate students, and undergraduate students are provided, along with opportunities for local K-12 students. Outreach includes broad communication of the findings through interactive K-12 education, interactions with the Waikiki Aquarium, a rush-hour talk radio show, direct engagement with local resource managers, and an international blog.Different coral species, and even different individuals of the same species, are known to vary in their tolerances to lower pH and higher temperature. Thus, it is important to know if the environment is changing too quickly for corals and coral reefs to respond effectively, or could acclimatization or adaptation of corals play a significant role in the future of reefs? The role of chronically reduced seawater pH and elevated seawater temperature on corals and on the diverse coral reef communities that rely upon, and live within, them are examined. First, the capacity for corals to regulate pH at their site of calcification after acclimation to a range of seawater pH and temperature using confocal microscopy and pH-sensitive vital dyes will be assessed to understand the influence of previous history (acclimatization) and fixed, heritable differences (adaptation) on the capacity of an individual coral to tolerate changes in the environment. Second, the potential for corals to acclimatize to lower pH and higher temperature will be empirically estimated in a two year mesocosm experiment including all eight of the dominant Hawaiian coral species. The range of physical environments will be characterized and the patterns of population connectivity will be investigated for the focal coral species across sampling locations to assess the potential for local adaptation. Finally, because relatively little is known about the impacts of low pH and higher ocean temperature on reef organisms other than corals, yet these thousands of other species comprise the bulk of reef biodiversity and perform important ecological functions on coral reefs, a two-year mesocosm study will examine the effects of chronically reduced pH and elevated temperature on the biodiversity, community structure, and ecosystem function of biologically diverse coral reef communities.