Infrastructure Planning for a Coral Reef Genomic Observatory

加州大学伯克利分校获得了一笔赠款，用于为位于法属波利尼西亚Moorea岛的美国国家科学基金会Moorea珊瑚礁长期生态研究（MCR-LTER）站点的冈普南太平洋研究站进行战略规划。太平洋岛屿上有一些世界上保存最完好的珊瑚礁。这些生态系统是生物多样性的热点，具有重要的社会意义和经济价值。通常与人类活动有关的地方和全球进程日益威胁到珊瑚礁的持续健康。对其种群动态、生态系统过程、生物多样性和恢复力的新研究对其成功的管理、保护和恢复至关重要。随着最近的技术进步，从“基因组”开始研究珊瑚礁的机会越来越多，包括研究生态系统健康背后的关键微生物过程。这需要基因组学和其他“组学”技术与环境传感器网络和计算平台的整合，以实现分子观察的完整背景化。该项目的目标是制定珊瑚礁基因组观测站的十年愿景，以及头五年的具体实施计划。规划活动将包括来自加利福尼亚大学和夏威夷海洋生物研究所的教员。该项目将在两个研讨会上制定一项战略计划，在未来5年内建立珊瑚礁基因组观测站。该观测站将利用跨太平洋海底光缆，该光缆目前将莫雷亚岛的研究活动与夏威夷的研究活动连接起来。规划将包括目前和未来的潜在用户，其目标是加强对阿甘站的研究、培训和教育用途。该战略计划将考虑如何利用珊瑚礁基因组观测站促进研究生和本科生海洋科学的高级培训，使来自加利福尼亚、夏威夷和美国各地的大学和学院的学生受益。阿甘站有一个强有力的外展项目，由当地社区组织合作伙伴Te Pu Atitia促成。规划活动将考虑基因组观测站如何提供创新的新方法，向Moorea、夏威夷和其他地方的波利尼西亚社区（特别是K-12学校）传播科学发现，并制定项目，向历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体（包括波利尼西亚人和其他太平洋岛民）提供帮助。欲了解更多关于阿甘站的信息，请访问网站http://moorea.berkeley.edu。

The University of California Berkeley is awarded a grant to carry out strategic planning for the Gump South Pacific Research Station, host of the NSF Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research (MCR-LTER) site, located on the island of Moorea, French Polynesia. The Pacific islands are home to some of the world's best-preserved coral reefs. These ecosystems are hotspots for biological diversity and are sources of great societal significance and economic value. Local and global processes, often associated with human activities, increasingly threaten the continued health of coral reefs. New research on their population dynamics, ecosystem processes, biodiversity and resilience is critical for their successful management, conservation, and restoration. With recent technological advances, there is a growing opportunity to study coral reefs from 'genomes up', including the study of key microbial processes that underlie ecosystem health. This requires the integration of genomics and other 'omics' technologies with environmental sensor networks and computational platforms to enable the full contextualization of molecular observations. The goal of this project is to develop a decadal vision for a Coral Reef Genomic Observatory, together with a concrete implementation plan for the first five years. Planning activities will include faculty from the University of California and from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). Over two workshops, the project will develop a strategic plan for building a Coral Reef Genomic Observatory over the next 5 years. The observatory will take advantage of the transpacific submarine fiber-optic cable that now connects research activities on Moorea to those on Hawaii. Planning will be inclusive of present and potential future users, with the goal of enhanced research, training and educational use of the Gump Station. The strategic plan will consider how the Coral Reef Genomic Observatory can be used to promote advanced training in marine science at the graduate and undergraduate level, benefiting students from universities and colleges from California, Hawaii, and across the United States. The Gump Station has a strong outreach program through collaborations brokered by its partner local community organization: Association Te Pu Atitia. Planning activities will consider how a genomic observatory might offer innovative new ways to communicate scientific findings to Polynesian communities - particularly K-12 schools - in Moorea, Hawaii and elsewhere, and to develop programs that reach out to historically underrepresented groups in science, including Polynesians and other Pacific Islanders.For more information about the Gump Station, please visit the website at http://moorea.berkeley.edu.