Infrastructure Planning for a Coral Reef Genomic Observatory

该加州伯克利大学被授予赠款进行战略规划的甘南太平洋研究站，主机的NSF莫雷阿珊瑚礁长期生态研究（MCR-LTER）网站，位于莫雷阿岛，法属波利尼西亚。太平洋岛屿拥有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，是具有重大社会意义和经济价值的资源。 往往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。关于其种群动态、生态系统过程、生物多样性和复原力的新研究对于其成功管理、保护和恢复至关重要。随着最近的技术进步，有越来越多的机会从“基因组”开始研究珊瑚礁，包括研究生态系统健康的关键微生物过程。 这需要将基因组学和其他“组学”技术与环境传感器网络和计算平台相结合，以实现分子观测的全面背景化。该项目的目标是为珊瑚礁基因组观测站制定一个十年远景规划，以及头五年的具体执行计划。规划活动将包括来自加州大学和夏威夷海洋生物研究所的教员。 该项目将通过两个讲习班制定一项战略计划，在今后五年内建立一个珊瑚礁基因组观测站。 该观测站将利用横跨太平洋的海底光纤电缆，该电缆现在将莫雷阿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，目标是加强对Gump Station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一级的海洋科学高级培训，使来自加州、夏威夷和美国各地的大学和学院的学生受益。 Gump Station有一个强大的外展计划，通过其合作伙伴当地社区组织：Association Te Pu Atitia。规划活动将考虑基因组观测站如何提供创新的新方法，向莫雷阿、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，并制定计划，接触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。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.