EAPSI:Examining the Connectivity of Fish Populations Between Mesophotic and Shallower Reefs of Southern Japan

EAPSI：检查日本南部中光和浅水珊瑚礁之间鱼类种群的连通性

• 批准号: 1514978
• 负责人: Garrett Johnson
• 金额: $ 0.51万
• 依托单位: Johnson Garrett B
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-06-01 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1514978&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAPSI; Examining; Connectivity; Fish; Populations

While coral reefs worldwide are threatened by climate change, overfishing, and pollution, an enormous and unexplored coral reef zone may provide a refuge from many of these threats. Most coral ecosystem research has focused on shallow reefs less than 30m depth, though photosynthetic corals extend to 165m in many areas. This disparity is due to the physiological limitations of conventional scuba that confines researchers to the shallows. This study will utilize new technology in subsea instrument recovery, closed circuit rebreathers and standard diver-based transects to provide the first comprehensive analysis of MCEs of Japan. Research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. James Reimer, a noted expert on genetics at the MISE Lab of the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan. Results will yield empirical data to assess the level of connectivity of fish and invertebrate populations between MCEs and shallower reefs by genetic analysis. and will provide valuable insight into MCE habitat composition that will prove beneficial to marine resource managers. Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs) are tropical light-dependent reef communities that extend from 30m to the bottom of the photic zone (165m). Remarkably MCEs account for two-thirds of zooxanthellate coral habitat, yet remain almost entirely unexplored. In particular the relationships between shallow and deep communities are unknown; MCE fish populations may overlap with those of shallower reefs, as suggested by the Deep Reef Refugia Hypothesis (DRRH), making MCEs a potential refuge from environmental stress. The objectives of this study are two-fold. First, the diversity of benthic covers of MCEs will be assessed at four sites. Second, the DRRH will be examined to assess the role of MCEs in providing larval fish and invertebrate recruits to shallow and deep reefs and to determine the overall extent of vertical gene flow. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

虽然世界各地的珊瑚礁都受到气候变化、过度捕捞和污染的威胁，但一个巨大的、未开发的珊瑚礁地带可能会提供一个避难所，躲避其中的许多威胁。大多数珊瑚生态系统研究都集中在深度小于30米的浅水礁上，尽管光合作用珊瑚在许多地区延伸到165米深。这种差异是由于传统潜水的生理限制，将研究人员限制在浅水区。这项研究将利用海底仪器回收、闭路呼吸器和标准潜水员横断面的新技术，首次对日本的MCE进行全面分析。这项研究将与日本冲绳琉球大学MISE实验室的著名遗传学专家詹姆斯·雷默博士合作进行。结果将产生经验数据，通过遗传分析评估MCEs和较浅珊瑚礁之间鱼类和无脊椎动物种群的连通性水平。并将提供对MCE栖息地组成的宝贵见解，这将被证明对海洋资源管理者有利。中游珊瑚生态系统(MCEs)是热带依赖光的珊瑚礁群落，从30米延伸到光带底部(165米)。值得注意的是，MCEs占据了底栖动物珊瑚栖息地的三分之二，但仍然几乎完全没有被开发。特别是，浅层和深层群落之间的关系尚不清楚；如深海珊瑚礁避难所假说(DRRH)所述，MCE鱼类种群可能与较浅珊瑚礁的种群重叠，使MCEs成为躲避环境压力的潜在避难所。这项研究的目的有两个。首先，将在四个地点评估底栖生物覆盖物的多样性。其次，将对DRRH进行检查，以评估MCEs在向浅礁和深礁提供鱼苗和无脊椎动物新兵方面的作用，并确定垂直基因流动的总体程度。该NSF EAPSI奖是与日本科学促进会合作资助的。