The impact of a large episodic disturbance on an invasive (outbreak) coral: Will Typhoon Maysak promote or suppress an invasive Montipora sp. Coral on reefs of Ulithi, Micronesia

大规模偶发性干扰对入侵（爆发）珊瑚的影响：台风美莎克会促进还是抑制入侵的Montipora sp。

• 批准号: 1546374
• 负责人: Giacomo Bernardi
• 金额: $ 13.85万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Cruz
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1546374&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: impact; large; episodic; disturbance; invasive

Ulithi Atoll, in the Federated States of Micronesia, is the fourth largest Atoll in the world, and was an important staging area for the US Navy 3rd fleet during WWII. The Atoll contains dynamic coral reefs, and communities of people that depend on them. Ulithi has been subjected to a number of human and natural disturbances, including Typhoon Ophelia that hit in 1960. Local fishermen believe that this event started an invasion process by a 'weedy' invasive coral that covers reefs, and removes essential habitat for fish and octopus, potentially threatening these ecosystems. Four years ago, local people invited the investigators to Ulithi to study the reefs and work together to enhance fisheries and reef health. The investigators sequenced the invading coral DNA and identified it as a new species of Montipora. However, its invasion dynamics remain a mystery. In early April 2015, Ulithi was hit again by a major disturbance: super Typhoon Maysak. The Typhoon destroyed most structures on the island, and removed much of the coral formations visible from shore. Using their baseline data of the past four years, the investigators, along with a team of students, seek to map the effect of the Typhoon on the invasive Montipora. Using genomic sequencing, they hope to better understand the role of Typhoon Maysak on the establishment and dispersal of this invasive coral. This project provides a unique opportunity to study the effects of a rare event, and invasion processes, and to broadly disseminate findings, raising awareness about coral reefs, climate change, and unique human-natural coupled systems. Their experiences will be made available on social media and the project website onepeopleonereef.ucsc.edu, as well as through NSF.Super typhoon Maysak struck Ulithi Atoll on March 31, 2015, where an invasive/outbreak species of Montipora has affected shallow coral reefs over at least the last 50 years. The research the investigators propose will elucidate the effects of this rare but high impact event on a biological invasion using genomics and reef sampling to investigate Micronesian reefs that were dominated by Montipora before the typhoon, and more 'pristine' reefs where Montipora was absent or in low densities. The investigators will be relating these findings to existing data that were collected from these sites over the past four years. These studies will advance our understanding of biological invasions in coral reef systems, explore the unusual occurrence of a coral species as an outbreak organism, and contribute to our knowledge of how high impact, episodic disturbances - likely to increase in frequency with the advance of global climate change - may affect threated coral reef ecosystems world-wide.

乌利西环礁位于密克罗尼西亚联邦，是世界第四大环礁，二战期间是美国海军第三舰队的重要集结地。环礁拥有充满活力的珊瑚礁以及依赖它们生存的人们社区。乌利西遭受了许多人为和自然干扰，包括 1960 年袭击的台风奥菲莉亚。当地渔民认为，这一事件引发了覆盖珊瑚礁的“杂草”入侵珊瑚的入侵过程，并消除了鱼类和章鱼的重要栖息地，可能威胁到这些生态系统。 四年前，当地人邀请调查人员前往乌利西研究珊瑚礁，并共同努力改善渔业和珊瑚礁健康。 研究人员对入侵的珊瑚 DNA 进行了测序，并将其鉴定为 Montipora 的新物种。 然而，它的入侵动态仍然是个谜。 2015年4月上旬，乌利西再次遭遇重大扰动：超强台风“美莎克”。台风摧毁了岛上的大部分建筑，并带走了海岸上可见的大部分珊瑚结构。研究人员和一组学生利用过去四年的基线数据，试图绘制出台风对入侵性蔷薇珊瑚的影响。 通过基因组测序，他们希望更好地了解台风美莎克对这种入侵珊瑚的建立和扩散的作用。该项目提供了一个独特的机会来研究罕见事件和入侵过程的影响，并广泛传播研究结果，提高人们对珊瑚礁、气候变化和独特的人与自然耦合系统的认识。 他们的经验将在社交媒体和项目网站 onepeopleonereef.ucsc.edu 以及 NSF 上公布。 2015 年 3 月 31 日，超强台风“美萨克”袭击了乌利西环礁，至少在过去 50 年里，一种入侵/爆发的Montipora 物种影响了浅层珊瑚礁。研究人员提出的研究将阐明这一罕见但影响重大的事件对生物入侵的影响，利用基因组学和珊瑚礁采样来调查台风前以蒙蒂波拉为主的密克罗尼西亚珊瑚礁，以及不存在蒙蒂波拉或密度较低的更“原始”的珊瑚礁。 研究人员将把这些发现与过去四年从这些网站收集的现有数据联系起来。这些研究将增进我们对珊瑚礁系统中生物入侵的理解，探索珊瑚物种作为爆发生物的不寻常发生，并有助于我们了解影响力大的偶发性干扰（随着全球气候变化的推进，频率可能会增加）可能会影响全世界受威胁的珊瑚礁生态系统。