RAPID - Abnormal bleaching in Cliona varians in the Florida Keys: Consequences for coral reef health.

快速 - 佛罗里达群岛的 Cliona varians 异常白化：对珊瑚礁健康的后果。

• 批准号: 1617255
• 负责人: Malcolm Hill
• 金额: $ 6.98万
• 依托单位: University of Richmond
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1617255&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Abnormal; bleaching; Cliona; varians

Sponges feed on bacteria and extract other material from the water column as they pump water through their tissues. This bio-filtration plays important ecological roles on coral reefs, and may serve as the base of food webs in these habitats by turning dissolved and particulate organic material into detritus (shed sponge cells) that can be eaten by a variety of organisms. This ecological function is known as the sponge loop, and the proposed research tests an unexplored aspect of the sponge loop. Sponges typically support dense and diverse symbiont communities that contribute to their overall ecological performance. It is unknown how the symbiont communities contribute to the ecological performance of the host sponge. During the recent mass coral bleaching event (i.e., loss of algal symbionts) in the Florida Keys, sponges with algal symbionts, that normally do not bleach, were also found to have bleached. This unusual observation offers the opportunity to test ideas about the role of symbionts in the sponge loop. That is, the hypothesis under consideration is that disruption of symbiotic associations compromises a sponge's bio-filtration capacity. The broader impacts of this project includes training undergraduate students, producing new scientific information, presenting public talks, and tying this work into existing integrated science courses at the University of Richmond.The health of coral reef ecosystems may be tied directly to the normal functioning of coral reef sponges through the sponge loop. Detrital food webs may rely on the continued input of shed sponge cells through which dissolved and particulate organic matter are processed into biologically usable material. Previous work indicates that the symbiont state of the host sponge might influence feeding and pumping behavior, but no direct test of the impact symbiont state has on the sponge loop has been conducted. A recent bleaching event involving clionaid sponges in the lower Florida Keys provides an opportunity to test the hypothesis that reef health is a function of health of sponge symbiont populations through host filtration efficiency and feeding behavior. This research project focuses on interactions between symbiotic systems, host behavior, and ecosystem function using Cliona varians. Water samples will be collected using IN-EX sampling followed by flow cytometry and microscopic analysis of the material expelled by sponges. Stable isotopic signatures of the hosts will be compared before, during, and after bleaching events.

海绵以细菌为食，并从水柱中提取其他材料，因为它们通过组织抽水。这种生物过滤在珊瑚礁上起着重要的生态作用，可以通过将溶解和颗粒有机物质变成碎屑（Shed Sponge细胞）来充当这些栖息地中的食物网，这些生物可以被多种生物体食用。这种生态功能称为海绵环，所提出的研究测试了海绵环的一个未开发的方面。海绵通常支持茂密和多样化的共生群落，这些社区有助于其整体生态表现。尚不清楚共生社区如何为宿主海绵的生态表现做出贡献。在佛罗里达州钥匙中的最近发生的质量珊瑚漂白事件（即失去藻类共生事件）中，与藻类共生体的海绵通常没有漂白，也已被发现是漂白的。这种不寻常的观察为测试有关共生体在海绵循环中的作用的想法提供了机会。也就是说，所考虑的假设是，共生关联的破坏会损害海绵的生物滤过能力。该项目的更广泛的影响包括培训本科生，产生新的科学信息，进行公开谈判，并将这项工作与里士满大学的现有综合科学课程联系在一起。珊瑚礁生态系统的健康可能直接与通过Sponge loop的珊瑚礁珊瑚礁的正常功能联系在一起。碎屑食品网可以依靠脱落的海绵细胞的持续输入，通过这些输入将溶解和颗粒有机物处理成生物学上可用的材料。先前的工作表明，宿主海绵的共生状态可能会影响进食和抽水行为，但是对共生体对海绵环的影响没有直接测试。最近的一次漂白事件涉及下佛罗里达州钥匙中的Clionaid海绵，这为测试假说，即礁石健康是海绵共生群体通过宿主过滤效率和喂养行为的健康的函数。该研究项目着重于使用Cliona Varians的共生系统，宿主行为和生态系统功能之间的相互作用。水样将使用在EX内采样进行收集，然后进行流式细胞术和对海绵驱除的材料的微观分析。将在漂白事件之前，期间和之后比较宿主的稳定同位素特征。