Collaborative Research: Sponge Growth is Nitrogen Limited over the Shallow to Mesophotic Depth Gradient

合作研究：海绵生长在浅光到中光深度梯度上受到氮的限制

• 批准号: 1632333
• 负责人: Marc Slattery
• 金额: $ 37.84万
• 依托单位: University of Mississippi
• 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: 2016-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1632333&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Sponge; Growth; Nitrogen

Coral reefs are well known biodiversity hotspots of considerable interest to the public and scientific community. Reefs around the world are currently under threat from multiple factors such as pollution, coastal development, overfishing and climate change, where both the warming and acidification of tropical waters contributes to the loss of coral reefs and the many services they provide for us, such as protection from hurricane damage. Many studies are focused on corals, the conspicuously dominant group of organisms on many coral reefs, but other organisms are also important. One group, sponges, are essential for healthy reef function as they provide food and homes for many other reef organisms, they dramatically effect the nutrient cycles on reefs, and they synthesize important compounds of interest to the biomedical community. An emerging area of coral reef science is the study of deep reefs at depths greater than 30 meters. These coral reef systems, known as mesophotic coral reef ecosystems, were largely inaccessible until the transfer of technical diving approaches to the scientific community. In this project the investigators will study sponge populations from 3 meters to over 100 meters to examine their ability to utilize both dissolved and particulate food sources that may help explain increasing sponge biodiversity and growth rates with increasing depth. This project will provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students as well as veterans and post-doctoral researchers, especially from underrepresented groups. Additionally, the investigators will develop unique outreach programs for public education.Sponges are ubiquitous members of Caribbean coral reef communities, where they have multiple roles. There is evidence accumulating that sponge populations are increasing as coral cover declines due to anthropogenic and natural factors. Trophic interactions play crucial roles in controlling the distributions of species and community structure; however, the relative importance of top-down (predation) and bottom-up (nutrient resources) control of populations remains a hotly debated topic. Recently, it has been proposed that sponges consume large amounts of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and release large numbers of choanocytes that fuel a "sponge loop" detrital pathway of significance to higher trophic levels. A largely overlooked, but clearly stated, requirement for the "sponge-loop" hypothesis to be broadly generalizable is that sponges must exhibit little, or no, net growth as the only way to balance the loss of carbon in the form of choanocytes (=detritus), with the intake of both particulate organic carbon (POC) and DOC; however, sponges do grow. Additionally, on both shallow and mesophotic coral reefs (MCEs: 3-150m depth), there is a strong vertical gradient in bacterioplankton resources on which sponges feed, and enhanced growth in the presence of spongivory argues for the importance of particulate organic carbon (POC). Missing so far in this discussion is the important role of dissolved and particulate organic nitrogen (DON/PON) that would be essential for sponge growth on coral reefs. This proposal has two goals: 1) quantify the DOC/POC and DON/PON resources available across the shallow to mesophotic depth gradient that has never been done before, and 2) quantify the depth dependence on these resources by a broad taxonomic representation of sponges that also includes multiple life-history strategies across shallow to mesophotic depths. To accomplish this second task the investigators will conduct studies on the growth of sponges from shallow to mesophotic depths to tease apart the independent and interactive roles of DOC/POC and DON/PON in sponge growth. They will also construct carbon, nitrogen and energetic budgets for sponges utilizing these resources. The project will provide the first comprehensive inventory of DOC/POC and DON/PON on several coral reefs. This will be complemented by studies of feeding and growth across the shallow to mesophotic depth gradient. With continuing changes in the community structure of both shallow and mesophotic reefs, understanding whether we can predict, using models of ecosystem function, which reefs will undergo transitions to sponge dominated communities and what factors contribute to these transitions, will be of use to local marine resource managers. These data will also inform the broader field of marine ecology, as well as provide new insights into mesophotic reef structure and function. Finally, sponge samples collected from mesophotic coral reefs often represent new species and they will be made available to scientists upon request.

珊瑚礁是众所周知的生物多样性热点，公众和科学界对此非常感兴趣。 世界各地的珊瑚礁目前正受到污染、沿海开发、过度捕捞和气候变化等多种因素的威胁，热带沃茨的变暖和酸化导致珊瑚礁及其为我们提供的许多服务（如免受飓风破坏）的丧失。 许多研究都集中在珊瑚上，这是许多珊瑚礁上明显占主导地位的生物群，但其他生物也很重要。 海绵是健康的珊瑚礁功能所必需的，因为它们为许多其他珊瑚礁生物提供食物和家园，它们对珊瑚礁的营养循环产生巨大影响，并合成生物医学界感兴趣的重要化合物。珊瑚礁科学的一个新兴领域是研究深度超过30米的深礁。 这些珊瑚礁系统被称为中光珊瑚礁生态系统，在向科学界转让技术潜水方法之前，基本上无法进入。 在这个项目中，研究人员将研究从3米到100米以上的海绵种群，以检查它们利用溶解和颗粒食物来源的能力，这可能有助于解释随着深度的增加，海绵生物多样性和生长速度的增加。 该项目将为本科生和研究生以及退伍军人和博士后研究人员，特别是来自代表性不足群体的研究人员提供培训机会。 此外，研究人员还将为公众教育制定独特的推广计划。海绵是加勒比海珊瑚礁社区中无处不在的成员，在那里它们扮演着多种角色。越来越多的证据表明，由于人为和自然因素，珊瑚覆盖面下降，海绵种群正在增加。营养相互作用在控制物种分布和群落结构方面起着至关重要的作用;然而，自上而下（捕食）和自下而上（营养资源）控制种群的相对重要性仍然是一个激烈争论的话题。 最近，有人提出，海绵消耗大量的溶解有机碳（DOC），并释放大量的choanocyte燃料的“海绵环”碎屑途径的意义，以更高的营养水平。一个很大程度上被忽视的，但明确指出，要求“海绵环”假说是广泛推广的是，海绵必须表现出很少，或没有，净增长作为唯一的方式来平衡碳的损失，在choanocytes（=碎屑），与摄入颗粒有机碳（POC）和DOC;然而，海绵确实增长。 此外，在浅水和中光珊瑚礁（MCE：3- 150米深），有一个强大的垂直梯度，浮游细菌资源的海绵饲料，并在海绵动物的存在下增强增长认为颗粒有机碳的重要性。 到目前为止，在这方面的讨论是失踪的溶解和颗粒有机氮（DON/PON）的重要作用，这将是必不可少的海绵生长的珊瑚礁。 这项建议有两个目标：1）量化DOC/POC和DON/PON资源可在浅到中光深度梯度，这是以前从未做过的，和2）量化深度依赖于这些资源的海绵广泛的分类表示，也包括多个生活史策略在浅到中光深度。 为了完成这第二项任务，研究人员将对海绵从浅到中光深度的生长进行研究，以梳理DOC/POC和DON/PON在海绵生长中的独立和相互作用。 他们还将为利用这些资源的海绵构建碳，氮和能量预算。 该项目将提供关于若干珊瑚礁的DOC/POC和DON/PON的第一份全面清单。 这将通过对浅层到中光深度梯度的进食和生长的研究来补充。 随着浅水和中光珊瑚礁群落结构的不断变化，了解我们是否可以利用生态系统功能模型预测哪些珊瑚礁将过渡到海绵主导的群落，以及哪些因素促成了这些过渡，将对当地海洋资源管理人员有用。 这些数据还将为更广泛的海洋生态学领域提供信息，并为中光珊瑚礁的结构和功能提供新的见解。最后，从中光珊瑚礁采集的海绵样本往往代表新物种，将应要求提供给科学家。

项目成果

Mesophotic coral reef community structure: the constraints of imagery collected by unmanned vehicles

中光珊瑚礁群落结构：无人机采集图像的限制

• DOI: 10.3354/meps13650
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Lesser, MP;Slattery, M
• 通讯作者: Slattery, M

Large-scale invasion of western Atlantic mesophotic reefs by lionfish potentially undermines culling-based management

• DOI: 10.1007/s10530-016-1358-0
• 发表时间: 2017-03-01
• 期刊: BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
• 影响因子: 2.9
• 作者: Andradi-Brown, Dominic A.;Vermeij, Mark J. A.;Exton, Dan A.
• 通讯作者: Exton, Dan A.

Global community breaks at 60 m on mesophotic coral reefs

全球群落在中光珊瑚礁上 60 m 处断裂

• DOI: 10.1111/geb.12940
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Global Ecology and Biogeography
• 影响因子: 6.4
• 作者: Lesser, Michael P.;Slattery, Marc;Laverick, Jack H.;Macartney, Keir J.;Bridge, Tom C.;Pandolfi, ed., John
• 通讯作者: Pandolfi, ed., John

Trophic ecology of Caribbean sponges in the mesophotic zone

中光带加勒比海绵的营养生态

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Limnology and oceanography
• 影响因子: 4.5
• 作者: Macartney, K.J.;Slattery, M.;Lesser, M.P.
• 通讯作者: Lesser, M.P.

Sponge density increases with depth throughout the Caribbean: Reply

整个加勒比海的海绵密度随着深度的增加而增加： 回复

• DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2690
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Ecosphere
• 影响因子: 2.7
• 作者: Lesser, Michael P.;Slattery, Marc
• 通讯作者: Slattery, Marc