Skeletal Records of Coral Reef Beaching in the Central Equatorial Pacific

海洋变暖杀死了珊瑚，人们正在努力识别和保护珊瑚礁，这些珊瑚礁可以承受预计的21世纪世纪热带海洋温度的上升。赤道太平洋中部（CEP）的珊瑚礁每隔3-7年就会经历一次极端温暖的天气，即使不是几千年，也是几百年，但仍然保持着高产的生态系统。研究人员从长寿珊瑚物种骨骼中存档的应力签名中获得的初步数据表明，CEP珊瑚礁在温暖时期失去了共生藻类或漂白，有时严重。CEP珊瑚礁反复漂白但仍保持生产力的观察结果表明，对海洋变暖的适应力非同寻常。研究者将使用实验室实验和实地观察来验证历史漂白的骨骼记录。一个成功的结果将提供新的和有价值的见解CEP珊瑚礁的弹性和一个新的工具，以确定整个热带地区的耐热珊瑚礁生态系统。此外，该项目还包括指导一名博士后和六名本科生或高中生，通过演讲和媒体进行宣传，以及扩大可用于珊瑚应力带分析的计算机软件。海洋变暖预测表明，在未来几十年内，珊瑚礁将每年受到严重影响。因此，正在进行协调努力，以确定可能在这些变化中幸存下来的珊瑚礁。调查员将检验这样一种假设，即这种珊瑚礁存在于厄尔尼诺-南方涛动影响的中心，那里强烈的年际温度变化为发展热复原力创造了有利条件。该项目使用基于实验室的漂白实验和2015年厄尔尼诺期间野生珊瑚产生的实际压力特征，以验证大型造礁珊瑚骨骼中存档的历史漂白特征。此外，研究人员将使用CEP的新的长岩心来建立一个强大的历史漂白数据集，可以追溯到19世纪。一个成功的结果将增加信心的解释骨骼应力带定量漂白代理，使重建的历史，在CEP的珊瑚礁漂白和恢复。

Ocean warming kills corals and efforts are underway to identify and protect coral reefs that may withstand the projected 21st century rise in tropical ocean temperatures. Coral reefs in the central equatorial Pacific (CEP) have been exposed to episodes of extreme warmth every 3-7 years for centuries, if not millennia, yet remain highly productive ecosystems. Initial data obtained by the investigator from stress signatures archived in the skeletons of long lived coral species, suggests that CEP reefs lose their symbiotic algae or bleach, sometimes severely, during warm episodes. The observation that CEP reefs bleach repetitively yet remain productive implies uncommon resilience to ocean warming. The investigator will use laboratory experiments and field observations to validate skeletal records of historical bleaching. A successful outcome will provide novel and valuable insights into the resilience of the CEP reefs and a new tool with which to identify thermally tolerant coral reef ecosystems across the tropics. Additionally, this project includes mentorship of a postdoc and six undergraduate or high school students, outreach through presentations and media, and expansion of publically available software for coral stress band analysis.Ocean warming projections indicate severe impacts to coral reefs will occur on an annual basis within the next few decades. Consequently, a coordinated effort is underway to identify reefs that might survive these changes. The investigator will test the hypothesis that such reefs exist at the epicenter of influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), where strong inter-annual temperature variability creates conditions conducive for the development of thermal resilience. The project uses laboratory-based bleaching experiments and actual stress signatures accreted by wild corals during the 2015 El Niño to validate signatures of historical bleaching archived in the skeletons of massive reef building corals. In addition the investigator will use new, long cores from the CEP to build a robust dataset of historical bleaching back to the 1800's. A successful outcome will increase confidence in the interpretation of skeletal stress bands as quantitative bleaching proxies and enable the reconstruction of the history of coral reef bleaching and recovery in the CEP.