RAPID: Collaborative Research: Impact of freshwater runoff from Hurricane Harvey on coral reef benthic organisms and associated microbial communities

珊瑚礁是生态和经济上重要的生态系统，受到各种全球（气候变化）和地方（过度捕捞、污染）压力因素的威胁。人为的气候变化正在增加风暴的频率和严重程度，风暴可以通过改变海水质量对珊瑚礁结构造成物理破坏并降低珊瑚礁健康。2017年8月，飓风哈维在德克萨斯州东南部造成了广泛的洪水，当时它释放了超过50万亿升的雨水，然后沿着德克萨斯大陆架积累。预计这一径流将通过涡流和喷气式飞机将沿海水域运送到近海，影响花园银行国家海洋保护区（FGBNMS，墨西哥湾西北部）附近的珊瑚礁。该项目的研究结果将使管理人员能够通过跟踪低盐度水体，结合微生物群落特征和珊瑚健康指标，快速预测极端风暴事件是否可能导致珊瑚礁死亡和淡水积累引起的生态系统衰退。这些数据对于管理沿海生态系统至关重要，包括FGBNMS中高珊瑚覆盖率的珊瑚礁，并将帮助利益相关者（如潜水和渔业社区）制定计划，并尽量减少这些风暴对其生计的破坏。研究结果将在科学领域、研究生和本科生教育和培训项目中广泛传播，并通过外展向公众传播。研究人员从2014年开始有7个7平方米的二维珊瑚礁复制品，描绘了代表性的FGBNMS珊瑚礁底部，并将在哈维径流到达后从两岸建造额外的二维珊瑚礁复制品，让公众直接体验和量化哈维飓风对当地珊瑚礁的影响。该项目还将与波士顿大学和德克萨斯农工大学的NSF REU项目协同，为本科生提供变革性的研究经验。将有1名博士后、4名研究生、1名技术人员和5名以上本科生参与研究的各个方面。所有数据集都将免费提供给公众，并将作为未来调查飓风和其他极端风暴影响珊瑚礁健康过程的一套重要基线。飓风和其他极端风暴事件可以通过波浪驱动的物理破坏摧毁珊瑚礁。来自极端风暴的淡水径流也可能对珊瑚礁有害，但受到的关注相对较少。这项研究将为飓风和其他极端风暴事件如何触发水化学之间的级联相互作用、后生动物健康状况的下降以及相关微生物群落的变化，最终导致珊瑚礁衰退提供前所未有的解决方案。飓风哈维引发的淡水径流可能会影响FGBNMS内的珊瑚礁，这是大加勒比地区为数不多的以珊瑚为主的珊瑚礁之一。哈维径流的影响将与先前记录的风暴驱动的径流事件进行比较，该事件与同一珊瑚礁系统上的无脊椎动物死亡有关。采样海水化学，微生物群落（水柱和底栖生物），宿主基因表达和蛋白质组学，在哈维径流进入FGBNMS之前，之后和六个月之后，将使我们能够确定大规模淡水径流事件之间的共性，并跟踪底栖无脊椎动物健康，微生物群落多样性的响应，以及珊瑚礁群落恢复或下降的轨迹。研究人员将确定水化学的变化是否会导致远洋微生物的变化，通常与珊瑚和海绵相关的微生物群落是否会改变，以及底栖无脊椎动物死亡的这些潜在驱动因素之间是否会发生反馈。

Coral reefs are ecologically and economically important ecosystems, and are threatened by a variety of global (climate change) and local (overfishing, pollution) stressors. Anthropogenic climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of storms, which can physically damage reef structures and reduce reef health through changes in seawater quality. In August of 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding in southeast Texas when it released more than 50 trillion liters of rain, which then accumulated along the Texas Shelf. This runoff is expected to impact nearby coral reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS, northwest Gulf of Mexico) via eddies and jets that transport coastal waters offshore. Findings from this project will allow managers to quickly predict whether extreme storm events are likely to induce reef mortality and ecosystem decline due to freshwater accumulation, by tracking of low salinity water masses coupled with microbial community characterization and metrics of coral health. These data are critical to managing coastal ecosystems, including the high coral cover reefs in the FGBNMS, and will help stakeholders (e.g., diving and fishing communities) plan for and minimize disruption to their livelihoods following these storms. Results will be communicated broadly across scientific arenas, in graduate and undergraduate education and training programs, and to the general public through outreach. The investigators have seven 7 square meter 2-D Reef Replicas from 2014 depicting representative FGBNMS reef bottoms, and will construct additional 2-D Reef Replicas from both banks following the arrival of Harvey runoff, allowing the public to directly experience and quantify the effects of Hurricane Harvey on local reefs using quadrats and identification guides. This project will also synergize with NSF REU programs at Boston University and Texas A&M University, providing transformative research experiences for undergraduates. One post-doctoral scholar, four graduate students, a technician and more than 5 undergraduates will be involved in all aspects of the research. All datasets will be made freely available to the public, and will serve as an important set of baselines for future lines of inquiry into the processes by which hurricanes and other extreme storms impact reef health.Hurricanes and other extreme storm events can decimate coral reefs through wave-driven physical damage. Freshwater runoff from extreme storms is also potentially detrimental to reefs but has received comparatively less attention. This research will provide unprecedented resolution on how hurricanes and other extreme storm events may trigger cascading interactions among water chemistry, declines in metazoan health and shifts in their associated microbial communities, ultimately resulting in coral reef decline. The freshwater runoff initiated by Hurricane Harvey is likely to impact reefs within the FGBNMS, one of the few remaining coral-dominated reefs in the greater Caribbean. The effects of Harvey runoff will be compared to a previously documented storm-driven runoff event that was associated with invertebrate mortality on the same reef system. Sampling seawater chemistry, microbial communities (water column and benthic), and host gene expression and proteomics before, immediately after, and six months after Harvey runoff enters the FGBNMS will allow us to identify commonalities among large-scale freshwater runoff events and track the response of benthic invertebrate health, microbial community diversity, and the trajectory of reef community recovery or decline. The investigators will determine if changes in water chemistry induce pelagic microbial shifts, if microbial communities typically associated with corals and sponges are altered, and whether feedbacks occur between these potential drivers of benthic invertebrate mortality.