EAGER: Collaborative Research: Bleaching phenotypes of acute vs. chronic coral bleaching susceptibility and resilience: towards a standardized coral resilience diagnostic

EAGER：合作研究：急性与慢性珊瑚白化敏感性和恢复力的白化表型：走向标准化的珊瑚恢复力诊断

• 批准号: 1833215
• 负责人: Mark Warner
• 金额: $ 10.94万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1833215&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Collaborative; Research; Bleaching; phenotypes

The past few years have seen an unprecedented amount of coral bleaching across the globe. Global bleaching events in 2015-17, severely impacting iconic coral reefs in places such as the Great Barrier Reef, Micronesia, Hawaiian Islands, and Caribbean, were the worst recorded in recent human history. When ocean temperatures rise, the symbiosis between reef-building corals and their photosynthetic algae deteriorates, many times resulting in widespread coral die-offs as corals can starve without their symbiotic partners to supply food. These widespread events can have drastic impacts on ocean health and biodiversity, as well as the communities that depend on reefs for fishing, tourism, and protection from storms. Importantly, some corals resist or recover from bleaching better than others. Such variability in coral response to ocean warming could be critical to reef survival in the future, yet the scientific community lacks any standardized diagnostics to rapidly assess bleaching tolerance limits. Here, we plan to: 1) develop a standardized, short-term exposure to assess bleaching limits (analogous to cardiac stress tests for humans), 2) design an experimental system capable of delivering a range of thermal treatments as an open-source, low-cost, highly-portable device that can be readily adapted for bleaching tests in a wide variety of coral habitats, and 3) disseminate the results, instructions, and technologies to the reef research and conservation community through a combination of hands-on workshops, online outreach materials, press releases, and open-access research publications. Widespread dissemination of project products will be achieved via hands-on demonstrations and workshops in key geographic areas (Middle East, Caribbean, and Indo-Pacific), with a focus on the assembly of the system and operation of the experimental assay using local corals. This project will train both graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, and brings together a team of national and global researchers in a collaborative investigation to address the international problem of coral bleaching.With each passing year, coral bleaching has shifted from an issue of serious sporadic concern to a critical widespread threat to reefs across the globe that is increasing in frequency and severity. However, during widespread bleaching events, some scattered corals and reef sections are able to survive better than others. Whether this is due to acclimatization or adaptation in thermal stress tolerance, this variability in response is critical to coral resilience to climate impacts. Currently, the scientific community lacks a standardized approach to rapidly assess coral thermal limits and identify resilient individuals or populations. Present day approaches range from observational surveys of natural bleaching and mortality, to multiple weeks of controlled chronic thermal exposure, to rapid, single or multi-day acute heat shocks. To what degree bleaching response varies across short-term versus longer-term experiments and how these responses compare to natural bleaching patterns is largely unknown. Using a group of coral species representative of a historical range of bleaching susceptibility (e.g., Acropora hemprichii, Pocillopora meandrina, and Porites lobata), research will address this important knowledge gap by experimental evaluation of the bleaching response to acute (0 - 2 day) versus chronic (4 week) thermal stress. The overarching questions for this study are: how are the acute and chronic coral bleaching responses related, and can investigators predict ecologically relevant bleaching outcomes from the response to a short-term, acute heat-stress? To answer these questions, the research team will: 1) objectively compare acute versus chronic heat-stress exposures and synthesize a variety of response metrics based on core physiological measurements to develop a standardized, short-term thermal assay and diagnostic approach to rapidly assess bleaching, 2) operationalize an experimental system built around an open-source, cost-effective, easily transportable temperature control technology, and 3) distribute the results, experimental procedures, and temperature controlling technologies to the reef research and conservation communities. This project will produce an affordable experimental system and short-term diagnostic capable of determining coral thermal limits in just a few days in almost any location with reliable access to seawater and electricity or a portable generator. The research fills a critical knowledge gap through the development of a standardized set of diagnostic tools to assess coral thermal vulnerability before widespread bleaching events actually occur, so that proactive conservation and management strategies can be implemented ahead of widespread impacts to reef ecosystems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在过去的几年里，地球仪出现了前所未有的珊瑚白化现象。2015年至2017年的全球漂白事件严重影响了大堡礁、密克罗尼西亚、夏威夷群岛和加勒比海等地的标志性珊瑚礁，是人类近代史上最严重的记录。当海洋温度上升时，造礁珊瑚和它们的光合藻类之间的共生关系就会恶化，很多时候会导致大范围的珊瑚死亡，因为珊瑚可能会在没有共生伙伴提供食物的情况下挨饿。这些广泛的事件可能对海洋健康和生物多样性以及依赖珊瑚礁捕鱼，旅游和免受风暴影响的社区产生严重影响。重要的是，一些珊瑚比其他珊瑚更能抵抗或恢复漂白。珊瑚对海洋变暖反应的这种变化可能对未来珊瑚礁的生存至关重要，但科学界缺乏任何标准化的诊断方法来快速评估漂白耐受限度。在这里，我们计划：1）制定标准化的短期暴露，以评估漂白限度（类似于人类的心脏压力测试），2）设计一个能够提供一系列热处理的实验系统，作为一个开源，低成本，高度便携的设备，可以很容易地适应各种珊瑚栖息地的漂白测试，和3）传播的结果，说明，通过实践讲习班、在线宣传材料、新闻稿和开放获取的研究出版物，向珊瑚礁研究和保护界提供技术。将通过在主要地理区域（中东、加勒比和印度-太平洋）举办实践示范和讲习班，广泛传播项目产品，重点是系统的组装和使用当地珊瑚进行实验性分析的操作。该项目将培训研究生和一名博士后研究员，并将一个由国家和全球研究人员组成的小组聚集在一起，进行合作调查，以解决珊瑚漂白的国际问题，珊瑚漂白问题已从一个严重的偶发问题转变为对地球仪的严重普遍威胁，其频率和严重程度都在增加。然而，在广泛的漂白事件中，一些分散的珊瑚和珊瑚礁部分能够比其他珊瑚更好地生存。无论这是由于热应力耐受性的驯化或适应，这种反应的变化对于珊瑚对气候影响的恢复力至关重要。目前，科学界缺乏一个标准化的方法来快速评估珊瑚的温度极限和确定具有复原力的个体或种群。目前的方法范围从自然漂白和死亡率的观察调查，控制慢性热暴露的多个星期，快速，一天或多日的急性热休克。漂白反应在短期与长期实验中的变化程度以及这些反应与自然漂白模式的比较在很大程度上是未知的。使用一组代表漂白敏感性历史范围的珊瑚物种（例如，Acropora hemprichii，Pocillopora meandrina和Porites lobata），研究将通过实验评估急性（0 - 2天）与慢性（4周）热应激的漂白反应来解决这一重要的知识缺口。这项研究的首要问题是：如何急性和慢性珊瑚漂白反应相关，研究人员可以预测生态相关的漂白结果从短期的反应，急性热应激？为了回答这些问题，研究小组将：1）客观地比较急性与慢性热应激暴露，并基于核心生理测量综合各种反应指标，以开发标准化的短期热测定和诊断方法来快速评估漂白，2）操作围绕开源、成本效益高、易于运输的温度控制技术构建的实验系统，3）将实验结果、实验步骤和温度控制技术分发给珊瑚礁研究和保护团体。该项目将产生一个负担得起的实验系统和短期诊断，能够在短短几天内在几乎任何有可靠的海水和电力供应或便携式发电机的地方确定珊瑚的热极限。这项研究填补了一个关键的知识空白，通过开发一套标准化的诊断工具，在广泛的漂白事件实际发生之前评估珊瑚的热脆弱性，以便在对珊瑚礁生态系统产生广泛影响之前实施积极的保护和管理策略。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过利用基金会的知识价值和能力进行评估而被认为值得支持更广泛的影响审查标准。