Collaborative Research: Assessing the changing symbiotic milieu on Caribbean coral reefs under climate change: magnitude, tradeoffs, interventions, and implications

合作研究：评估气候变化下加勒比珊瑚礁共生环境的变化：幅度、权衡、干预措施和影响

• 批准号: 1851392
• 负责人: Andrew Baker
• 金额: $ 49.46万
• 依托单位: University of Miami
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-04-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1851392&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Assessing; changing; symbiotic

Climate change represents an existential threat to coral reef ecosystems worldwide, with coral bleaching driven by continued ocean warming presenting the most pressing challenge to the persistence of these ecosystems over the next few decades. Given the severity and urgency of this threat it is critical to investigate mechanisms by which some corals might survive warming, assess the degree to which this is happening on reefs, and apply these discoveries to inform conservation interventions that might improve survival trajectories wherever possible. This project aims to fulfill these objectives by testing whether reef corals in the Caribbean are undergoing shifts in their algal symbionts in favor of more heat-tolerant types, what the consequences of these shifts might be for coral reef ecosystems, and the way in which we might use this information to help conserve them. Scientific objectives will be leveraged to improve the effectiveness of reef restoration efforts in the Caribbean by applying findings to ongoing intervention trials which aim to seed outplanted corals (both adult fragments raised in nurseries, and sexually derived coral recruits) with heat tolerant algae that are climate-resistant. It also takes advantage of emerging opportunities at two major public aquariums to highlight the plight of coral reefs to engaged public audiences primed to receive this message and learn about the role of science in both understanding and mitigating the problem. Finally, numerous high school, undergraduate, and graduate students will receive mentorship during this project, helping to train the next generation of marine scientists. This project tests whether continued climate warming is causing heat-tolerant algal symbionts (such as Durusdinium trenchii) to become increasingly common on coral reefs in the Caribbean. Understanding the changing symbiotic "milieu" in the region, the processes underlying the spread of D. trenchii, and the consequences of this spread, are very timely questions that have the potential to help us understand future reef states. This project will: (1) Manipulate coral symbioses in the laboratory, including a number of Caribbean coral species never before attempted, to assess in a standardized way their relative ability to acquire heat-tolerant symbionts; (2) Outplant corals with manipulated symbiont communities to reefs to assess real-world ecophysiological tradeoffs to heat tolerance, such as reduced growth rate; (3) Introduce heat-tolerant symbionts to coral colonies in the field using tissue implants in order to understand environmental controls on the persistence or loss of introduced symbionts; (4) Evaluate transgenerational feedbacks in the symbiotic milieu by investigating the roles of temperature and D. trenchii availability on the acquisition and establishment of these symbionts in newly settled coral larvae; and (5) Quantify changes in the incidence and relative abundance of heat-tolerant symbionts in the Caribbean over the last ~20 years using unique archived samples dating back to 1995-2002 from Florida, Bahamas, Belize, and Bermuda.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.

气候变化对全球珊瑚礁生态系统构成生存威胁，持续的海洋变暖导致珊瑚白化，对未来几十年这些生态系统的持续存在构成最紧迫的挑战。考虑到这种威胁的严重性和紧迫性，研究一些珊瑚在变暖中生存的机制、评估这种情况在珊瑚礁上发生的程度，并应用这些发现为保护干预措施提供信息，从而尽可能改善生存轨迹，这一点至关重要。该项目旨在通过测试加勒比地区的珊瑚礁珊瑚的藻类共生体是否正在发生向更耐热类型的转变、这些转变可能对珊瑚礁生态系统产生什么后果以及我们如何利用这些信息来帮助保护它们来实现这些目标。将利用科学目标来提高加勒比地区珊瑚礁恢复工作的有效性，将研究结果应用于正在进行的干预试验，这些试验旨在用耐气候的耐热藻类在外植珊瑚（包括在苗圃中饲养的成年珊瑚碎片和有性繁殖的珊瑚新成员）中播种。它还利用两个主要公共水族馆的新机会，向准备接收这一信息并了解科学在理解和缓解问题方面的作用的公众观众强调珊瑚礁的困境。最后，众多高中生、本科生和研究生将在该项目期间获得指导，帮助培养下一代海洋科学家。该项目测试持续的气候变暖是否导致耐热藻类共生体（例如杜鲁斯藻）在加勒比海的珊瑚礁上变得越来越普遍。了解该地区不断变化的共生“环境”、海藻传播的过程以及这种传播的后果，是非常及时的问题，有可能帮助我们了解未来的珊瑚礁状态。该项目将：（1）在实验室中操纵珊瑚共生体，包括一些以前从未尝试过的加勒比珊瑚物种，以标准化的方式评估它们获得耐热共生体的相对能力； (2) 将具有受操纵的共生群落的珊瑚移植到珊瑚礁上，以评估现实世界的耐热性生态生理权衡，例如生长速度降低； (3) 使用组织植入物将耐热共生体引入现场的珊瑚群落，以了解环境对引入共生体的持续或丧失的控制； (4) 通过研究温度和 D. Trenchii 可用性对新定居的珊瑚幼虫中这些共生体的获得和建立的作用，评估共生环境中的跨代反馈； (5) 使用来自佛罗里达州、巴哈马群岛、伯利兹和百慕大的 1995-2002 年独特存档样本，量化过去约 20 年来加勒比地区耐热共生体的发生率和相对丰度的变化。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Symbiont shuffling induces differential DNA methylation responses to thermal stress in the coral Montastraea cavernosa

• DOI: 10.1111/mec.16246
• 发表时间: 2021-10
• 期刊: Molecular Ecology
• 影响因子: 4.9
• 作者: Javier A. Rodríguez-Casariego;R. Cunning;A. Baker;J. Eirín-López

Will coral reefs survive by adaptive bleaching?

珊瑚礁会因适应性白化而生存吗？

• DOI: 10.1042/etls20210227
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Emerging Topics in Life Sciences
• 影响因子: 3.8
• 作者: Cunning, Ross

Neighboring colonies influence uptake of thermotolerant endosymbionts in threatened Caribbean coral recruits

• DOI: 10.1007/s00338-021-02090-1
• 发表时间: 2020-11
• 期刊: Coral Reefs
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Olivia M. Williamson;Corinne Allen;Dana E Williams;Matthew W. Johnson;Margaret W. Miller;A. Baker