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.

气候变化代表了全世界对珊瑚礁生态系统的生存威胁，而持续的海洋变暖驱动的珊瑚漂白却对未来几十年来对这些生态系统的持久性提出了最紧迫的挑战。鉴于这种威胁的严重性和紧迫性至关重要的是，调查某些珊瑚可以在变暖中生存的机制，评估在礁石上发生的程度，并应用这些发现来为可以改善生存轨迹尽可能地改善生存轨迹的程度。该项目旨在通过测试加勒比海的珊瑚礁珊瑚珊瑚是否正在发生藻类共生体的转变来实现这些目标，而倾向于更容易耐受性，这些转变的后果可能是珊瑚礁生态系统的，以及我们可能使用此信息来帮助保护它们的方式。通过将发现结果应用于正在进行的干预试验中，旨在将旨在用来播种的干预试验（在托儿所中饲养的成年碎片和性派生的珊瑚招募者）将发现结果应用于正在进行的干预试验中，以提高加勒比海珊瑚礁恢复工作的有效性，以提高礁石恢复工作的有效性。它还利用在两个主要公共水族馆的新兴机会来强调珊瑚礁的困境，以敬业的公众受众启动以接收这一信息，并了解科学在理解和缓解问题方面的作用。最后，许多高中，本科生和研究生将在该项目期间获得指导，从而帮助培训下一代海洋科学家。该项目测试是否持续的气候变暖导致耐热藻类共生体（例如Durusdinium trenchii）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”，D。trenchii传播的基础过程以及这种传播的后果是非常及时的问题，具有帮助我们了解未来珊瑚礁国家的潜力。该项目将：（1）操纵实验室中的珊瑚共生，包括从未尝试过的许多加勒比珊瑚物种，以标准化的方式评估其获得耐热的共生体的相对能力； （2）用操纵共生群落的我们人群评估现实世界的生态生理折衷，例如降低了生长速度，以评估现实世界中的生态生理权衡； （3）使用组织植入物将热耐热的共生体引入田间的珊瑚菌落，以了解有关引入共生体的持久性或丧失的环境控制； （4）通过调查温度和D. trenchii的可用性在新定居的珊瑚幼虫中获取和建立这些共生体中的温度和D. trenchii的可用性来评估共生环境中的转世反馈； （5）在过去的20年中，使用佛罗里达州，巴哈马，贝利兹和百慕大的独特存档样本来量化加勒比海中热耐热的共生体发生变化和相对丰度。这是NSF的法定任务，并通过评估了基础，这表明了佛罗里达州，巴哈马，贝利兹和百慕大的奖项。

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