RAPID: Collaborative Research: Predicting the Spread of Multi-Species Coral Disease Using Species Immune Traits

题目：利用物种免疫特性预测多物种珊瑚疾病的传播珊瑚礁生态系统以旅游、渔业和海岸保护的形式为美属维尔京群岛（USVI）和美国其他地方的社会提供了大量的经济资源。然而，珊瑚礁是最受威胁的海洋环境之一，珊瑚疾病正在对这些有价值的系统产生破坏性影响。2019年初，一种与石珊瑚组织丧失病（SCTLD）描述相符的多物种快速组织丧失病被发现严重影响美属维尔京群岛（USVI）圣托马斯西南海岸外的珊瑚礁。在过去的四年里，SCTLD一直在破坏佛罗里达州东南部的珊瑚礁群落，最近在加勒比海的不同地区，包括墨西哥、牙买加和圣马丁，也有报道称SCTLD也在破坏珊瑚礁群落。维尔京群岛大学的调查人员进行的快速调查认为，圣托马斯西南50平方公里的区域是该疾病的最初发病区，但可能会蔓延到美属维尔京群岛、英属维尔京群岛和波多黎各。本研究进行了实验，以了解这种疾病如何影响珊瑚物种的免疫特性，并将美属维尔京群岛和佛罗里达州的疾病样本的微生物学和生理学进行了比较。它还研究了珊瑚群落物种组成的变化如何影响疾病的传播和影响。总体目标是建立一个模型，以珊瑚物种组合为基础，预测多物种疾病传播对珊瑚礁的影响。本项目为至少2名本科生、2名硕士生和3名博士生提供研究培训，这些学生将受益于交叉研究者指导。研究小组包括美属维尔京群岛和佛罗里达州珊瑚病咨询委员会的代表，确保将调查结果迅速传达给两个地区的管理机构。珊瑚病对加勒比珊瑚礁系统构成了日益严重的重大威胁。最近的研究结果表明，珊瑚物种的免疫特性可以预测多物种珊瑚病害对珊瑚群落结构的影响。美属维尔京群岛发生的这种动物流行病提供了一个前所未有的机会，可以在疾病爆发的早期阶段测试有关珊瑚抵抗力、耐受性和免疫特性对疾病传播的影响的假设，这种疾病可能深刻地改变加勒比珊瑚礁的多样性。据推测，高易感物种的丰度决定了1)疾病在最初发病区域下游的珊瑚礁地点的发病，以及2)疾病在珊瑚礁地点内的传播。此外，在移除或处理高度易感物种的下游珊瑚礁地点，所有易感珊瑚的免疫反应都较低，疾病发作较晚，疾病在站点内传播较慢。为了验证这些假设，两个实验直接比较了物种对疾病暴露的反应，并测试了物种聚集对珊瑚免疫功能和疾病传播的影响。这些实验的结果旨在为基于珊瑚物种组合的多物种疾病传播对珊瑚礁的影响提供一个可推广的模型。该项目的结果包括将美属维尔京群岛疾病与佛罗里达州SCTLD进行直接比较，并更好地了解在多物种传染病早期发病期间，高度易感宿主物种的丰度如何影响疾病的传播。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Title: Predicting the Spread of Multi-Species Coral Disease Using Species Immune TraitsCoral reef ecosystems provide substantial economic resources to the societies of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and other US locations in the forms of tourism, fishing and coastal protection. However, reefs are among the most threatened marine environments, and coral disease is having a devastating impact on these valued systems. In early 2019, a multi-species rapid tissue loss disease matching the description of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was found severely affecting a reef off the southwest coast of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands (USVI). SCTLD has been devastating coral reef communities in southeast Florida for the last four years, and was very recently reported from disparate areas around the Caribbean, including Mexico, Jamaica, and St. Martin. Rapid surveys by the investigators at the University of the Virgin Islands believe that a 50 km2 area southwest of St. Thomas is the initial incidence area of the disease, but will likely spread across the USVI, British Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. This study performs experiments to understand how this disease affects coral species immune traits and compares the microbiology and physiology of disease samples in the USVI to samples from Florida. It also examines how changing the species composition of a coral community affects the spread and impact of the disease. The overall aim is to produce a model to predict the impact of multi-species disease spread on reefs based on coral species assemblages. The project contributes to the research training of at least 2 undergraduates, 2 M.S. students, and 3 Ph.D. students, who benefit from cross-investigator mentoring. The research team includes representatives to the Coral Disease Advisory Committees for the USVI and Florida, which ensures rapid communication of findings to management bodies in both regions. Coral disease is a significant and increasing threat to Caribbean coral reef systems. Recent results demonstrate that coral species immune traits can predict disease resistance, and thus, forecast impacts to coral community structure, under multi-species coral disease. The onset of this epizootic in the USVI offers an unprecedented opportunity to test hypotheses about the impact of coral resistance, tolerance and immune traits on disease spread during the early stages of an outbreak that could profoundly change the diversity of Caribbean reefs. It is hypothesized that the abundance of highly susceptible species dictates 1) the onset of disease at reef sites downstream of the initial incidence area, and 2) the spread of disease within reef sites. Furthermore, 3) downstream reef sites where highly susceptible species are removed or treated show lower immune responses in all susceptible corals, later onset of disease, and slower within-site disease spread. To test these hypotheses, two experiments directly compare species responses to disease exposure and test the effect of species assemblage on coral immune function and disease spread. Results from these experiments aim to inform a generalizable model to predict the impact of multi-species disease spread on reefs based on coral species assemblages. Results of this project include direct comparison of the USVI disease to Florida SCTLD and a better understanding of how the abundance of highly susceptible host species impacts the spread of disease during the early onset of a multi-species panzootic.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.