Collaborative Research: Investigating the genomic basis of key performance traits to quantify the evolutionary potential of coral populations under climate change

合作研究：研究关键性能特征的基因组基础，以量化气候变化下珊瑚种群的进化潜力

• 批准号: 2023155
• 负责人: Andrew Baker
• 金额: $ 18.6万
• 依托单位: University of Miami
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2023155&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Investigating; genomic; basis

Facing an onslaught of environmental stressors, tropical coral reefs around the world have declined dramatically in recent years, particularly in the Caribbean. To help restore the structure and function of coral reef ecosystems, managers have established in-water nurseries specializing in the propagation of several coral species, particularly the endangered staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis. With support from the Biological Oceanography Program, Integrative Ecological Physiology Program, and the NSF 2026 Idea Machine Fund Program in the NSF Office of Integrated Activities, this project aims to fill critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of the adaptive capacity of staghorn coral by studying how interactions between genetics and environment influence coral performance and thermal resilience. Insights into these interactions, the genes involved in key health traits, and the impacts of nursery rearing on coral performance inform managers attempting to conserve and restore reef ecosystems. Results are communicated directly to stakeholders and practitioners through communication with conservationists, aquariums, and government agencies. The instruments for field-testing coral thermotolerance are built and programmed by high school students in Shedd’s Teen Learning Lab, and the proposed research directly involves graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Southern California, the University of South Florida, and the University of Miami. Broader public engagement is facilitated through additional outreach activities at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, and Frost Science Museum in Miami. This project represents one of the most comprehensive investigations into the adaptive capacity of a reef-building coral species to date.The long-term persistence of Caribbean reefs will ultimately be determined by whether there is sufficient genetic diversity and phenotypic resilience in remaining natural and restored coral populations to survive and reproduce in a rapidly changing climate. This project aims to quantify variation in performance among colonies, determine potential trade-offs between thermal tolerance and other traits, and identify coral genotypes that are most likely to survive under climate change and contribute to adaptive potential. Heritability, plasticity, and trade-offs among key phenotypes are being evaluated using a first-of-its-kind reciprocal transplant experiment across a network of Bahamian coral nurseries spanning a large thermal gradient over 450 km. The relationship between thermal resistance and resilience and the extent to which these traits are environmentally flexible are quantified in a series of heat stress experiments on translocated corals. Following one year of acclimatization to common garden conditions both in situ (at the Cape Eleuthera Institute, The Bahamas) and ex situ (at the University of Miami’s Experimental Hatchery, Florida), a suite of phenotypes are assessed to determine whether, and to what extent, thermal tolerance is a fixed effect of host and symbiont genotype or can change in response to transplantation to different sites. Finally, custom-built Coral Bleaching Autonomous Stress Systems (CBASS) are used to quantitatively and precisely field-test the thermal tolerance of ~260 genets of A. cervicornis spanning the entire ~900-km thermal cline of the Bahamian archipelago and nearby Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in Florida. Shallow whole-genome resequencing is used to identify loci associated with thermal tolerance, in addition to assessing fine-scale population structure within hosts and symbionts.The project directly addresses two of the top thirty-three Idea Machine entries: “Imagine a Life with Clean Oceans” and “Saving Coral 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.

面对环境压力源的冲击，近年来，世界各地的热带珊瑚礁急剧下降，尤其是在加勒比海地区。为了帮助恢复珊瑚礁生态系统的结构和功能，经理建立了专门从事几种珊瑚物种的传播，尤其是濒临灭绝的staghorn珊瑚珊瑚，Acropora cervicornis。在NSF综合活动办公室中的生物海洋学计划，综合生态生理计划和NSF 2026 Ideas Machine Fund计划的支持下，该项目旨在通过研究遗传学和环境环境之间的相互作用如何影响珊瑚和热弹性，以填补我们对Staghorn Coral的适应能力的关键知识差距。对这些相互作用的见解，与关键健康特征有关的基因以及托儿所对珊瑚色绩效的影响信息，他们试图保护和恢复珊瑚礁生态系统。通过与保护主义者，水族馆和政府机构的沟通，将结果直接传达给利益相关者和从业者。 SHEDD的Teen Learn Lab中的高中生建造和编程了现场测试的珊瑚珊瑚热耐加工仪器，拟议的研究直接涉及南加州大学，南佛罗里达大学和迈阿密大学的研究生和本科生。通过在洛杉矶的加利福尼亚科学中心，芝加哥的Shedd Aquarium和迈阿密的弗罗斯特科学博物馆举行的加利福尼亚科学中心，通过其他外展活动提供了更广泛的公众参与。该项目代表了迄今为止对珊瑚礁建造珊瑚礁物种的适应能力的最全面研究之一。加勒比海礁的长期持久性最终将取决于是否存在兼容的遗传多样性和表型复原力在保持自然和恢复的珊瑚种群中，以在一种自然和恢复的珊瑚种群中生存和繁殖。该项目旨在量化菌落之间的性能变化，确定热耐受性和其他特征之间的潜在权衡，并确定最有可能在气候变化下生存的珊瑚基因型并有助于自适应潜力。关键表型之间的遗传力，可塑性和权衡正在使用跨越450公里以上大型热梯度的巴哈马珊瑚托儿所网络上的首个相互移植实验进行评估。在一系列的热应激实验中，在易热应力实验中量化了热阻力与电阻之间的关系以及这些特征在环境方面的柔韧性。在适应了一年之后，既适应了原地（在埃尔特赫拉角研究所，巴哈马角）和前场（在迈阿密大学的实验性孵化场，佛罗里达州的实验孵化场）之后，评估了一套表型，以确定何种程度的耐热性是宿主和符号型基因型的固定效应，还是可以变化的，或者可以变化。最后，定制的珊瑚漂白自主压力系统（CBAS）用于定量和精确地进行现场测试，横跨整个〜900 km的cervicornisa。cervicornis的热耐受性〜260基因，巴哈米亚拱门的整个〜900-km热座，在佛罗里达州和佛罗里达州附近的迈阿密 - 迪德和布罗沃德县接近。除了评估宿主和象征意义内的精细种群结构外，浅全基因组重新等式还用于识别与热容忍度相关的局部，该项目直接解决了三十三个最高的三十三个想法机器的条目中的两个，“想象一个清洁的生命”：“具有清洁海洋的生活”和“拯救珊瑚礁的生态系统”，这表明了NSF的成立和依据。更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Census of heat tolerance among Florida's threatened staghorn corals finds resilient individuals throughout existing nursery populations

• DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1613
• 发表时间: 2021-10-27
• 期刊: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
• 影响因子: 4.7
• 作者: Cunning, Ross;Parker, Katherine E.;Baker, Andrew C.
• 通讯作者: Baker, Andrew C.