Collaborative Research: The effects of marine heatwaves on reproduction, larval transport and recruitment in sea urchin metapopulations

合作研究：海洋热浪对海胆集合种群繁殖、幼虫运输和补充的影响

• 批准号: 2023649
• 负责人: Daniel Okamoto
• 金额: $ 63.53万
• 依托单位: Florida State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2023649&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; effects; marine; heatwaves

Rapid and extreme warming events such as El Niño and marine heatwaves have had ecological and economic impacts on nearshore marine ecosystems. These impacts include reductions in biomass and collapses in commercial fisheries. For many species, population booms and busts are controlled by shifts in reproduction and juvenile dispersal related to warmer temperatures and ocean circulation. However, how population fluctuations are shaped by interacting processes that control adult reproduction and larval survival remains unclear. Marine heatwaves often accompany major disruptions in ocean circulation, which can affect survival and the distribution of species that produce free-floating, planktonic larvae. As a result, species can be impacted directly by temperature effects on organismal reproduction and survival, and indirectly by shifts in ocean circulation that affect larval success. This project is examining how the joint effects of temperature and ocean circulation are controlling populations of purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). To address project objectives, the team is developing oceanographic models to predict dispersal of planktonic larvae in combination with controlled experiments on adult reproductive success. This project is advancing the understanding of how ecologically important species respond to ocean temperature and circulation, which are forecast to shift under future climate change scenarios. Broader impacts of the project include training of students and post-docs in STEM and educational outreach. Curriculum development and implementation is occurring in collaboration with existing K-12 outreach programs that focus on underserved communities and under-represented groups. The goal is to empower the next generation of scientists to use integrative approaches to predict ecological consequences of climate change. Purple sea urchins are an ideal species for studying the coupled impacts of warming and ocean circulation on recruitment and survival given a wealth of ecological and organismal data. The species has a mapped genome, can be transported large distances as larvae by ocean currents, and larval abundances in California exhibit orders of magnitude variation with heatwaves and El Niño fluctuations. To quantify the processes that shape spatial and temporal variability in larval supply, researchers are applying a novel combination of biophysical modeling, experiments and statistical modeling of long-term, high-resolution data on larval settlement across the Southern California Bight (SCB). Research module 1 is quantifying spatial and temporal patterns of larval transport using a 3D-biophysical model of the SCB. The model is testing how interactions among historical changes in ocean circulation and temperature, larval life history, and larval behavioral traits affect variation in larval supply in space and time. Research module 2 is focused on how temperature could affect spatial and temporal variation in egg production. Experiments are characterizing reproductive thermal performance curves and quantifying how these vary among populations and organismal history. A novel assay is assessing epigenetic regulation of gene expression associated with performance curves. Finally, Module 3 will integrate mechanistic models from Modules 1 and 2 to statistically assess their ability to explain spatial and temporal trends in a nearly three-decade dataset of larval settlement from six sites in the SCB. This is one of the first studies that integrates models of larval transport, reproductive performance and settlement data to empirically test how physical and biological processes affect local recruitment patterns in complex marine meta-populations.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.

厄尔尼诺和海洋热浪等快速和极端变暖事件对近岸海洋生态系统产生了生态和经济影响。这些影响包括生物量减少和商业渔业崩溃。对许多物种来说，种群的繁荣和萧条是由与气温升高和海洋环流有关的繁殖和幼年扩散的变化所控制的。然而，控制成虫繁殖和幼虫存活的相互作用过程如何形成种群波动仍不清楚。海洋热浪往往伴随着海洋环流的重大破坏，这可能影响到产生自由漂浮的浮游幼虫的物种的生存和分布。因此，物种可能会直接受到温度对生物体繁殖和生存的影响，也可能会间接受到海洋环流变化的影响，从而影响幼虫的成功。该项目正在研究温度和海洋环流的联合作用如何控制紫色海胆（Strongylocentrotus purpuratus）的数量。为了实现项目目标，该小组正在开发海洋学模型，以预测浮游幼虫的扩散，并结合关于成虫繁殖成功率的对照实验。该项目正在推进对具有生态重要性的物种如何对海洋温度和环流作出反应的理解，据预测，海洋温度和环流将在未来气候变化情景下发生变化。该项目的更广泛影响包括对学生和博士后进行STEM培训和教育推广。课程的开发和实施是与现有的K-12外展计划合作进行的，这些计划侧重于服务不足的社区和代表性不足的群体。目标是使下一代科学家能够使用综合方法来预测气候变化的生态后果。 紫海胆是研究变暖和海洋环流对招募和生存的耦合影响的理想物种，因为它们有丰富的生态和生物数据。该物种有一个绘制的基因组，可以通过洋流将幼虫运送到很远的地方，加州的幼虫丰度随着热浪和厄尔尼诺现象的波动而呈现出数量级的变化。为了量化幼虫供应的空间和时间变化的过程，研究人员正在应用一种新的生物物理建模，实验和统计建模的长期，高分辨率的数据在整个南加州湾（SCB）幼虫定居的组合。研究模块1正在使用SCB的3D生物物理模型量化幼虫运输的空间和时间模式。该模型正在测试海洋环流和温度的历史变化、幼虫生活史和幼虫行为特征之间的相互作用如何影响幼虫供应在空间和时间上的变化。研究模块2的重点是温度如何影响鸡蛋生产的空间和时间变化。 实验描述了生殖热性能曲线，并量化了这些曲线在种群和生物历史中的变化。一种新的检测方法正在评估与性能曲线相关的基因表达的表观遗传调控。最后，模块3将整合模块1和模块2中的机械模型，以统计评估它们解释SCB六个站点近三十年幼虫定居数据集的空间和时间趋势的能力。 这是第一个研究，整合了幼虫运输，生殖性能和结算数据的模型，以实证检验物理和生物过程如何影响当地招聘模式在复杂的海洋集合population.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。