Protist Prophets – Foraminifera as Global Bioindicators for Past and Present Coral Reef Health

原生生物先知 — 有孔虫作为过去和现在珊瑚礁健康的全球生物指标

• 批准号: 2035135
• 负责人: Sam Purkis
• 金额: $ 64.25万
• 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: 2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2035135&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Protist; Prophets; Foraminifera; Global; Bioindicators

Half the world’s coral reefs have died in the last decades. Targeted intervention can reverse this demise if applied to sites well-poised for rehabilitation. The challenge is to identify which reefs will benefit from costly intervention. If naturally depauperate reefs could be distinguished from those which have been degraded by human-induced stress, restoration efforts could be focused on the latter and not on the former. This distinction can rarely be achieved via traditional coral monitoring since timeseries collected by divers are too short. A shortcut to making this separation would therefore be desirable in order to speed the pathway to restoration. Not meeting this need risks squandering conservation resources at a time when the window for saving Earth’s reefs is closing. Bioindicators are an emerging solution for understanding reef health over meaningful timescales and foraminifera (forams) show exceptional promise. These tiny-shelled protists accumulate abundantly in reefal sands and, because they preserve well, can be easily identified. Despite their excellent potential to guide reef conservation, foram bioindicators have only been examined in a limited number of sites. Their global performance therefore remains unknown and poses a critical knowledge gap. This project spans NSF’s top four societal outcomes which relate to enhanced STEM education, with a focus on women and underrepresented minorities, it answers the National Research Council’s call to expand fundamental research using the longer time perspective of the geologic record to test ecological theories at appropriate scales, and it addresses the 2018 proclamation by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that coral reefs are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems.This project will contribute a markedly improved understanding of foram bioindicators across Earth’s major reef provinces in a single comparative study. A total of 2,500 sediment samples will be analyzed, collected from 1,000 reefs distributed on a global transect. Three Specific Aims will be pursued, to: [1] Develop a new array of location-specific foram indices capable of detecting historical reef stress. [2] Evolve an epifaunal foram index tuned to identify past coral-algal phase shifts in now healthy reef environments, and [3] Quantify the ability of the suite of foram indices to distinguish naturally depauperate reefs from those recently impacted by human activity. The project is creative and original because it departs from small-scale studies of a reef bioindicator to a systematic global assessment. The broader impact of the work will be amplified in collaboration with the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF), a leader in coral reef K-12 education, through the creation of cross-curricular educational materials for middle and high schoolers which will allow students to explore math and science using data generated by this project. This curriculum will be piloted in partnership with the Black Girls Dive Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to inspire and empower girls and women to engage in aquatic-based STEM activities, before being disseminated globally, at no cost, on KSLOF’s award-winning education portal.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.

在过去的几十年里，世界上一半的珊瑚礁已经死亡。如果将有针对性的干预措施应用于准备恢复的地点，可以扭转这种死亡。挑战在于确定哪些珊瑚礁将从昂贵的干预中受益。如果能够将自然退化的珊瑚礁与因人为压力而退化的珊瑚礁区分开来，恢复工作就可以侧重于后者，而不是前者。这种区别很少能通过传统的珊瑚监测来实现，因为潜水员收集的时间序列太短。因此，最好能找到一条分离的捷径，以加快恢复的进程。在拯救地球珊瑚礁的窗口即将关闭之际，不满足这一需求就有浪费保护资源的风险。生物指示剂是一个新兴的解决方案，了解珊瑚礁的健康在有意义的时间尺度和有孔虫（有孔虫）显示出特殊的承诺。这些小壳原生生物在礁砂中大量积累，因为它们保存得很好，很容易识别。尽管有孔虫生物指示物有很好的指导珊瑚礁保护的潜力，但只在有限的几个地点进行了研究。因此，它们的全球业绩仍然未知，造成了严重的知识差距。该项目涵盖了NSF的四大社会成果，这些成果与加强STEM教育有关，重点关注妇女和代表性不足的少数民族，它响应了国家研究理事会的呼吁，即利用地质记录的较长时间视角来扩大基础研究，以适当的尺度测试生态理论，该项目还针对政府间气候变化专门委员会2018年宣布的珊瑚礁是最脆弱的生态系统之一的问题。该项目将有助于显著提高对有孔虫生物指标的理解在一个单一的比较研究中，将分析从分布在全球样带上的1 000个珊瑚礁收集的总共2 500个沉积物样本。将追求三个具体目标：[1]开发一系列新的特定位置有孔虫指数，能够检测历史珊瑚礁应力。[2]发展一个表层动物有孔虫指数，以确定在现在健康的珊瑚礁环境中过去的珊瑚-藻类相变，[3]量化有孔虫指数套件的能力，以区分自然灭绝的珊瑚礁和最近受到人类活动影响的珊瑚礁。该项目具有创造性和独创性，因为它从小规模的珊瑚礁生物指标研究转向系统的全球评估。这项工作的更广泛影响将通过与珊瑚礁K-12教育的领导者Khaled bin苏丹海洋生物基金会（KSLOF）合作，通过为初中和高中生创建跨课程教育材料，使学生能够利用该项目产生的数据探索数学和科学。该课程将与黑人女孩潜水基金会合作进行试点，该基金会是一个非营利组织，旨在激励和增强女孩和妇女参与水上STEM活动的能力，然后在全球范围内免费传播。关于KSLOF的奖项-获奖的教育门户网站。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查的支持的搜索.

项目成果

Amphistegina lobifera foraminifera are excellent bioindicators of heat stress on high latitude Red Sea reefs

Amphistegina lobifera foraminifera 是高纬度红海珊瑚礁热应激的极佳生物指示剂

• DOI: 10.1007/s00338-022-02264-5
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Coral Reefs
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Humphreys, Alexander F.;Abdulla, Ameer;Sherman, Sofia;Levine, Jaclyn;Arista, Katelyn;Jones, Laura;Hoffman, Charlotte;Palavicini, Giacomo;Vimercati, Silvia;Terraneo, Tullia I.
• 通讯作者: Terraneo, Tullia I.