CAS- Climate: Assessing the potential of artificial upwelling to mitigate coral bleaching during heat waves

全球变暖被认为是对珊瑚礁最严重的威胁，因为它造成热应激事件，导致珊瑚大量漂白和珊瑚礁退化。这种情况促使人们制定干预措施，减轻珊瑚漂白，如人工上升流（Au）。Au将冰冷的深水抬升到地表。该项目的总体目标是通过确定有效缓解珊瑚漂白的Au情景（深度、强度），同时将不必要的副作用的风险降至最低，从而更好地了解如何将Au用于地表水冷却。该项目将通过提供关于不同Au情景（不同深度和Au脉冲长度）对珊瑚性能和珊瑚群落结构的影响的知识，大大提高对如何利用Au减轻热应力期间珊瑚漂白的理解。调查对珊瑚性能的短期和长期影响，以及评估对群落结构的影响，超出了大多数调查特定生物体短期反应的操纵研究。由此产生的数据集将不仅与工程师有关，而且还将为珊瑚礁生态社区提供关于珊瑚在变暖世界中持续存在的能力的关键知识。据推测，通过脉冲Au（例如，5小时/天），其中沃茨从中透光区到低透光区（例如，~30-100 m）。在热应激期间Au对珊瑚生理学的即时和持久影响将通过以下方式测试：（1）评估脉冲Au处理对热应激珊瑚的短期生理学影响，（2）评估热应激和脉冲Au实验对珊瑚恢复和热耐受性的长期生理学影响，以及（3）测试脉冲Au实验、可变温度，以及珊瑚和珊瑚礁群落的共同变化的环境参数。项目地点在百慕大海洋科学研究所。生物系统（BIOS）是理想的，因为它靠近珊瑚礁和现有的研究设施，为近自然操纵研究提供了非常合适的框架，包括由NSF基金赠款支持的百慕大海洋围隔生态系统基金。学生将通过现有的BIOS主办的实习生计划，包括NSF资助的REU计划参与。本科生和研究生将在BIOS运行的大学课程中了解该项目。特别是将通过开发一个名为“生态链：珊瑚未来”的新的单人纸牌式数字游戏来实现公众外联，玩家将对海洋变暖、海洋酸化、沉积、棘冠海星爆发等珊瑚礁问题作出战略性反应。此外，委员会认为，许多访问学校和大学团体将有机会观察实验装置并了解该项目。该项目由CBET/ENG环境可持续性计划和海洋科学部的生物海洋学计划。该奖项反映了NSF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进行评估，被认为值得支持的搜索.

Global warming is considered to be the most severe threat to coral reefs by causing heat stress events that lead to coral mass bleaching and reef degradation. This situation motivates the development of interventions that mitigate coral bleaching, such as artificial upwelling (AU). AU uplifts cool deep water to the surface. The overarching objective of this project is to provide improved understanding of how AU could be used for surface water cooling by identifying AU scenarios (depth, intensity) that mitigate coral bleaching effectively, while imposing minimal risk of unwanted side effects. The project will substantially improve understanding of how AU could be used to mitigate coral bleaching during thermal stress, by providing knowledge about the effects of different AU scenarios (different depths and lengths of AU pulses) on coral performance and on reef community structures. Investigating both short- and longer- term effects on coral performance and also assessing effects on community structures go beyond most manipulation studies that investigate organism-specific short-term responses. The resulting data set will be relevant not only for engineers, but also will provide critical knowledge for the coral reef ecology community about the coral’s ability to persist in a warming world.It is hypothesized that favorable results can be achieved by creating daily short-term thermal relief via pulsed AU (e.g., 5h/day) with waters from the mid- to lower photic zone (e.g., ~30-100 m). The immediate and lasting effects of AU on coral physiology during heat stress will be tested by (1) assessing the short-term physiological effects of pulsed AU treatments on heat-stressed corals, (2) assessing the long-term physiological effects of heat stress and pulsed AU experiments on coral recovery and thermal tolerance, and (3) testing the combined effects of pulsed AU experiments, variable temperature, and covarying environmental parameters on corals and coral reef communities. The project location at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Inc. (BIOS) is ideal due to its proximity to coral reefs and available research facilities that provide a highly suitable framework for near-natural manipulation studies, including the Bermuda Marine Mesocosm Facility supported by an NSF Facility grant. Students will be involved via existing BIOS-hosted intern programs, including an NSF-funded REU program. Undergraduate and graduate students will learn about the project in BIOS-run university courses. Public outreach will be attained in particular through the development of a new solitaire-like digital game called “EcoChains: Coral Futures”, where players will respond strategically to ocean warming, ocean acidification, sedimentation, outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish, and more in coral reefs. Furthermore, numerous visiting school and university groups will have the opportunity to observe the experimental setup and learn about the project.This project is co-funded by the CBET/ENG Environmental Sustainability program and the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences.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.