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，因为它引起热应激事件，导致珊瑚群白化和珊瑚礁退化。这种情况促使人们开发出减轻珊瑚白化的干预措施，例如人工上升流（AU）。 AU 将凉爽的深水提升到地表。该项目的总体目标是通过确定有效减轻珊瑚白化的 AU 场景（深度、强度），同时将不良副作用的风险降至最低，加深对 AU 如何用于地表水冷却的理解。该项目将通过提供有关不同 AU 情景（不同深度和长度的 AU 脉冲）对珊瑚性能和珊瑚礁群落结构的影响的知识，大幅增进对 AU 如何用于减轻热应激期间珊瑚白化的理解。调查对珊瑚表现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生物体特定短期反应的操纵研究的范围。由此产生的数据集不仅与工程师相关，而且还将为珊瑚礁生态界提供有关珊瑚在变暖的世界中持续存在的能力的关键知识。假设通过脉冲AU（例如，每天5小时）对中至低透光区（例如~30-100 m）的水域产生每日短期热缓解，可以取得有利的结果。热应激期间 AU 对珊瑚生理学的直接和持久影响将通过以下方式进行测试：(1) 评估脉冲 AU 处理对热应激珊瑚的短期生理影响，(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影响，以及 (3) 测试脉冲 AU 实验、可变温度和共变环境参数对珊瑚和珊瑚礁群落的综合影响。百慕大海洋科学研究所 (BIOS) 的项目地点非常理想，因为它靠近珊瑚礁，并且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，其中包括由 NSF 基金资助的百慕大海洋中宇宙设施。学生将通过现有的 BIOS 主持的实习生项目参与其中，包括 NSF 资助的 REU 项目。本科生和研究生将在 BIOS 开设的大学课程中了解该项目。特别是通过开发一款名为“EcoChains：珊瑚未来”的新型纸牌游戏数字游戏来实现公众宣传，玩家将对海洋变暖、海洋酸化、沉积物、棘冠海星爆发等珊瑚礁中的问题做出战略性反应。此外，众多来访的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生物海洋学计划共​​同资助。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

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.