Collaborative Research: RAPID: Sea Star Wasting Disease in the High Antarctic: Deciphering the Role of Shifting Carbon and Climate Cycles on a Keystone Predator

这个快速项目旨在通过利用瑟伯职业资助的潜水资源来研究麦克默多海峡中零星发生的海星损耗综合征(SSWS)。这种疾病于2019年首次被发现，2022年，该组织在他们的研究地点麦克默多海湾灰锥甲烷泄漏附近记录了第二次发生。海星是包括南极在内的许多底栖生态系统的关键物种，这种疾病已造成世界各地种群的重大损失。在南大洋，海星奥顿塔斯特·瓦利德斯捕食南极巨型海绵的捕食者--显眼的奥东塔斯特。2022年，甲烷渗漏处约30%的瓦利德原虫受到影响。在其他地区，与这种疾病相关的条件是环境缺氧、温暖的温度和有机物质的丰富。最近的这次暴发为研究疾病如何在南大洋发展提供了机会，并验证了氧气动力学在SSW的发展中发挥关键作用的假设。研究人员的目标是测量煤渣锥渗漏处和附近以及受影响和未受影响的海星表面的氧浓度，并确定南极和非南极爆发的SSW的致病原因和微生物群特征是否相似。这些发现可用于了解未来气候条件对对生态系统功能和健康至关重要的南大洋海洋生物疾病暴发的潜在影响。除了疾病动力学，这项研究还将有助于理解甲烷渗漏如何影响海底氧气动力学。其他更广泛的影响包括通过学生主导的YouTube纪录片传播研究，以及促进职业生涯早期的URM研究员从NSF博士后过渡到教员职位(该项目的病毒部分领导)。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This RAPID project aims to study a sporadic occurrence of sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS) in McMurdo sound by leveraging diving resources of a CAREER grant to Thurber. The disease was first noted in 2019, with a second occurrence documented by the group at their study site near a methane seep at Cinder Cone in McMurdo Sound in 2022. Sea stars are key species in many benthic ecosystems, including the Antarctic, and this disease has caused significant losses in populations worldwide. In the Southern Ocean, the sea star Odontaster validus preys upon Acodontaster conspicuous, a predator of Antarctic giant sponges. In 2022, about 30% of the O. validus at the methane seep were affected. The conditions associated with the disease in other areas are environmental hypoxia, warm temperatures, and organic enrichment. This recent outbreak provides the opportunity to study how the disease may progress in the Southern Ocean, and test the hypothesis that oxygen dynamics play a key role in the development of SSWS. The investigators aim to measure oxygen concentrations on and off the Cinder Cone seep and at the surface of affected and unaffected sea stars and identify whether the disease causes and microbiome characteristics of SSWS are similar between Antarctic and non-Antarctic outbreaks. These findings can be used to understand the potential effects of future climate conditions on disease outbreaks of Southern Ocean marine organisms critical to ecosystem function and health. In addition to disease dynamics, the study will also help to understand how methane seepage impacts benthic oxygen dynamics. Other broader impacts include communicating the research through a student led YouTube documentary and facilitating the transition of an early career URM researcher from NSF postdoc to a faculty position (lead on viral component of the project).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.