RAPID: Consequences of Rapid Environmental Change on Pelagic-to-Benthic Coupling by Sponges on the Continental USAs only Barrier Reef Ecosystem

它一直很热，在西大西洋创纪录的热。在佛罗里达群岛周围的浅海中，该地区拥有世界上第三长的珊瑚礁，也是美国大陆唯一的珊瑚礁，水温在2023年7月下旬达到峰值，达到101华氏度。即使在30英尺深的珊瑚礁上，温度也达到了前所未有的90华氏度，释放出一波鱼类死亡，珊瑚漂白，珊瑚和海绵死亡。海洋科学家担心这一前所未有的气候事件对加勒比海和佛罗里达珊瑚礁的影响，媒体也纷纷报道。然而，焦点几乎完全集中在珊瑚上。虽然珊瑚为珊瑚礁提供了结构基础，但珊瑚礁生态系统的运作也取决于其他珊瑚礁生物的健康。海绵尤其重要，因为它是从周围海洋捕获和回收养分和碳的关键-这一过程被称为“水层与海底的耦合”。该项目（a）评估了2023年夏季热浪对佛罗里达群岛浅水和珊瑚礁海绵的损害，（B）测试了高海水温度和相关低氧水平对海绵的影响，（c）利用这些数据，开发了一个模型，以帮助预测未来热浪对海绵的影响以及它们为生态系统提供的生态服务。该项目包括在一个为少数群体服务的机构培训本科生和研究生，并通过一个非政府组织伙伴与K-12学生进行公共外联和接触。项目结果为佛罗里达群岛国家海洋保护区的资源管理人员提供了信息。2023年夏季，加勒比海的海水温度迅速上升至前所未有的水平，对珊瑚礁生态系统造成了一系列干扰。这一事件激发了科学家、资源管理者和媒体的行动，但几乎所有的注意力都集中在珊瑚上。珊瑚为珊瑚礁提供了结构基础，但珊瑚礁生态系统在贫营养海洋中作为营养汇和再循环器的功能高度依赖于另一个分类：海绵。海绵是珊瑚礁和沿海后礁生境的浮游生物与底栖生物耦合和养分循环的关键，但人们几乎不知道极端环境压力对海绵生存和珊瑚礁生态系统功能的影响。该小组正在（a）利用实地调查和利用灾前基线数据，评估佛罗里达群岛从近岸到近海梯度的海绵群落结构变化;（B）使用围隔生态系统实验来检查升高的海水温度和低溶解氧对微生物的过滤、溶解的有机材料的消耗和海绵的氮固定的影响，所述海绵在繁殖、形态、微生物组、或栖息地;以及（c）综合这些数据，以模拟沿海和珊瑚礁水层与海底相互作用的预计变化。该项目的成果促进了对海绵在气候变化中珊瑚礁生态系统中的功能作用的理解。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标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

It's been hot, record hot in the Western Atlantic. In the shallow seas surrounding the Florida Keys, a region that harbors the world’s third longest coral barrier reef and the only one in the continental USA, water temperatures peaked in late July 2023 at 101F. Even at 30ft deep on the coral reef temperatures reached an unprecedented 90F, unleashing a wave of fish kills, corals bleaching, and dying octocorals and sponges. Marine scientists are concerned about the effects of this unprecedented climatic event on coral reefs in the Caribbean and Florida, and there has been a flood of media press as well. Yet, the focus has been almost exclusively on corals. Although corals provide the structural foundation for coral reefs, the functioning of coral reef ecosystems also depends on the health of other reef organisms. Of particular importance are sponges, which are key to capturing and recycling nutrients and carbon from the surrounding seas – a process referred to as “pelagic-to-benthic coupling”. This project (a) assesses the damage of the summer 2023 heatwave on shallow water and reef dwelling sponges in the Florida Keys, (b) tests the effects of high seawater temperatures and associated low oxygen levels on sponges, and (c) using those data, develops a model to help predict the effect of future heatwaves on sponges and the ecological services they provide to the ecosystem. The project includes training for undergraduate and graduate students at a minority-serving institution and public outreach and engagement with K-12 students through a partner NGO. Project results inform resource managers with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.Seawater temperatures in the Caribbean rapidly rose to unprecedented levels in summer 2023, unleashing a cascade of disturbance to coral reef ecosystems. The event galvanized scientists, resource managers, and the media into action but nearly all of that attention focused on corals. Corals provide the structural foundation for coral reefs, but the functioning of coral reef ecosystems as nutrient sinks and recyclers in otherwise oligotrophic seas is highly dependent on another taxon: sponges. Sponges are key to pelagic-to-benthic coupling and nutrient recycling on coral reefs and coastal backreef habitats, yet almost nothing is known of the effect of extreme environmental stress on sponge survival and function on coral reef ecosystems. The team is (a) using field surveys and leveraging pre-event baseline data to assess changes in sponge community structure across an inshore to offshore gradient in the Florida Keys; (b) using mesocosm experiments to examine the effects of elevated seawater temperatures and low dissolved oxygen on filtering of microbes, consumption of dissolved organic material, and fixation of nitrogen by sponges that differ in phylogeny, morphology, microbiome, or habitat; and (c) integrating these data to model projected changes in coastal and coral reef pelagic-to-benthic coupling. The results of this project advance understanding of the functional role of sponges in coral reef ecosystems in a changing climate.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.