RAPID: Coral reproduction following mass corallivore outbreak and offspring tolerance during El Nino modulates reef recovery

自然和人为影响越来越多地同时发生，对海洋系统，特别是珊瑚礁产生负面影响。自然捕食者的爆发，如以珊瑚为食的棘冠海星，可以迅速杀死珊瑚。此外，气候和海洋变暖带来的压力正在推动珊瑚白化，或珊瑚-鞭毛藻营养共生关系的破裂，这可能导致珊瑚饥饿和大量死亡。法属波利尼西亚莫奥利亚的珊瑚礁目前正在经历荆棘之冠海星的爆发，珊瑚死亡率很高。与此同时，目前的厄尔尼诺Niño变暖正在推高海洋温度，有可能加剧对珊瑚的季节性峰值热压力。特别值得一提的是，在Mo’orea岛占据主导地位的礁石建造者poillopora spp，正优先被荆棘之冠海星吃掉，并且历史上在最温暖的月份出现了珊瑚白化现象。鉴于Mo 'orea珊瑚礁前礁上生态优势的Pocillopora spp的快速和广泛的珊瑚捕食和El Niño复合热应力，本项目研究了泻湖珊瑚礁Pocillopora spp的繁殖，招募和温度耐受性在珊瑚礁恢复中的作用。这项工作提供了量化物种特异性繁殖和热耐受性的能力，以更好地理解和预测对珊瑚礁恢复和恢复力的遗留影响。该项目的更广泛影响包括为早期职业科学家培训提供研究支持，以及为在法属波利尼西亚和罗德岛的学校提供本科生和高中生课程模块和研究项目的数据和材料。该项目代表了对多重共生干扰事件（珊瑚动物爆发和热应力）对珊瑚礁影响的迫切需要评估。在对棘冠海星的丰度和分布进行量化的同时，研究人员正在完成对泻湖中成年和幼年棘冠海星多样性和丰度的遗传和生态表征，以确定产卵前和热峰前的种群数量，量化棘冠海星的繁殖和幼虫的热耐性。测定El Niño年季节性热应激高峰期及其后几个月在泻湖和前礁的poillopora spp新成员的密度和热耐受性。这些结果促进了对自然干扰后珊瑚产卵和繁殖后果的理解。重要的是，该项目提供了在敏感的生命早期阶段，占优势的poillopora是如何应对海洋变暖和海洋热浪的慢性和急性压力的信息。该项目的结果提供了对生态，经济和文化意义重大的珊瑚礁生态系统的压力遗留的更深入的了解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Natural and anthropogenic impacts are increasingly co-occurring with negative consequences for marine systems, specifically coral reefs. Natural predator outbreaks, such as the corallivorous Crown of Thorns Sea stars, can rapidly kill corals. Further, the stress generated by climate and ocean warming is driving coral bleaching, or the breakdown of the coral-dinoflagellate nutritional symbiosis, which can cause coral starvation and mass mortality. The reefs of Mo’orea, French Polynesia, are currently experiencing an outbreak of Crown of Thorns sea stars, with high coral mortality. In conjunction, the current El Niño warming is driving up ocean temperatures, with the potential to exacerbate peak seasonal thermal stress on corals. In particular, Pocillopora spp, which are dominant reef builders in Mo’orea, are being preferentially eaten by Crown of Thorns Sea stars and have historically displayed coral bleaching during the warmest months. In light of the rapid and extensive coral predation on the ecologically dominant Pocillopora spp on the forereef in Mo’orea and compounding El Niño thermal stress, this project examines the role of lagoon reef Pocillopora spp reproduction, recruitment, and temperature tolerance in reef recovery. This work provides the capacity to quantify species-specific reproduction and thermal tolerance to better understand and forecast legacy effects on reef recovery and resilience. Broader impacts of this project include research support for early career scientist training, as well as data and materials for undergraduate and high school student curriculum modules and research projects for schools in French Polynesia and Rhode Island. This project represents an urgently needed assessment of the impact of multiple co-occurring disturbance events of corallivore outbreaks and thermal stress on coral reefs. Along with quantifying the Crown of Thorns Sea star abundance and distribution, researchers are completing a genetic and ecological characterization of the diversity and abundance of adult and juvenile Pocillopora spp in the lagoon to determine the population prior to spawning and thermal peak, quantifying reproduction of Pocillopora spp and larval thermal tolerance, and determining the density and thermal tolerance of Pocillopora spp recruits in the lagoon and forereef during the peak of seasonal thermal stress and several months after, in an El Niño year. The results advance understanding of the consequences of coral spawning and recruitment immediately following a natural disturbance. Importantly, the project provides information on how the dominant Pocillopora spp are contending with the chronic and acute stress of ocean warming and marine heat waves at sensitive early life stages. The results of this project provide a deeper understanding of the legacy of stress on the ecologically, economically, and culturally significant coral reef ecosystem.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.