Gradients of marine biodiversity and linkages with eDNA across the Wallacea Region

华莱士地区海洋生物多样性的梯度及其与 eDNA 的联系

• 批准号: NE/S006958/1
• 负责人: David Smith
• 金额: $ 45.15万
• 依托单位: University of Essex
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FS006958%2F1
• 关键词: Gradients; marine; biodiversity; linkages; eDNA

The interdependencies among organisms in ecological systems govern ecological function, responses to ecosystem change and the provision of ecosystem services. Complex multi-species interactions form ecological networks that increase community stability, where it is known that higher diversity promotes dynamic stability and counters pressures on the ecosystem. Understanding these ecological networks and dynamics in response to multiple chronic and acute environmental disturbances is key to designing conservation interventions, but network dynamics remain largely unknown in tropical marine systems. The Wallacea region is not only the epicenter of global coral reef diversity, it's coral reefs are also the most important source of food and income for millions of people. The region is globally important for sustaining globally threatened reef biodiversity, because it is one among few reefs that have not yet experienced large-scale degradation due to climate stress events. However, the regions' reefs are greatly transformed by local stressors, most notably terrestrial derived sediment run-off and fisheries overexploitation. Management to mitigate these local stressors is underway, but is severely hampered by a pervasive lack of data and understanding how these stressors affect biodiversity and its interactions throughout the region. Given the limited local resources, time, and expertise, presently the lack of information to inform management will not be overcome for most reefs across Wallacea. This project addresses three aims, which require addressing to overcome these challenges. Firstly, we will employ traditional visual observation techniques for reef corals, macro-invertebrates and fishes to determine how ecological networks differ between largely unimpacted, sedimented or reduced water quality, and fished sites. Ecological networks will be quantified based on field data using novel/cutting edge ecological modelling approaches and network theory. This aim focuses on easily observable non-cryptic taxa initially, and will form the basis of our comparative assessment of eDNA which has great potential but remains unvalidated in coral reef systems. Our second aim will validate eDNA's utility in describing reef biodiversity dynamics and test for the first time how networks constructed from eDNA compare to those from ecological surveys. Outcomes will provide unique insights and the potential for a step change in reef monitoring approaches by expanding opportunities to intensify spatial and temporal sampling, alongside providing confidence limits associated with ecological networks and their metrics that have been constructed using these novel eDNA data. Finally, having assessed the application of eDNA techniques, we plan to map the coral reef biodiversity of Wallacea with extensive eDNA sampling from remote regions. We will expand eDNA sampling to 10 further sites within Wallacea to provide novel data at unprecedented spatial and ecological complexity scales, enabling us to model and predict change in response to anthropogenic pressures at scales most relevant to Indonesian marine spatial planning. Despite high functional redundancy in the mega-diverse coral reef ecosystems, the loss of species will shift community composition and functionality with wide-ranging ecological, social and economic implications. For conservation efforts in complex systems where cryptic species are under-sampled but play important functional roles, there is a real-world need to know true biodiversity and network interactions. We will develop and test novel approaches to tackle this challenge to inform sustainable development in the face of the coral reef crisis. The response dynamics in ecological networks inform community robustness and this information is key to management decision making.

生态系统中生物体之间的相互依赖关系决定着生态功能、对生态系统变化的响应以及生态系统服务的提供。复杂的多物种相互作用形成生态网络，增加社区稳定性，众所周知，更高的多样性促进动态稳定性并抵消对生态系统的压力。了解这些生态网络和动态响应多种慢性和急性环境干扰是设计保护措施的关键，但网络动态在热带海洋系统中仍然是未知的。Wallacea地区不仅是全球珊瑚礁多样性的中心，它的珊瑚礁也是数百万人最重要的食物和收入来源。该区域对于维持全球受威胁的珊瑚礁生物多样性具有全球重要性，因为它是少数尚未因气候压力事件而经历大规模退化的珊瑚礁之一。然而，该区域的珊瑚礁受到当地压力的巨大影响，最明显的是陆源沉积物径流和渔业过度捕捞。缓解这些当地压力的管理正在进行中，但由于普遍缺乏数据和了解这些压力如何影响整个地区的生物多样性及其相互作用而受到严重阻碍。由于当地资源、时间和专业知识有限，目前Wallacea的大多数珊瑚礁都无法克服缺乏信息管理的问题。该项目涉及三个目标，需要解决这些挑战。首先，我们将采用传统的珊瑚礁，大型无脊椎动物和鱼类的视觉观察技术，以确定生态网络在基本上未受影响，沉积或降低水质和捕鱼地点之间的差异。生态网络将使用新的/先进的生态建模方法和网络理论的基础上，实地数据进行量化。这一目标的重点是容易观察到的非神秘的类群最初，并将形成我们的eDNA的比较评估的基础上，有很大的潜力，但仍然未经验证的珊瑚礁系统。我们的第二个目标将验证eDNA的效用，在描述珊瑚礁生物多样性动态和测试的第一次如何构建网络从eDNA相比，从生态调查。结果将提供独特的见解和潜在的一步改变珊瑚礁监测方法，通过扩大机会，加强空间和时间采样，同时提供与生态网络及其指标，已使用这些新的eDNA数据构建的置信限。最后，在评估了eDNA技术的应用后，我们计划利用来自偏远地区的广泛eDNA样本绘制Wallacea珊瑚礁生物多样性地图。我们将扩大eDNA采样到Wallacea内的另外10个地点，以提供前所未有的空间和生态复杂性尺度的新数据，使我们能够在与印度尼西亚海洋空间规划最相关的尺度上模拟和预测人为压力的变化。尽管在超级多样化的珊瑚礁生态系统中存在着高度的功能冗余，但物种的丧失将改变群落的组成和功能，带来广泛的生态、社会和经济影响。对于复杂系统中的保护工作，其中神秘物种采样不足，但发挥重要的功能作用，有一个真实的世界需要知道真正的生物多样性和网络相互作用。我们将开发和测试新的方法来应对这一挑战，在面对珊瑚礁危机时为可持续发展提供信息。生态网络中的响应动态为社区的稳健性提供了信息，这些信息是管理决策的关键。

项目成果

Large scale study of benthic communities in Eastern Indonesia's reef systems

印度尼西亚东部珊瑚礁系统底栖群落的大规模研究

• DOI: 10.1016/j.rsma.2021.101731
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Regional Studies in Marine Science
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: Razak T

Strategies for sample labelling and library preparation in DNA metabarcoding studies.

• DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13512
• 发表时间: 2022-05
• 期刊: MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Bohmann, Kristine;Elbrecht, Vasco;Caroe, Christian;Bista, Iliana;Leese, Florian;Bunce, Michael;Yu, Douglas W.;Seymour, Mathew;Dumbrell, Alex J.;Creer, Simon
• 通讯作者: Creer, Simon

Anaerobes and methanogens dominate the microbial communities in water harvesting ponds used by Kenyan rural smallholder farmers.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153040
• 发表时间: 2022-01
• 期刊: The Science of the total environment
• 作者: Benjamin H Gregson;A. Bani;Laurel A. Steinfield;D. Holt;C. Whitby