Establishing Marine Biodiversity Baselines for Blue Carbon Habitats

建立蓝碳栖息地的海洋生物多样性基线

• 批准号: 2607215
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Aberdeen
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2607215
• 关键词: Establishing; Marine; Biodiversity; Baselines; Blue

Coastal ecosystems play a key role in combating the climate crisis by storing and sequestering carbon, but many of these blue carbon ecosystems face ongoing threats from environmental change and human activities. Maintaining biological diversity in these habitats is essential for proper carbon cycling but many marine taxa that contribute to this process remain undocumented. In fact, marine invertebrates are especially important contributors to long-term carbon storage because many produce calcareous shells, but genetic data is lacking for well over 50% of the marine invertebrate fauna in the UK. The first step in increasing our knowledge and protecting blue carbon habitats is to document and monitor biodiversity. Molecular methods for monitoring biodiversity (i.e. metabarcoding) have been shown to be more efficient than traditional monitoring approaches, but only when used alongside a complete reference database. As such, the lack of a reference database for taxa inhabiting blue carbon ecosystems across the UK limits our ability to protect these habitats. You will help address these knowledge gaps by establishing a marine invertebrate DNA barcode reference library for priority blue carbon habitats in the UK and testing environmental DNA methods to support the future monitoring of these vulnerable habitats. Specifically, you will:i) Synthesize our current understanding of the role of marine invertebrates in carbon sequestration and storageii) Collect and identify marine invertebrates from blue carbon habitats across the UK, with a focus on priority littoral and sublittoral habitats (e.g. maerl beds, seagrass beds, intertidal mudflats, coastal saltmarsh), using a variety of field collection methods and supplementing with museum collections. You will also collect water and sediment samples for objective iv).iii) Use molecular techniques to build a comprehensive DNA barcode reference library for marine invertebrates from blue carbon habitatsiv) Evaluate the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a tool for assessing biodiversity in blue carbon habitats by comparing diversity and abundance in a standardized sample to that in aqueous and sediment samples analysed with eDNA metabarcoding. This will be one of the first projects to directly compare the recovery of benthic invertebrate species from different eDNA sources in the British Isles.

沿海生态系统通过储存和隔离碳，在应对气候危机方面发挥着关键作用，但许多这些蓝碳生态系统面临着环境变化和人类活动的持续威胁。维持这些栖息地的生物多样性对于适当的碳循环至关重要，但许多有助于这一过程的海洋分类群尚未被记录。事实上，海洋无脊椎动物是长期碳储存的重要贡献者，因为许多海洋无脊椎动物产生钙质外壳，但英国超过50%的海洋无脊椎动物缺乏遗传数据。增加我们的知识和保护蓝碳栖息地的第一步是记录和监测生物多样性。监测生物多样性的分子方法（即元条形码）已被证明比传统的监测方法更有效，但只有在与完整的参考数据库一起使用时才有效。因此，由于缺乏英国蓝碳生态系统分类群的参考数据库，限制了我们保护这些栖息地的能力。您将通过建立英国优先蓝碳栖息地的海洋无脊椎动物DNA条形码参考库和测试环境DNA方法来帮助解决这些知识空白，以支持未来对这些脆弱栖息地的监测。具体来说，你将：i)综合我们目前对海洋无脊椎动物在碳封存和储存中的作用的理解i)收集和识别来自英国各地蓝碳栖息地的海洋无脊椎动物，重点是沿海和沿海下栖息地（例如沼泽床，海草床，潮间带泥滩，沿海盐沼），使用各种实地收集方法并辅以博物馆收藏。您还将为目标iv)收集水和沉积物样本。iii)使用分子技术建立来自蓝碳栖息地的海洋无脊椎动物的综合DNA条形码参考库。v)通过比较标准化样品与eDNA元条形码分析的水和沉积物样品的多样性和丰度，评估环境DNA （eDNA）作为评估蓝碳栖息地生物多样性的工具的使用。这将是第一个直接比较不列颠群岛不同eDNA来源的底栖无脊椎动物物种恢复的项目之一。