Exploration, conservation, & development of marine biodiversity in Fiji

描述（申请人提供）：我们的总体目标是：（1）协调对南太平洋生物体的调查，将其作为治疗太平洋岛屿和美国重要疾病的药物资源，并用于新的生物能源应用;（2）支持可持续利用生物勘探所依赖的生物多样性，和（3）了解珊瑚礁生态系统退化的过程，并启动适合当地的保护措施，以提高珊瑚礁对当地和全球压力的抵抗力，（4）利用NIH，南太平洋大学（USP）和其他资源，将南太平洋生物多样性保护和药物发现中心（SPCBCDD）发展成为一个自我维持的机构，为南太平洋大学的12个国家提供服务（库克群岛、斐济、基里巴斯、马歇尔群岛、瑙鲁、纽埃、萨摩亚、所罗门群岛、托克劳、汤加、图瓦卢和瓦努阿图），和（5）发展珊瑚礁活石的“绿色”养殖，作为对目前斐济珊瑚礁活石开采的破坏性做法的一种环境上适当和经济上可行的替代办法。药物发现将集中在（1）生物遗传学上不同的和化学丰富的海洋放线菌，使代谢产物在生物医学筛选中具有活性，并拥有对可持续能源开发有价值的新代谢途径，以及（2）化学丰富的珊瑚礁大型生物，通常上调防御化学反应，以应对天敌的攻击，模拟攻击或其他压力。这些生物体的提取物将针对相关模型进行生物测定，包括：耐药细菌、真菌、结核病、疟疾、心理障碍和癌症。此外，我们将评估热带珊瑚礁生物多样性的模式，并进行实地实验，以确定共同压力的相对影响（例如，过度捕捞、营养化）导致海藻取代珊瑚，并加速世界各地珊瑚礁生物多样性的急剧丧失。为此，我们将确定所涉及的过程和机制，阐明那些控制最具侵略性的海藻的关键食草动物，并与村领导合作，根据这一科学投入制定有效的资源管理战略。我们还将继续发展我们为资助斐济珊瑚礁和红树林系统的保护而创建的一个基于网络的基金会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our overall goals are to : (1) coordinate investigations of South Pacific organisms as pharmaceutical resources for treating diseases of importance in the Pacific Islands and United States and for novel bioenergy applications (2) support sustainable uses of the biodiversity upon which such bioprospecting depends, and (3) understand the processes degrading coral reef ecosystems and initiate locally-appropriate conservation measures to enhance reef resiliance to both local and global pressures, (4) leverage NIH, University of the South Pacific (USP), and other resources to develop the South Pacific Center for Biodiversity Conservation and Drug Discovery (SPCBCDD) into a self-sustaining institution serving the 12 countries that operate USP (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu), and (5) develop "green" culturing of coral reef live rock as an environmentally appropriate and economically viable substiture for the present destructive practices of live rock mining from Fijian reefs. Drug discovery will focus on (1) phylogenetically distinct and chemically rich marine actinomycetes making metabolites that are active in biomedical screens and that hosts novel metabolic pathways valuable for sustainable energy development, and (2) on chemically-rich coral reef macroorganisms that commonly upregulate defensive chemistry in response to attack from natural enemies, simulated attack, or other stresses. Extracts from these organisms will be bioassayed against relevant models including: drug resistant bacteria, fungi, TB, Malaria, psychological disorders, and cancer. Additionally, we will evaluate patterns in tropical reef biodiversity and conduct field experiments to determine the relative impacts of common stresses (e.g., overfishing, nutrification) causing seaweed replacement of corals and precipitating the dramatic loss of biodiversity that is occurring on coral reefs worldwide. Toward this end we will identify the processes and mechanisms involved, elucidate those critical herbivores that control the most aggressive seaweeds, and work with village leaders to develop effective resource management strategies based on this scientific input. We will also continue developing a web based foundation we have created for funding conservation of Fijian coral reef and mangrove systems.