NSERC Steacie Fellowship RTI: Illuminating the Mechanisms of Coral Reef Resilience to Climate Change

充满活力的珊瑚礁是世界上最具生物多样性的海洋生态系统。他们也是最容易受到气候变化影响的国家。尽管气候变化将在未来几十年对所有海洋生物产生重大影响，但珊瑚礁的未来面临着日益频繁和严重的厄尔尼诺现象等脉冲热应激事件的迫在眉睫的威胁。即使是1摄氏度的热应力也会破坏珊瑚与其微小的藻类共生体之间的重要联系，导致它们漂白。长时间的漂白会导致珊瑚因饥饿而死亡。*2015-2016年厄尔尼诺事件引发的热压力引发了有记录以来最严重的全球珊瑚白化和大规模死亡事件。圣诞岛是赤道中部的太平洋环礁，我和我的团队过去十年一直在那里工作，它是零起点。珊瑚礁上的高温压力持续了10个月，导致90%的珊瑚死亡。*这一损失是毁灭性的。我们必须从中吸取教训。这次活动为开展长期研究提供了一个难得的机会，以评估：a)一些珊瑚是如何在前所未有的高温压力下存活下来的；b)珊瑚的广泛丧失如何影响珊瑚礁鱼类以及整个生物多样性和生态系统功能；c)通过珊瑚的招募和幸存者的生长，珊瑚的恢复率，以及哪些因素对加强恢复至关重要；d)整个生态系统的复原力正在发生怎样的变化。所要求的珊瑚追踪系统将提供必要的设备，使我和我的团队能够回答这些问题。它包括三个相互关联的系统：1)潜水系统，包括新的压缩机、坦克、装备和相关的安全设备，使我们能够通过水肺安全地在水下进行科学研究；2)珊瑚监测系统，包括用于环境监测的温度记录仪和海流计，用于捕捉一段时间内珊瑚礁恢复状态的相机，以及用于图像分析的高性能计算机。该系统使我们能够开展水下科学并处理相关数据；3)珊瑚样本保存系统，其中包括在进行分子分析之前保存所收集的珊瑚组织样本所需的科学冰柜和冰箱。这项研究促成的研究包括水下调查、图像和收集；海洋监测；新的3D图像和建模技术；以及分子分析。我们将使用这种新设备培训一大批本科生、研究生和博士后研究员，并将继续我们为他们提供科学职业生涯不可或缺的技能的强大历史。*我们的工作将为保护海洋免受渔业和污染等局部压力的影响是否增强其对气候变化的适应能力的问题提供关键的见解。它将推动生物多样性和复原力理论的发展，并将为加拿大提供知识和智力，以开发能够确保我们的海洋为子孙后代具有复原力的管理解决方案。**

Vibrant coral reefs are the world's most biologically diverse marine ecosystems. They are also the most vulnerable to climate change. Although climate change will significantly impact all ocean life in the coming decades, the future of coral reefs is under imminent threat from pulse heat-stress events like the increasingly frequent and severe El Niños. Heat stress of even 1°C disrupts the vital association between the corals and their microscopic algal symbionts, causing them to bleach. Prolonged bleaching can lead to coral mortality from starvation. ******Heat stress from the 2015-2016 El Niño event triggered the worst global coral bleaching and mass mortality event on record. Christmas Island, the central equatorial Pacific atoll where my team and I have worked for the past decade, was ground zero. Heat stress on its reefs persisted for ten months, resulting in 90% coral mortality. ******This loss is devastating. We must learn from it. This event presents an exceptional opportunity to conduct long-term studies to assess: a) how some coral survived unprecedented heat stress, b) how extensive coral loss impacts reef fishes and overall biodiversity and ecosystem function; c) coral recovery rates, via coral recruitment and growth of survivors, and which factors are vital to enhance recovery; d) how overall ecosystem resilience is changing. The requested Coral Tracking System will provide the necessary equipment to enable my team and I to answer these questions. It includes three inter-related systems: 1) a Dive System, including a new compressor, tanks, gear, and related safety equipment, which will allow us to safely conduct science underwater via SCUBA; 2) a Coral Monitoring System, which includes temperature loggers and current meters for environmental monitoring, cameras to capture reef recovery states over time, and a high-performance computer for image analysis. This system enables us to carry out the underwater science and to process the related data; 3) a Coral Sample Preservation System, which includes scientific freezers and fridges required for preservation of collected coral tissue samples, prior to molecular analysis. The research enabled by this research includes underwater surveys, images and collections; oceanographic monitoring; novel 3D imagery and modeling techniques; and molecular analyses. We will train a large team of undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in these methods using this new equipment, and we will continue our strong history of providing them with indispensable skills for their careers in science. ******Our work will provide critical insight into the question of whether protecting the ocean from local stressors, like fishing and pollution, enhances its resilience to climate change. It will advance biodiversity and resilience theory, and it will provide Canada with the knowledge and intellectual capacity to develop management solutions that can ensure our oceans are resilient for generations to come. **