EL NINO-SOUTHERN OSCILLATION DISTURBANCES ON EASTERN PACIFIC CORAL REEFS: PATTERNS AND MECHANISMS OF RECOVERY

这项全面的跨学科研究侧重于厄尔尼诺-南方涛动对东太平洋珊瑚礁的扰动，将扩大对珊瑚礁生态系统对气候变化，特别是海洋变暖事件和相关扰动的影响和反应的了解。该项目由Peter Glynn博士领导，建立在一个35年的物理和生物研究数据库的基础上，涉及一个协调的拉丁美洲/美国团队网络，主要在哥斯达黎加、巴拿马、哥伦比亚和厄瓜多尔（大陆和加拉帕戈斯群岛）工作。智力上的优点。该项目的主要目标是继续和扩大调查珊瑚礁衰退的原因（包括近期和长期原因），以及珊瑚礁种群、群落和生态系统功能对厄尔尼诺/南方涛动扰动的反应。主要方向是调查支持有记录的快速恢复的机制，恢复的限制，提供深入了解生态系统功能，以及东太平洋珊瑚礁作为模型系统的潜力，以了解未来全球变化对其他珊瑚礁系统的影响。有三个特别重要的因素证明有理由继续进行这一多方面的研究：（1）早在1980年代第一次有记录的珊瑚漂白事件之前东太平洋珊瑚礁结构和与珊瑚礁有关的群落组成的长期数据库;（2）全球变暖和珊瑚礁退化之间的因果关系，对珊瑚群落结构、珊瑚生长和珊瑚礁增生以及珊瑚框架侵蚀产生明显影响;（3）根据过去累积的反应评估今后的反应潜力和适应/适应能力。继续进行的项目中的新倡议包括：（a）在温度变化期间进行有关珊瑚繁殖和藻类共生体群落结构的实验，（B）对珊瑚礁保护区的深层热条件进行定性，（c）进行实地观察/实验，比较珊瑚礁框架丧失对后生动物补充、物种多样性和摄食率的影响，（d）对珊瑚礁框架取芯，揭示已知ENSO事件的埋藏特征，以确定以前事件的频率，这些研究包括：（a）利用氮、碳和硫同位素研究珊瑚宿主和共生体种群的遗传结构，利用分子和核糖体脱氧核糖核酸和蛋白质电泳记录耐热群体的变化，（b）研究珊瑚宿主和共生体种群的遗传结构，（c）研究珊瑚骨骼的生长和密度，（d）研究珊瑚宿主和共生体种群的遗传结构，（e）研究珊瑚宿主和共生体种群的遗传结构，（h）建立能量流动和生态系统营养过程和复杂性模型。更广泛的影响。同行评审的出版物现在有60种，对海洋学、古生态学/古气候学、地质学、干扰生态学（群落恢复、相移）、营养动力学、种群动力学（珊瑚繁殖和补充、建模、遗传结构和连通性）和共生体生态学等学科作出了贡献。迄今为止，来自巴拿马、厄瓜多尔、哥斯达黎加、哥伦比亚和美国（加上其他9个国家）的107名研究生和本科生参加了该项目，完成了39个博士学位。硕士学位论文论文和荣誉报告。学生接受物理和生物取样、物种鉴定、水下和实验室实验（包括仪器、设计和数据分析）的实地方法培训，并在各自国家培训其他人。这些对生态过程的研究有助于在哥斯达黎加（卡诺岛国家公园）、巴拿马（科伊巴国家公园）和厄瓜多尔（加拉帕戈斯国家公园）建立和管理海洋保护区。除了国际努力之外，合作者Peggy Fong在过去10年中每季度在加州大学洛杉矶分校指导2至6名本科研究人员，其中许多人在联邦政府支持的外展计划中代表性不足。

This comprehensive and interdisciplinary study, focusing on El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) disturbances to eastern Pacific coral reefs, will broaden understanding of the impact and responses of coral reef ecosystems to climate change, particularly sea warming events and associated perturbations. The project is led by Dr. Peter Glynn and builds on a 35-year database of physical and biological studies, and involves a coordinated Latin American/U.S. network of teams working principally in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador (mainland and Galapagos Islands). Intellectual merit. The chief objectives of this project are to continue and expand investigation into the causes of coral reef decline (both immediate and long-term), and the responses of reef coral populations, communities and ecosystem function in relation to ENSO disturbances. Key directions are investigations into mechanisms supporting documented rapid recovery, limitations to recovery that provide insight into ecosystem function, and the potential for eastern Pacific reefs to act as model systems to understand future impacts of global change in other reef systems. Three elements of special significance that justify continuation of this multifaceted study are:(1) the long-term data base of eastern Pacific coral reef structure and reef-associated community composition pre-dating the first documented coral bleaching events of the 1980s, (2) the causal relationship between global warming and reef degradation with demonstrable effects on coral community structure, coral growth and reef accretion, and coral framework erosion, and (3) assessing future response potential and the capacity for acclimatization/adaptation in light of cumulative past responses. New initiatives in the continuing project include (a) experiments relating coral reproduction and algal symbiont community structure during periods of temperature change, (b) characterization of deep reef thermal conditions vis-a-vis coral refugia, (c) field observations/experiments to compare effects of reef framework loss on metazoan recruitment, species diversity, and feeding rates, (d) coring reef frames to reveal taphonomic signatures of known ENSO events in order to determine the frequency of previous events, (e) relating carbonate chemistry of reef waters, e.g., pH, alkalinity and aragonite saturation states, to coral skeletal growth and density, (f) investigations into trophic structure complexity using N, C and S isotopes, (g) genetic structure of coral host and symbiont populations utilizing molecular and ribosomal DNA and protein electrophoresis to document shifts in thermally-tolerant groups, and (h) modeling of energy flow and ecosystem trophic processes and complexity. Broader impacts. Peer reviewed publications now number 60, contributing to the disciplines of oceanography, paleoecology/paleoclimatology, geology, disturbance ecology (community recovery, phase shifts), trophodynamics, population dynamics (coral reproduction and recruitment, modeling, genetic structure and connectivity), and symbiont ecology. To date, 107 graduate and undergraduate students from Panama, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and the USA (plus 9 other countries) have participated in the project, resulting in the completion of 39 Ph.D. dissertations, M.S. theses and Honors reports. Students are trained in field methods for physical and biological sampling, species identifications, underwater and laboratory experiments (including instrumentation, design and data analysis), and train others in their respective countries. These studies of ecological processes have aided in the establishment and management efforts of marine protected areas in Costa Rica (Cano Island National Park), Panama (Coiba National Park), and Ecuador (Galapagos National Park). In addition to international efforts, collaborator Peggy Fong has mentored 2 to 6 undergraduate researchers per quarter at UCLA over the last 10 years, many of whom are under-represented minorities in the federally supported outreach program.