Palmyra Atoll Research Coordination Network (PARCnet): Integrating Research For Coral Reef Ecosystem Science and Management

巴尔米拉环礁研究协调网络旨在联合参与在中太平洋偏远珊瑚礁巴尔米拉环礁进行研究的学术和保护机构。巴尔米拉为研究健康的珊瑚礁生态系统的功能提供了理想的环境。最近，人们对人类在历史和史前时代改变珊瑚礁结构以及大多数其他海洋系统的程度的认识大幅增加。面对全球珊瑚礁的减少，目前的管理做法迫切需要重新评估，有关管理珊瑚礁群落结构的过程的综合科学应在这种重新评估中发挥重要作用。PARCnet将汇集广泛的个人群体，包括政府和非政府组织保护生物学家、教育工作者、系统模型师、理论家和珊瑚礁专家，以形成一个网络，开展创新的跨学科工作，以提高对珊瑚礁和偏远热带岛屿系统的科学理解和保护。PARCnet成员的年度务虚会将提供一个积极讨论和合作的一般论坛，一个互动网站将提供一个集中的资源，向PARCnet成员和更广泛的公众存储、探索、讨论和传播科学数据。此外，该网络将通过资助参加网络会议和在其他相关科学会议上组织PARCnet专题讨论会，积极促进学生参与PARCnet。通过促进不同个人和不同职业阶段的协同研究和合作，以及主要自然历史博物馆和大学的参与，PARCnet将向公众以及保护和资源管理人员通报地球上的珊瑚生态系统。PARCnet的努力有望为世界珊瑚礁和陆地环礁系统在应对气候、人类使用和管理实践的变化时的未来轨迹提供令人兴奋的新见解。

The Palmyra Atoll Research Coordination Network aims to unite academic and conservation institutions involved in conducting research at Palmyra Atoll, a remote coral atoll in the Central Pacific. Palmyra offers an ideal setting for studying the functioning of healthy reef ecosystems. Recently, recognition has increased substantially about the degree to which humans, over historical and pre-historical times, have modified the structure of coral reefs as well as most other marine systems. Current management practices urgently need reassessment in the face of global declines in coral reefs and integrative science about the processes governing reef community structure should play a strong role in this reassessment. PARCnet will bring together a broad group of individuals, including governmental and NGO conservation biologists, educators, systems modelers, theoreticians, and coral reef experts to form a network that conducts innovative, interdisciplinary work to improve scientific understanding and conservation of reef and remote tropical island systems. Annual retreats for PARCnet members will provide a general forum for active discussion and collaboration, and an interactive website will provide a centralized resource to store, explore, discuss, and disseminate scientific data to PARCnet members and the broader public. In addition, the Network will actively promote student involvement in PARCnet through financial assistance to attend network meetings and through the organization of PARCnet symposia at other relevant scientific meetings. Through the promotion of synergistic research and collaboration across a diverse range of individuals and career stages, as well as the involvement of major natural history museums and universities, PARCnet will inform both the general public as well as conservation and resource managers about the earth's coral ecosystems. PARCnet's efforts promise to provide exciting new insights into the future trajectory of the world's coral reefs and terrestrial atoll systems as they respond to changes in climate, human usage, and management practices.