LTER: MCR II - Long-Term Dynamics of a Coral Reef Ecosystem

智力优势：莫雷阿珊瑚礁（MCR）LTER是一个跨学科的研究和教育计划，成立于2004年，旨在探索气候和干扰对珊瑚礁结构和功能的联合影响。研究区域是法属波利尼西亚莫雷阿岛周围的珊瑚礁复合体。（MCR I）的最初重点是促进对调节生态系统功能，塑造群落结构和多样性，并确定组成种群的丰度和动态的过程的主要控制的理解。LTER研究人员在此基础上，通过调整统一的概念框架（US LTER 2007）和开发一套研究主题来组织MCR II研究计划并促进跨站点合作。珊瑚礁生态系统似乎特别容易受到与全球气候变化有关的非生物驱动因素的影响。这是由两种与大气中二氧化碳浓度增加有关的机制引起的：由于温室效应导致的海水温度上升，以及被称为海洋酸化（OA）的海水化学变化。在过去十年中，这些与气候有关的驱动因素对珊瑚礁的相对重要性发生了范式转变。最初的重点是海水温度上升，因为它引发了几次大规模的，明显的珊瑚漂白（即，内共生体共生藻的丧失）事件。现在人们普遍认识到，OA及其与温度上升的相互作用有可能导致更广泛的变化。这些驱动程序发生在其他媒体的背景下（例如，钓鱼）和脉冲（例如，风暴）扰动。在MCR I期间，棘冠海星（COTS）的短暂爆发导致Moorea前礁上几乎所有珊瑚死亡，将与状态变化，恢复力（恢复），互动效应和间接级联相关的问题带到了最前沿。MRC LTER团队将在MCR II中解决的基本问题是：在不同空间和时间尺度上运行的驱动因素如何相互作用，以影响珊瑚礁生态系统的结构和功能？该项目包括三个组织主题：（一）驱动因素之间的互动效应，（二）结构-功能联系产生的间接效应，以及（三）与结构-功能反馈有关的弹性和阻力。第二次监测和报告的六个目标是：（a）继续建立关于物理驱动因素、群落动态和生态系统进程的长期数据集;（B）保持长期的复原力实验;（c）促进了解全球气候变化驱动因素将如何影响珊瑚礁以及哪些因素会影响抵抗力和复原力;（d）发展和测试一般生态理论;（e）继续改进我们的信息管理系统，以更充分地满足长期应急反应网络和更广泛的科学界的需要;以及（f）加强我们的外联部分。珊瑚礁不仅在生态上具有重要意义--它们每年产生的商品和服务价值超过3750亿美元（其中大多数在发展中国家），这些国家易受人类活动和气候强迫的影响。因此，这项研究具有相关性和应用的资源管理者，政策制定者和利益相关者在世界各地。教育活动产生的更广泛的影响包括博士后指导，研究，整合本科和研究生培训，走向种族多元化的MCR学生社区的进展，K-12教师在MCR研究的积极参与，在教学课程中纳入MCR研究结果，MCR教师和研究生在三海计划的参与，以及来自主要为本科生和少数民族服务的机构的教师和学生的参与。外联工作产生了更多影响，包括与三所为社会经济弱势群体和少数民族学生服务的当地学校建立伙伴关系，并与莫雷阿岛的Atitia中心建立伙伴关系，以接触塔希提人。虽然信息丰富的网站将继续是一个主要的外联门户，但调查人员计划与另一个以中学生为对象的网络实体建立伙伴关系。

Intellectual Merit: The Moorea Coral Reef (MCR) LTER is an interdisciplinary research and education program that was established in 2004, to explore the joint effects of climate and disturbance on the structure and function of coral reefs. The study area is the reef complex that surrounds the island of Moorea in French Polynesia. The initial focus of (MCR I) was to advance understanding of major controls of processes that modulate ecosystem function, shape community structure and diversity, and determine abundance and dynamics of constituent populations. The LTER Investigators build on this foundation by adapting a unifying conceptual framework (US LTER 2007) and developing a set of research themes to organize the MCR II research program and facilitate cross-site collaboration. Coral reef ecosystems appear especially vulnerable to changes in abiotic drivers associated with Global Climate Change (GCC). These arise from two mechanisms related to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2: rising seawater temperature due to greenhouse warming, and changing seawater chemistry known as Ocean Acidification (OA). A paradigm shift occurred within the past decade regarding the relative importance of these climate-related drivers to coral reefs. The focus initially was on rising seawater temperature because it triggered several large-scale, conspicuous coral bleaching (i.e., loss of the endosymbiont Symbiodinium) events. There now is widespread recognition that OA and its interaction with rising temperature have the potential to cause even more sweeping changes. These drivers occur against a backdrop of other press (e.g., fishing) and pulse (e.g., storms) perturbations. During MCR I, a brief outbreak of crown-of-thorns seastars (COTS) resulted in the death of virtually all coral on the fore reef of Moorea, bringing issues related to state change, resilience (recovery), interactive effects and indirect cascades to the forefront. The fundamental question that the MRC LTER Team will address in MCR II is:How do drivers that operate over different spatial and temporal scales interact to influence the structure and function of coral reef ecosystems?The project incorporates three organizing themes: (i) interactive effects among drivers, (ii) indirect effects arising from structure-function linkages, and (iii) resilience and resistance in relation to structure-function feedbacks. The six goals of MCR II are to: (a) continue building long-term datasets on physical drivers, community dynamics and ecosystem processes; (b) maintain a long-term resilience experiment; (c) contribute to understanding of how Global Climate Change drivers will affect coral reefs and what factors influence resistance and resilience; (d) develop and test general ecological theory; (e) continue to improve our information management system to more fully meet the needs of the LTER network and broader scientific community; and (f) enhance our outreach components.Broader Impacts: Coral reefs are not just ecologically important - they yield upwards of $375 billion annually in goods and services (most of it in the developing world) that are vulnerable to human activities and climate forcing. Hence this research has relevance and application to resource managers, policy makers and stakeholders worldwide. Broader impacts arising from the educational activities include postdoctoral mentoring, research that integrates undergraduate and graduate training, progress towards an ethnically diverse MCR student community, active participation of K-12 teachers in MCR research, incorporation of MCR findings in teaching curricula, participation of MCR faculty and graduate students in the Three Seas Program, and involvement of faculty and students from predominately undergraduate and minority-serving institutions. Additional impacts are realized by outreach efforts, including partnerships with three local schools that serve socio-economically disadvantaged and minority students, and with the Atitia Center on Moorea to reach Tahitians. While the information-rich web site will continue to be a primary outreach portal, the investigators plan to develop a partnership with another web-based entity to target middle-school students.