Collaborative Research: CAMEO: Comparative analyses of natural and human influences on coral reef community structure, diversity, and resilience

珊瑚礁是种类最多、生产力最高的海洋生态系统之一，但也是受人类活动威胁最大的生态系统之一。在地方一级，捕鱼和陆地污染源可直接改变珊瑚礁群落的结构，而在全球一级，气候变化和海洋酸化的影响预计将对即使是最偏远的珊瑚礁造成间歇性和长期的压力。为了最有效地实施生态系统方法来管理珊瑚礁，必须了解珊瑚礁健康退化的途径以及这些变化的功能后果。太平洋岛屿地区是美国最大的管理区，拥有许多生物多样性最丰富、最原始的珊瑚礁生态系统。NOAA内部的监测方案提供了一系列方法上一致的数据，可用于比较方法，以解决生态系统组织和结构在维持生态系统复原力方面的作用的基本问题。抽样设计跨越空间、时间和人为干扰的多个梯度，可以重复测试局部与全球压力源对这些系统的现状和从人为干扰中恢复的影响。对这些数据的分析将提供一个前所未有的观点，人类活动如何影响美国太平洋地区的珊瑚礁群落结构，多样性和动态。这些将侧重于珊瑚礁群落结构，多样性和生态系统恢复力，以1）记录美国太平洋珊瑚礁群落结构的现状和变化; 2）推进对控制珊瑚礁生态系统的复杂动态的理解;和3）开发有效的基于密度和多样性的珊瑚礁生态系统健康指标。斯克里普斯海洋学研究所和NOAA之间的合作将提供技能和资源，对美国珊瑚礁的一些最独特的，分类学上彻底的和地理上广泛的数据进行比较分析和综合。除了通过一系列主要出版物进行宣传外，研究结果还将通过对研究生和本科生的培训以及与政府、非营利组织和学术珊瑚礁利益团体的沟通产生广泛影响，提出具体建议，以提高管理政策和做法的效力。通过调查地理区域之间的相似性和差异性模式，将提供针对具体区域的科学咨询意见，以提高地方、区域和国家各级的管理效率。研究结果还将直接纳入美国太平洋各岛屿地区的综合珊瑚礁生态系统监测报告，这些报告专门针对资源管理人员，以促进在区域管理计划中实施生态系统方法。

Coral reefs are among the most diverse and productive marine ecosystems, but are also among the most threatened by human activities. At the local scale, fishing and land-based sources of pollution can directly alter the structure of reef communities, and at the global scale, the effects of climate change and ocean acidification are expected to impose episodic and chronic stresses to even the most remote reefs. To most effectively implement ecosystem approaches to the management of coral reefs, it is critical to understand the pathway by which reef health is degraded and the functional consequences of these changes. The Pacific Islands region forms the nation's largest management area, and includes many of the most biologically diverse and pristine coral reef ecosystems. Monitoring programs within NOAA provide a time series of methodologically consistent data with which to use comparative approaches to address fundamental questions of the role of ecosystem organization and structure in maintaining ecosystem resilience. The sampling design spans across space, time and multiple gradients of anthropogenic disturbance allowing for replicated tests of the effects of local versus global stressors on the current status and recovery of these systems from human disturbances. Analysis of these data will provide an unprecedented view of how anthropogenic activities affect coral reef community structure, diversity, and dynamics in the U.S. Pacific. These will focus on coral reef community structure, diversity, and ecosystem resilience to 1) document the status and variability of U.S. Pacific coral reef community structure; 2) advance understanding of the complex dynamics controlling coral reef ecosystems; and 3) develop effective density- and diversity-based indicators of reef ecosystem health. A collaboration between Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA will provide skills and resources to conduct comparative analyses and syntheses of some of the most unique, taxonomically thorough and geographically extensive data from coral reefs of the U.S. The investigators will integrate existing Pacific interdisciplinary ecosystem observations, including habitat, biological, physical, and biogeochemical data, with newly collected socioeconomic data using a tailored suite of statistical approaches.In addition to outreach through a series of primary publications, results will have broad impacts through training of graduate and undergraduate students as well as communication with governmental, non-profit, and academic coral reef interest groups, providing specific recommendations to increase the efficacy of management policies and practices. By investigating patterns of similarity and difference among geographic regions, region-specific scientific advice will be provided to improve management efficacy at local, regional, and national levels. Results will also be directly incorporated into comprehensive Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Reports for each U.S. Pacific Islands region that are aimed specifically at resource managers to facilitate implementation of ecosystem approaches in regional management plans.