COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Impact of the 2010 Caribbean Coral Bleaching Event: Assessing Changes in Coral Immune Function

调查人员要求迅速提供资金，以评估2010年加勒比漂白事件对珊瑚基因表达、免疫功能和珊瑚礁群落的影响。2010年目前是有记录以来最热的一年，有可能在加勒比海盆地和加勒比海东南部造成最大的热异常之一，超过了之前打破纪录的2005年的温度。这些调查人员将在这一短暂事件期间和之后在加勒比海东南部选定的地点进行珊瑚调查，并在波多黎各进行样本采集，以将珊瑚健康措施与以前收集的事件前数据进行比较。这项研究将整合多个层次的数据，从遥感温度卫星记录到珊瑚健康、覆盖率和多样性调查，再到珊瑚个体免疫功能和微生物组合的研究。这一热事件的规模非常大，研究人员推测，正如2005年加勒比海漂白事件和2002年澳大利亚漂白事件之后所观察到的那样，疾病水平将在这次事件之后增加。这项快速研究还将检验这样一种假设，即这种大规模的热异常将对波多黎各的珊瑚造成压力，并下调热敏性物种(Montastrea Spp)的免疫基因表达，但可能上调热适性物种(Gorgonia Ventalina)的表达。研究人员还假设，这种预期的珊瑚漂白水平将改变这两个物种的表面微生物群落，使其更多地以弧菌为基础，这是增加疾病对机会性病原体的易感性的第一步。智力优势：该项目与了解海洋生态系统的弹性以及海洋变暖事件对珊瑚生理和生物多样性的影响有关。目前对温暖热异常的影响的了解主要限于珊瑚本身的漂白反应，而关于温暖温度如何通过微生物成分和/或珊瑚的免疫反应改变珊瑚全息生物的功能的了解要少得多。通过这种极端和短暂的事件跟踪野外珊瑚的生理和基因表达具有巨大的价值。实验室研究永远不可能真正复制这些野外条件，特别是对自然栖息微生物群落的破坏，而这对珊瑚礁来说是如此关键。这一快速项目将侧重于有活动前数据/样本的目标：1)监测波多黎各、格林纳达、特立尼达、墨西哥尤卡坦半岛和巴拿马的珊瑚疾病、珊瑚物种多样性和珊瑚覆盖率；2)评估坚韧的柳珊瑚(Gorgonia Ventalina)和敏感的珊瑚虫(Montastraea Spp)的珊瑚免疫反应和免疫基因表达。采样将在漂白前、加热期间和恢复后进行。3)评估上述两个物种在加热事件之前、期间和之后的总微生物群落的变化。广泛影响：珊瑚漂白的巨大视觉影响将被记录在照片和视频中，当这些照片和视频被用于网站、媒体和讲座渠道时，将有助于引起公众对珊瑚健康的关注(例如www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/27/harvell.coral.reefs/index.html).然后，这种兴趣将被用来提高公众对海洋中更微妙的气候影响的理解。通过这一快速项目，调查人员将与伊萨卡科学中心、古生物研究所、科学卡巴莱、阿灵顿独立学区以及全国范围内的“拓展你的视野”计划和“女孩的莎莉骑行科学节”等正在进行的地方公共推广计划进一步发展。这项工作也体现了康奈尔可持续未来中心的许多目标，因此，该中心将为这一项目贡献配套资金。

The investigators requested RAPID funding to assess the impact of the 2010 Caribbean bleaching event on coral gene expression, immune function and coral reef communities. 2010 is currently tracking as the warmest year ever on record, potentially creating one of the largest thermal anomalies in the Caribbean basin and in the southeastern Caribbean, exceeding the previous record-breaking temperatures of 2005. These investigators will perform coral surveys at selected sites in the southeastern Caribbean and sample collections in Puerto Rico during and after this transient event to compare coral health measures with previously collected pre-event data. The study will integrate several levels of data, from remote temperature sensing satellite records, to coral health, cover and diversity surveys, to studies of individual coral immune function and microbial assemblages. The scale of this thermal event is significant enough that the investigators hypothesize levels of disease will increase following this event, as was observed after the 2005 Caribbean bleaching event and the 2002 Australian bleaching event. The RAPID study will also test the hypothesis that this large scale thermal anomaly will stress corals in Puerto Rico and down-regulate immune gene expression in thermally sensitive species (Montastrea spp), but potentially up-regulate expression in a thermally resilient species (Gorgonia ventalina). The investigators also hypothesize that this expected level of coral bleaching will change the surface microbial communities of both species toward more Vibrio-based communities, and this is the first step in increased disease susceptibility to opportunistic pathogens.Intellectual merit: This project is relevant to an understanding of the resilience of marine ecosystems and the impact of ocean warming events on coral physiology and biodiversity. Current understanding of the impacts of warm thermal anomalies is largely restricted to the bleaching response of the corals themselves, with much less known about how warm temperatures change the functioning of the coral holobiont via the microbial constituents and/or the immune responses of corals. There is tremendous value in following the physiology and gene expression of corals in the field through an extreme and transient event like this. Laboratory studies could never truly duplicate these field conditions, particularly with respect to disruptions to the natural resident microbial community that is so critical to the coral holobiont. This RAPID project will focus on objectives for which pre-event data/samples exist:1) Monitoring levels of coral disease, coral species diversity and coral cover in Puerto Rico, Grenada, Trinidad, the Mexican Yucatan, and Panama.2) Assessment of coral immune responses and immune gene expression in a resilient gorgonian (Gorgonia ventalina) and a susceptible scleractinian (Montastraea spp). Sampling will occur pre-bleaching, during the heating event and after recovery.3) Assessment of changes in total microbial community before, during and after the heating event in the two above mentioned species.Broader Impacts: The dramatic visual impacts of coral bleaching will be captured in photos and videos that, when used in website, media and lecture outlets will help to garner public interest in coral health (e.g. www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/27/harvell.coral.reefs/index.html). This interest will then be leveraged to raise public understanding of more subtle climate impacts in the ocean. Through this RAPID project the investigators will build upon ongoing local public outreach programs with the Ithaca Science center, Paleontological Research Institution, Science Cabaret, Arlington Independent School District as well as national outreach such as the "Expanding your Horizons" program and the "Sally Ride Science Festival for Girls". This work also embodies many of the objectives of the Cornell Center for Sustainable Futures, and for this reason, the center will contribute matching funds to this project.