Linking navigation behaviors of coral larvae to microbial cues and microbe-mediated mortality

许多水生动物产生的幼虫使用复杂的游泳行为来定位定居栖息地。水柱和沉降表面的微生物（细菌和古细菌）可能为动物幼虫提供导航信息，但微生物在珊瑚沉降过程各个阶段的作用尚不清楚。该项目将使用六种加勒比珊瑚的幼虫来测试一个关于珊瑚行为的新假设，即珊瑚幼虫利用水生微生物群落作为导航信息，并且它们会避开同一物种的成年珊瑚。该研究将：(1)通过视频分析量化珊瑚幼虫的游泳行为来确定它们如何在不同的珊瑚礁微生物环境中导航；(2)使用高通量DNA测序来表征第一部分中的微生物群落；(3)测试暴露于单个细菌物种的幼虫的行为、存活和沉降效应；(4)观察珊瑚在野外的沉降模式是否与实验室结果一致。知识价值：珊瑚礁创造食物、经济收入、海岸线保护和文化自豪感，但它们受到人类活动的严重威胁。与此同时，加勒比珊瑚礁的珊瑚繁殖率继续下降。该项目将促进以下方面的知识：微生物线索对珊瑚成功招募至关重要，珊瑚幼虫可以确定低死亡率栖息地的条件，以及帮助受威胁的珊瑚在其最关键的生活史阶段生存的最佳方法。更广泛的影响：在库拉帕拉索的一个研究地点，我们将继续通过CARMABI基金会的自然教育计划和CARMABI更广泛的外展渠道（新闻报道、公开讲座）传播我们的发现。我们将继续通过出版物、演讲、摄影展览、博客和播客与当地的水肺潜水员、自然资源管理者和政府官员进行广泛的交流。该项目将支持培养1名女博士后和2名学生。

Many aquatic animals produce larvae that use complex swimming behaviors to locate settlement habitats. Microbes (Bacteria and Archaea) in the water column and on settlement surfaces may provide navigational information for animal larvae, however the role of microbes in each stage of the coral settlement process is not well understood. This project will use larvae from six Caribbean coral species to test a novel hypothesis about coral behavior, that coral larvae use waterborne microbial communities as navigational information and that they avoid adults of the same species. The study will: (1) determine how coral larvae navigate different reef microbial environments by quantifying their swimming behaviors using videoanalysis, (2) characterize microbial communities from part 1 using high-throughput DNA sequencing, (3) test for behavior, survivorship, and settlement effects in larvae exposed to individual bacterial species, and (4) observe whether patterns of coral settlement in the field are consistent with laboratory results.Intellectual merit: Coral reefs create food, economic revenue, shoreline protection, and cultural pride, yet they are massively threatened by human activity. Meanwhile, coral recruitment rates continue to decline on Caribbean reefs. This project will advance knowledge of: the microbial cues key to successful coral recruitment, the conditions under which coral larvae can identify lower-mortality habitats, and the best approaches for helping threatened corals survive their most crucial life history stage. Broader impacts: At a research site in Curaçao, we will continue to communicate our findings through the CARMABI Foundation nature education program and through CARMABI's broader outreach channels (news coverage, public lectures). We will continue to communicate with local scuba divers, nature resource managers, and government officials on Curaçao, and broadly through publications, presentations, photography exhibits, blogging, and podcasts. The project will support the training of one female postdoctoral researcher and two students.