RAPID: Mega-typhoon impacts on the metapopulation resilience of coral reef fishes

当台风海燕袭击菲律宾时，它的持续风速为每小时305至315公里，是有史以来登陆的最强风暴。风暴是对珊瑚礁生态系统最重要的干扰之一。以往的研究主要强调生境恢复对干扰后珊瑚礁鱼类群落恢复的重要性。然而，我们对幼虫扩散在调节物种对干扰的反应中的作用知之甚少。珊瑚鱼作为超种群的功能是通过幼虫在珊瑚礁之间的扩散而连接起来的，因此幼虫的连通性是其动态的关键过程。直接位于台风海燕路径上的实地站点提供了一个理想的机会来解决幼虫在恢复过程中扩散的作用。在四个野外季节（2008年至2013年）中，沿着20公里的海岸线调查了近2000条小丑鱼。小丑鱼拥有与大多数礁鱼相同的基本生活史（定居的成鱼和远洋的幼虫），但由于它们足够罕见和可见，因此可以使用遗传亲代方法来跟踪幼虫的扩散。因此，这个研究地点是一个独特的地点，可以了解大规模风暴对超种群的影响。本项目将集中于三个假设：1)栖息地破坏决定了风暴扰动的短期影响；2)扰动后的超种群过程形成了重新定居；3)扰动使稀有竞争者的丰度增加。该项目将通过固定和随机样带的组合来解决这些问题，以评估珊瑚礁栖息地和珊瑚礁鱼类的丰度和多样性，以及对海葵和小丑鱼进行详细的、空间明确的调查。用黄尾小丑鱼进行基因标记重获和亲子鉴定的方法将查明台风后重新定居珊瑚礁的新成员的来源。珊瑚礁是地球上最具生物多样性和经济重要性的生态系统之一，为全世界数百万人提供食物、海岸保护、旅游和医药化合物。为了指导保护工作，我们需要了解影响它们对大规模干扰的恢复能力的过程。该项目将补充其他国际保护和研究工作，从这项研究中吸取的经验教训也将传达给当地的决策者。首席研究员还将为罗格斯大学海洋和海岸科学研究所STEM教育系列准备一份关于这项研究的报告。该项目将当前的研究与围绕现实世界数据设计的课程计划相结合，为初中和高中教师提供专业发展培训。

When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines it had sustained winds of 305 to 315 kph and was the strongest storm ever to make landfall. Storms are one of the most important disturbances to coral reef ecosystems. Previous research has primarily emphasized that habitat recovery is important for the recovery of reef fish communities after disturbance. We understand little, however, about the role of larval dispersal in mediating species responses to disturbance. Reef fish function as metapopulations connected by larval dispersal among reefs, and larval connectivity is therefore a critical process for their dynamics. A field site directly in Typhoon Haiyan's path provides an ideal opportunity to address the role of larval dispersal during recovery. Over the course of four field seasons (2008 to 2013), nearly two thousand clownfish were surveyed along 20km of coastline. Clownfish possess the same basic life history as most reef fish (sedentary adults and pelagic larvae), but are sufficiently rare and visible that genetic parentage methods can be used to follow larval dispersal. This study site is therefore a unique location in which to understand the metapopulation impacts of a massive storm. This project will focus on three hypotheses: 1) Habitat destruction determines the short-term impacts of storms disturbance, 2) Metapopulation processes shape recolonization after disturbance, and 3) Disturbance allows rare competitors to increase in abundance. The project will address these questions with a combination of fixed and random transects to assess reef habitat and reef fish abundance and diversity, as well as detailed, spatially explicit surveys of anemones and clownfish. Genetic mark-recapture and parentage methods with yellowtail clownfish will pinpoint the origin of new recruits that recolonize the reef post-typhoon.Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse and economically important ecosystems on earth, providing food, coastal protection, tourism, and medical compounds for millions of people around the world. In order to guide conservation efforts, we need to understand the processes that influence their resilience to large-scale disturbance. This project will compliment other international conservation and research efforts and the lessons learned from this research will also be communicated to local decision-makers. The principal investigator will also prepare a presentation on this research for the Rutgers' Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences STEM Educator Series. The program provides professional development training to middle- and high-school teachers by combining current research with lesson plans designed around real world data.