EAPSI:Impacts of Projected Climate Change on Physiological Performance of Coral Reef Fishes

人类引起的气候变化导致的海洋温度上升和海洋酸碱度下降将对海洋生物产生直接和间接影响。该项目旨在调查珊瑚鱼对预计的本世纪末环境条件的生理反应的变化。温度可能是影响海洋生物性能和适合性的最重要的非生物因素，pH降低或海洋酸化已被证明对鱼类施加了行为和生理性能之间的权衡。这类研究将有助于科学家更好地了解气候变化可能如何影响种群动态和具有经济价值的物种的长期生存能力。这项研究将是该研究员与澳大利亚昆士兰州詹姆斯·库克大学的朱迪·拉默博士共同努力的结果。Rummer博士是ARC珊瑚礁研究卓越中心的领先鱼类生理和行为专家，该中心是一个国际热带研究中心。为了研究与珊瑚礁相关的特定鱼类的生理如何受到气温上升和海洋酸化的影响，该项目将量化在持续暴露于现实的、近期的未来气候条件后，鱼类新陈代谢和游泳表现的各个方面的变化。该EAPSI奖的结果将在一定程度上有助于了解特定物种、整个生物体对不断变化的环境条件的反应，并将确定潜在的改变性能的机制。鱼在海洋食物网中扮演着关键角色，是人类宝贵的蛋白质来源。因此，将个人表现与种群和社区规模动态联系起来的信息将有助于制定海洋管理战略，以确保珊瑚礁生物多样性在快速变化的世界中持续存在。该奖项由东亚和太平洋夏季学院计划资助一名美国研究生的夏季研究，由NSF和澳大利亚科学院联合资助。

Increased sea temperatures and decreased ocean pH due to human induced climate change will have both direct and indirect impacts on marine life. This project is designed to investigate variation in the physiological responses of reef fish to projected end-of-the-century environmental conditions. Temperature is perhaps the most significant abiotic factor influencing the performance and fitness of marine organisms and decreased pH, or ocean acidification, has been shown to impose trade offs to fish between behavioral and physiological performance. Such research will help scientists to better understand how climate change might impact population dynamics and the long term viability of economically valuable species. This study will be a collaborative effort between the fellow and Dr. Jodie Rummer of James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. Dr. Rummer is a leading expert in fish physiology and behavior at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, an international hub of tropical research.To investigate how the physiology of particular reef associated fish species are impacted by increasing temperature and ocean acidification, this project will quantify the changes to various aspects of fish metabolism and swimming performance following sustained exposure to realistic, near future climate conditions. The results from this EAPSI award will, in part, contribute to knowledge of species-specific, whole organism responses to changing environmental conditions and will identify potential mechanisms underlying altered performance. Fish play key roles in marine food webs and are a valuable source of protein for humans. As a consequence, information linking individual performance to population and community scale dynamics will help shape marine management strategies to ensure the persistence of coral reef biodiversity in a rapidly changing world.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Australian Academy of Science.