RII Track-4: Building Knowledge on Genotyping Seagrasses to Assess Competitive Interactions under Climate Change

生物多样性影响生态系统的正常功能，它们对环境变化的抵抗力，以及它们在受到干扰后的恢复能力。生物多样性的一个组成部分，即种群内基因的多样性，随着最近的技术进步使研究人员能够测量和绘制自然界的遗传多样性，正受到越来越多的关注。有证据表明，在维持一个健康的生态系统方面，这种遗传多样性与在一个地区相互作用的不同物种的数量一样重要。这项工作将研究在当前和未来预期的环境温度变化下，一种重要的广泛分布的海草物种的遗传多样性如何影响其与季节性丰富的藻类的竞争。由于海草床对维持沿海水质、控制侵蚀和作为重要商业物种的育苗地具有重要意义，因此本研究与沿海地区的生态学、经济学和粮食安全有关。该基金将在研究人员及其来自维尔京群岛大学（UVI， HBCU）的研究生和加州大学戴维斯分校的研究人员之间建立积极的合作；并将利用博德加海洋实验室的世界级气候变化研究设施。此外，该奖学金将促进开发评估加勒比海草遗传多样性的技术，这些海草正面临多重环境威胁，包括可能被最初来自红海和印度洋的快速传播的引进海草所取代。这些技术将用于开发未来的提案，并为UVI的研究生和本科生提供机会。最近的研究表明，种内遗传多样性在调节生态系统功能、抵抗干扰和恢复力方面可能与物种多样性一样重要。在气候变化背景下，遗传多样性在决定物种对全球温度升高的适应潜力方面也受到关注。然而，温度对物种相互作用也有很强的影响。迄今为止，基因型和温度对相互作用强度的综合影响尚不清楚。这项工作将评估植物基因型在决定海草Zostera marina（一个重要的生态系统工程师）和季节性丰富的绿藻Ulva lactuca之间竞争结果中的影响。通过在加州大学戴维斯分校Bodega海洋实验室（BML）的气候变化研究设施进行实验，本研究将评估在全球变暖模型预测的当前和未来温度下，已知基因型Z. marina和U. lactuca之间竞争相互作用的结果。该奖学金将通过与加州大学戴维斯分校和BML的专家建立协同合作，为PI和维尔京群岛大学（HBCU）的研究生提供一个变革的机会。特别是，加州大学戴维斯分校的合作者开发的海草基因分型技术将适用于加勒比物种的研究，由于多种环境压力因素，包括引入的海草Halophila托马海草的潜在取代，加勒比物种目前正在减少。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical DescriptionBiodiversity affects the proper functioning of ecosystems, their resistance to environmental changes, and their ability to recover after disturbance. One component of biodiversity, the diversity of genes within populations, is receiving more attention following recient technological advances enabling researchers to measure and map genetic diversity in nature. Evidence has shown that this genetic diversity can be as important in maintaining a healthy ecosystem as the number of different species interacting in an area. This work will study how genetic diversity of an important widespread seagrass species affects its competition with seasonally-abundant algae under current and future expected environmental temperature changes. Because seagrass beds are important to maintain coastal water quality, control erosion, and as nursery grounds for commercially important species, this research is relevant to the ecology, economics and food security of coastal zones. The funding will establish an active collaboration between the researcher and his graduate student from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI, a HBCU) and researchers at the University of California at Davis; and will take advantage of the world-class Climate Change Research Facility at Bodega Marine Laboratory. Additionally, this fellowship will facilitate the development of techniques to assess genetic diversity of Caribbean seagrasses, which are facing multiple environmental threats including possible displacement by a fast-spreading introduced seagrass originally form the Red Sea an Indian Ocean. These techniques will be leveraged to develop future proposals and provide opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students at UVI.Technical DescriptionRecent work has highlighted that intraspecific genetic diversity may be as important as species diversity in mediating ecosystem function, resistance to disturbance and resilience. Under the context of climate change, genetic diversity has also received attention for determining adaptive potential of species to global temperature increases. However, temperature also has a strong effect on species interactions. To date, the combined effects of genotype and temperature on interaction strength remain unknown. This work will evaluate the influence of plant genotype in determining the outcome of competition between the seagrass Zostera marina, an important ecosystem engineer, and the seasonally-abundant green alga Ulva lactuca. By conducting experiments at the Climate Change Research Facility of Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) housed at the University of California at Davis, this research will assess the outcome of competitive interactions between Z. marina known genotypes and U. lactuca, under current and future temperatures predicted by global warming models. The fellowship will provide a transformative opportunity for the PI and a graduate student from the University of the Virgin Islands (a HBCU) by establishing a synergistic collaboration with experts at UC Davis and BML. In particular, the seagrass genotyping techniques developed by collaborators at UC Davis will be adapted to the study of Caribbean species, which are currently declining as a result of multiple environmental stressors including potential displacement by the introduced seagrass Halophila stipulacea.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.