Photosynthetic traits as “key performance indicators” of coral health

该项目的目标是增进对珊瑚-藻类共生的健康运作的了解，这种共生关系确定了珊瑚礁生态系统对全球环境变化的反应。目前解决这一问题的方法将珊瑚健康与藻类共生体多样性联系起来，但无法解决管理这一联系的基本共生体功能特征-“关键性能指标"。该项目计划将先进的生理和功能基因组学技术结合起来，以改变我们对藻类共生体代谢KPI如何调节珊瑚生长和压力敏感性的理解。这可能为评估珊瑚健康提供新的诊断能力，并使我们能够改善珊瑚礁生态系统管理。

The objective of this project is to advance knowledge on the healthy functioning of the coral–algal symbiosis, which defines the response of coral reef ecosystems to worldwide environmental change. Current approaches to address this problem have linked coral health to algal symbiont diversity but have been unable to resolve the fundamental symbiont functional traits that govern this link – the “key performance indicators (KPIs)”. This project plans to couple advanced physiological and functional genomics techniques to transform our understanding of how algal symbiont metabolic KPIs regulate coral growth and stress susceptibility. This may provide new diagnostic capability for the assessment of coral health and may enable us to improve coral reef ecosystem management.