Establishing Marine Biodiversity Baselines for Blue Carbon Habitats

沿海生态系统通过储存和固碳在应对气候危机方面发挥着关键作用，但许多蓝碳生态系统面临着环境变化和人类活动的持续威胁。维持这些生境中的生物多样性对于适当的碳循环至关重要，但许多有助于这一过程的海洋生物分类群仍然没有记录。事实上，海洋无脊椎动物是长期碳储存的特别重要的贡献者，因为许多海洋无脊椎动物产生钙质外壳，但英国超过50%的海洋无脊椎动物缺乏遗传数据。增加我们的知识和保护蓝碳栖息地的第一步是记录和监测生物多样性。监测生物多样性的分子方法（即元条形码）已被证明比传统的监测方法更有效，但只有在与完整的参考数据库一起使用时。因此，缺乏一个参考数据库的类群栖息在英国各地的蓝碳生态系统限制了我们保护这些栖息地的能力。您将通过建立一个海洋无脊椎动物DNA条形码参考库，在英国优先蓝碳栖息地和测试环境DNA方法，以支持这些脆弱的栖息地的未来监测帮助解决这些知识差距。具体来说，你将：i）综合我们目前对海洋无脊椎动物在碳固存和储存中的作用的理解ii）收集和识别来自英国各地蓝碳栖息地的海洋无脊椎动物，重点是优先的沿岸的和亚沿岸的栖息地（例如，maerl床，海草床，潮间带泥滩，沿海盐沼），使用各种实地收集方法并补充博物馆收藏。你还将为目标iv）收集水和沉积物样本。iii）利用分子技术为蓝碳生境的海洋无脊椎动物建立一个全面的DNA条形码参考库iv）评价环境DNA（eDNA）作为评估蓝碳生境生物多样性的工具的使用情况，方法是将标准化样本中的多样性和丰度与用eDNA元条形码分析的水和沉积物样本中的多样性和丰度进行比较。这将是直接比较不列颠群岛不同eDNA来源的底栖无脊椎动物物种恢复情况的首批项目之一。

Coastal ecosystems play a key role in combating the climate crisis by storing and sequestering carbon, but many of these blue carbon ecosystems face ongoing threats from environmental change and human activities. Maintaining biological diversity in these habitats is essential for proper carbon cycling but many marine taxa that contribute to this process remain undocumented. In fact, marine invertebrates are especially important contributors to long-term carbon storage because many produce calcareous shells, but genetic data is lacking for well over 50% of the marine invertebrate fauna in the UK. The first step in increasing our knowledge and protecting blue carbon habitats is to document and monitor biodiversity. Molecular methods for monitoring biodiversity (i.e. metabarcoding) have been shown to be more efficient than traditional monitoring approaches, but only when used alongside a complete reference database. As such, the lack of a reference database for taxa inhabiting blue carbon ecosystems across the UK limits our ability to protect these habitats. You will help address these knowledge gaps by establishing a marine invertebrate DNA barcode reference library for priority blue carbon habitats in the UK and testing environmental DNA methods to support the future monitoring of these vulnerable habitats. Specifically, you will:i) Synthesize our current understanding of the role of marine invertebrates in carbon sequestration and storageii) Collect and identify marine invertebrates from blue carbon habitats across the UK, with a focus on priority littoral and sublittoral habitats (e.g. maerl beds, seagrass beds, intertidal mudflats, coastal saltmarsh), using a variety of field collection methods and supplementing with museum collections. You will also collect water and sediment samples for objective iv).iii) Use molecular techniques to build a comprehensive DNA barcode reference library for marine invertebrates from blue carbon habitatsiv) Evaluate the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a tool for assessing biodiversity in blue carbon habitats by comparing diversity and abundance in a standardized sample to that in aqueous and sediment samples analysed with eDNA metabarcoding. This will be one of the first projects to directly compare the recovery of benthic invertebrate species from different eDNA sources in the British Isles.