RAPID: Tracking Recovery from the 2014 Coral Bleaching Event in Hawaiian Waters: Water Quality Gradients, Ecological Factors, and Reef Resilience to Climate Change

RAPID：追踪 2014 年夏威夷水域珊瑚白化事件的恢复情况：水质梯度、生态因素和珊瑚礁对气候变化的适应能力

• 批准号: 1505158
• 负责人: Peter Marko
• 金额: $ 16.33万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-12-15 至 2016-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1505158&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Tracking; Recovery; 2014; Coral

Corals reefs provide habitat for millions of coral-associated species and support the basic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally. Unfortunately, coral reefs are very sensitive to elevated ocean temperatures and are already showing major impacts from thermal stress events. Warm weather can cause coral bleaching, a stress response that involves the loss of the microscopic algae that live inside coral cells and that corals depend on for food. Without these algae, many corals cannot survive such that, as bleaching events become more common on a warming Earth, coral reefs may decline worldwide. This project will further the understanding of how different corals respond to and recover from bleaching (by re-gaining their symbiotic algae) along the coastline of the main Hawaiian Islands. These coral reefs experience a severe bleaching event that started in late summer 2014. This project will document the extent of bleaching and mortality among different species of corals as well as track the recovery of individual corals using a variety of measurements of coral health. By studying reefs that differ in water quality, the research will examine the idea that coral reefs exposed to greater land-based pollution suffer more extensive bleaching and are also less likely to recover from bleaching. The project will also use molecular methods to identify and compare coral genes that confer greater resistance to bleaching. The research will address basic scientific questions about coral bleaching but will also generate data necessary to gauge how and if managers and decision makers can increase coral reef resilience through improvements in coastal water quality. This multi-disciplinary project will provide financial support and training for one graduate student and one postdoctoral researcher. The scientific results will be translated to material for K-12 students, higher education trainees, and the public through the researchers ongoing relationships with local community education programs. Coral reefs of the Hawaiian Islands are currently experiencing a severe bleaching event that poses a substantial threat to the integrity of the largest area of coral reef habitat in US waters, exceeding levels recorded in 1996 during the only major bleaching event previously documented for Hawaii. This study will document the heterogeneity of this event, follow both reef and colony-scale recovery from bleaching, identify the factors driving fitness differences between colonies, and evaluate the correlates of reef sensitivity and resilience against the backdrop of nearshore water quality as a means to understand the impacts of land-based stressors on the abilities of corals to resist and recover from bleaching. The study will focus on the goals of: (1) documenting the spatial and taxonomic patterns of coral responses to the 2014 temperature anomaly in Hawaii; (2) testing the links between water quality and reef resilience; and (3) identifying genetic and environmental factors responsible for heterogeneity in bleaching response and recovery. The researchers will deploy data loggers and take scheduled water samples to record temperature, light (PAR), sediment and nutrient concentrations, pH and alkalinity, conduct periodic video transects at each site to capture species- and genotype-specific differences in response and recovery to the high temperature anomaly, repeatedly assay the physiological state of individually tagged coral colonies during the bleaching event and recovery, and characterize coral holobiont genomes and microbial community composition.

珊瑚礁为数百万珊瑚相关物种提供栖息地，并支持全球数亿人的基本生计。不幸的是，珊瑚礁对升高的海洋温度非常敏感，并且已经显示出热应力事件的重大影响。温暖的天气会导致珊瑚漂白，这是一种压力反应，涉及生活在珊瑚细胞内的微观藻类，而珊瑚依赖食物。没有这些藻类，许多珊瑚就无法生存，以至于由于漂白事件在变暖的地球上变得越来越普遍，因此珊瑚礁可能会在全球范围内下降。该项目将进一步了解不同的珊瑚如何反应和从主要夏威夷群岛海岸线的漂白（通过重新获得共生藻类）中恢复。这些珊瑚礁经历了一场严重的漂白事件，该事件始于2014年夏末。该项目将记录不同种类的珊瑚之间的漂白和死亡程度，并使用各种珊瑚健康的测量方法跟踪单个珊瑚的恢复。通过研究水质不同的礁石，该研究将研究以下观点：暴露于陆地污染的珊瑚礁遭受更广泛的漂白剂，并且从漂白剂中恢复的可能性也较小。该项目还将使用分子方法来识别和比较赋予对漂白更大耐药性的珊瑚基因。该研究将解决有关珊瑚漂白的基本科学问题，但还将生成必要的数据，以衡量管理人员和决策者是否可以通过改善沿海水质来提高珊瑚礁的弹性。这个多学科项目将为一名研究生和一名博士后研究员提供财务支持和培训。科学的结果将通过与当地社区教育计划的研究人员进行研究，将科学的结果转化为K-12学生，高等教育学员和公众的材料。 夏威夷群岛的珊瑚礁目前正在经历一场严重的漂白事件，这对美国水域中珊瑚礁栖息地最大的地区的完整构成了重大威胁，在先前唯一记录的夏威夷的唯一重大漂白事件中，珊瑚礁栖息地最大的地区的完整性超过了1996年记录的水平。这项研究将记录此事件的异质性，跟随礁石和殖民地规模从漂白中恢复，确定驱动菌落之间适应性差异的因素，并评估珊瑚礁敏感性和韧性的相关性在近岸水质的背景下，以了解对土地基压力对珊瑚对抗衡和抗衡的影响的手段。该研究将重点介绍：（1）记录珊瑚对2014年夏威夷温度异常的珊瑚反应的空间和分类学模式； （2）测试水质与珊瑚礁弹性之间的联系； （3）确定负责漂白反应和恢复中异质性的遗传和环境因素。研究人员将部署数据记录仪，并将预定的水样品用于记录温度，光（PAR），沉积物和养分浓度，pH和碱度，在每个地点进行周期性视频，以捕获每个地点的样带，以捕获物种和基因型特异性差异，并在高温和基因型中恢复高温和恢复高温异常，并反复分析了在物理上的旋转阶层，并分析了在物理上的旋转群体和旋转的旋转状态。和微生物社区组成。