EAGER: Collaborative Research: Bleaching phenotypes of acute vs. chronic coral bleaching susceptibility and resilience: towards a standardized coral resilience diagnostic

EAGER：合作研究：急性与慢性珊瑚白化敏感性和恢复力的白化表型：走向标准化的珊瑚恢复力诊断

• 批准号: 1833215
• 负责人: Mark Warner
• 金额: $ 10.94万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1833215&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Collaborative; Research; Bleaching; phenotypes

The past few years have seen an unprecedented amount of coral bleaching across the globe. Global bleaching events in 2015-17, severely impacting iconic coral reefs in places such as the Great Barrier Reef, Micronesia, Hawaiian Islands, and Caribbean, were the worst recorded in recent human history. When ocean temperatures rise, the symbiosis between reef-building corals and their photosynthetic algae deteriorates, many times resulting in widespread coral die-offs as corals can starve without their symbiotic partners to supply food. These widespread events can have drastic impacts on ocean health and biodiversity, as well as the communities that depend on reefs for fishing, tourism, and protection from storms. Importantly, some corals resist or recover from bleaching better than others. Such variability in coral response to ocean warming could be critical to reef survival in the future, yet the scientific community lacks any standardized diagnostics to rapidly assess bleaching tolerance limits. Here, we plan to: 1) develop a standardized, short-term exposure to assess bleaching limits (analogous to cardiac stress tests for humans), 2) design an experimental system capable of delivering a range of thermal treatments as an open-source, low-cost, highly-portable device that can be readily adapted for bleaching tests in a wide variety of coral habitats, and 3) disseminate the results, instructions, and technologies to the reef research and conservation community through a combination of hands-on workshops, online outreach materials, press releases, and open-access research publications. Widespread dissemination of project products will be achieved via hands-on demonstrations and workshops in key geographic areas (Middle East, Caribbean, and Indo-Pacific), with a focus on the assembly of the system and operation of the experimental assay using local corals. This project will train both graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, and brings together a team of national and global researchers in a collaborative investigation to address the international problem of coral bleaching.With each passing year, coral bleaching has shifted from an issue of serious sporadic concern to a critical widespread threat to reefs across the globe that is increasing in frequency and severity. However, during widespread bleaching events, some scattered corals and reef sections are able to survive better than others. Whether this is due to acclimatization or adaptation in thermal stress tolerance, this variability in response is critical to coral resilience to climate impacts. Currently, the scientific community lacks a standardized approach to rapidly assess coral thermal limits and identify resilient individuals or populations. Present day approaches range from observational surveys of natural bleaching and mortality, to multiple weeks of controlled chronic thermal exposure, to rapid, single or multi-day acute heat shocks. To what degree bleaching response varies across short-term versus longer-term experiments and how these responses compare to natural bleaching patterns is largely unknown. Using a group of coral species representative of a historical range of bleaching susceptibility (e.g., Acropora hemprichii, Pocillopora meandrina, and Porites lobata), research will address this important knowledge gap by experimental evaluation of the bleaching response to acute (0 - 2 day) versus chronic (4 week) thermal stress. The overarching questions for this study are: how are the acute and chronic coral bleaching responses related, and can investigators predict ecologically relevant bleaching outcomes from the response to a short-term, acute heat-stress? To answer these questions, the research team will: 1) objectively compare acute versus chronic heat-stress exposures and synthesize a variety of response metrics based on core physiological measurements to develop a standardized, short-term thermal assay and diagnostic approach to rapidly assess bleaching, 2) operationalize an experimental system built around an open-source, cost-effective, easily transportable temperature control technology, and 3) distribute the results, experimental procedures, and temperature controlling technologies to the reef research and conservation communities. This project will produce an affordable experimental system and short-term diagnostic capable of determining coral thermal limits in just a few days in almost any location with reliable access to seawater and electricity or a portable generator. The research fills a critical knowledge gap through the development of a standardized set of diagnostic tools to assess coral thermal vulnerability before widespread bleaching events actually occur, so that proactive conservation and management strategies can be implemented ahead of widespread impacts to reef ecosystems.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.

过去几年，全球范围内出现了前所未有的珊瑚白化现象。 2015-17 年的全球白化事件严重影响了大堡礁、密克罗尼西亚、夏威夷群岛和加勒比海等地的标志性珊瑚礁，是近代人类历史上最严重的一次。当海洋温度上升时，造礁珊瑚与其光合作用藻类之间的共生关系就会恶化，很多时候会导致珊瑚大面积死亡，因为如果没有共生伙伴提供食物，珊瑚就会挨饿。这些广泛发生的事件可能会对海洋健康和生物多样性以及依赖珊瑚礁进行捕鱼、旅游和抵御风暴的社区产生巨大影响。重要的是，一些珊瑚比其他珊瑚更能抵抗白化或从白化中恢复。珊瑚对海洋变暖的反应的这种变化可能对未来珊瑚礁的生存至关重要，但科学界缺乏任何标准化的诊断方法来快速评估白化耐受限度。在这里，我们计划：1）开发一种标准化的短期暴露来评估漂白极限（类似于人类的心脏压力测试），2）设计一个能够提供一系列热处理的开源实验系统，低成本、高度便携的设备，可轻松适应各种珊瑚栖息地的白化测试，以及 3) 通过实践研讨会向珊瑚礁研究和保护界传播结果、说明和技术, 网上推广材料、新闻稿和开放获取研究出版物。项目产品的广泛传播将通过在关键地理区域（中东、加勒比和印度-太平洋）的实践演示和研讨会来实现，重点是系统的组装和使用当地珊瑚的实验测定的操作。该项目将培训研究生和一名博士后研究员，并汇集国内和全球研究人员团队进行合作调查，以解决珊瑚白化的国际问题。随着时间的推移，珊瑚白化已经从一个严重的零星问题转变为一个问题。对全球珊瑚礁面临的严重、广泛威胁的频率和严重程度不断增加的担忧。然而，在大范围的白化事件中，一些分散的珊瑚和礁石部分能够比其他珊瑚和礁石更好地生存。无论这是由于环境适应还是热应激耐受性的适应，这种反应的可变性对于珊瑚对气候影响的恢复能力至关重要。目前，科学界缺乏一种标准化方法来快速评估珊瑚的热极限并识别具有复原力的个体或种群。目前的方法范围广泛，从自然漂白和死亡率的观察调查，到数周的受控慢性热暴露，再到快速、单日或多日的急性热休克。短期与长期实验中漂白反应的差异程度以及这些反应与自然漂白模式的比较如何在很大程度上尚不清楚。研究将使用代表历史白化敏感性范围的一组珊瑚物种（例如 Acropora hemprichii、Pocillopora Meandrina 和 Porites lobata），通过对急性（0 - 2 天）白化反应的实验评估来解决这一重要的知识差距与慢性（4 周）热应激。这项研究的首要问题是：急性和慢性珊瑚白化反应如何相关，研究人员能否通过对短期急性热应激的反应来预测与生态相关的白化结果？为了回答这些问题，研究小组将：1）客观比较急性与慢性热应激暴露，并根据核心生理测量综合各种反应指标，以开发标准化的短期热测定和诊断方法来快速评估漂白，2) 运行围绕开源、经济高效、易于运输的温度控制技术构建的实验系统，以及 3) 将结果、实验程序和温度控制技术分发给珊瑚礁研究和保护社区。该项目将生产一种经济实惠的实验系统和短期诊断，能够在短短几天内确定珊瑚的热极限，几乎可以在任何能够可靠获得海水和电力或便携式发电机的地方进行。该研究通过开发一套标准化的诊断工具来填补关键的知识空白，以在广泛的白化事件实际发生之前评估珊瑚的热脆弱性，以便在对珊瑚礁生态系统产生广泛影响之前实施积极的保护和管理策略。该奖项反映了通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，NSF 的法定使命被认为值得支持。