Collaborative Research: RAPID: Turning up the heat: El Nino warming effects on top-down control of Tropical Eastern Pacific reef communities

合作研究：RAPID：升温：厄尔尼诺变暖对热带东太平洋珊瑚礁群落自上而下控制的影响

• 批准号: 2350542
• 负责人: Amy Freestone
• 金额: $ 2.41万
• 依托单位: Temple University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-11-15 至 2024-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2350542&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; RAPID; Turning; up; Collaborative; Research; RAPID; Turning; up

Species interactions are key drivers shaping marine biodiversity. Recent marine studies demonstrate that predation can be stronger at lower latitudes where water temperatures are higher. With a changing climate, it is important to resolve how environmental forces intensify or moderate consumer interactions and change the distribution and abundance of marine species. Researchers are employing a rapid research response to measure how an extreme event, the 2023-2024 El Niño, will alter consumer interactions on Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) coral reefs. Following up on two consecutive years of experimental data during non-El Niño conditions, they will be able to compare how an extreme event and increased ocean temperatures alter predation and herbivory rates and how this in turn influences marine biodiversity and potential invasion by non-native species. The project builds international research and education by training early-career researchers in marine science including those from under-represented groups. The project develops partnerships and fosters collaboration through an international network, which facilitates shared and integrated marine biosecurity solutions across the Americas, informing management of invasive marine species.Growing evidence suggests that the intensity of interspecific interactions increases at low latitudes. Recent studies along both coasts of the Americas indicate that the strength of consumer effects across latitude increases with temperature, consistent with the metabolic theory of ecology. The hypothesized impact of ocean warming on future trends in top-down control of marine communities predicts that increasing ocean temperatures will increase top-down control by consumers, but the extent to which this will occur in the tropics remains uncertain. The strong spatial and seasonal variation in upwelling that affect both temperature and nutrients in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) make it an ideal region to test how changes in environmental conditions influence trophic interactions and marine community dynamics. For the past two years, researchers conducted consumer exclusion experiments on sessile marine invertebrate communities at ten coral reef sites, distributed along a gradient of upwelling activity in Panama and Costa Rica. By comparing replicated caged (predator exclusion) and open settlement panels at each site along this gradient, this experiment examines the role of temperature and productivity on top-down control by consumers. Here, researchers are extending the duration of this work to utilize the current El Niño as a natural experiment to measure how this extreme event will alter consumer interactions on TEP reefs. The El Niño event forecasted for 2023-2024 (NOAA 2023) is predicted to (a) cause extreme increases in water temperature and (b) alter the intensity and duration of upwelling events. Using two complementary experiments to sequentially test the strength of consumer interactions, (a) 4-month predator exclusions and (b) short-term predator exposure experiments, the project tests the hypothesis that increased temperature and decreased upwelling activity linked to El Niño will increase consumer effects in the TEP. Repeating previous experiments during the current El Niño, provides a comparison for how changing temperature and productivity regimes influence consumer effects on the reef communities. By focusing these experiments in a thermally dynamic region of the tropics, this research directly tests for temperature regulation of top-down processes without the confounds of latitude, while also examining the bottom-up consequences of declining productivity due to weakened upwelling activity.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.

物种相互作用是塑造海洋生物多样性的关键驱动因素。最近的海洋研究表明，在水温较高的较低纬度下，预测可能会更强。随着气候的变化，重要的是要解决环境力量如何加强或适度消费者相互作用并改变海洋物种的分布和抽象。研究人员正在采用快速的研究反应来衡量极端事件，2023-2024厄尔尼诺现象将改变热带东太平洋（TEP）珊瑚礁上的消费者相互作用。在非厄尔尼诺尼诺条件下连续两年的实验数据之后，他们将能够比较极端事件和海洋温度如何改变预测和草食率，以及这又如何影响非本地物种的海洋生物多样性和潜在的侵袭。该项目通过培训海洋科学的早期研究人员（包括来自代表性不足的群体的研究人员）来建立国际研究和教育。项目的发展伙伴关系并通过国际网络促进协作，该机构共享并综合整个美洲的海洋生物安全解决方案，以告知对入侵海洋物种的管理。成长的证据表明，种间相互作用的强度在低纬度的低纬度上增加了范围的跨越趋势的趋势，这表明了跨越趋势的趋势，这表明了趋势的趋势，从而促进了趋势的效果。对海洋社区的自上而下的控制预测，海洋温度的升高将增加消费者的自上而下的控制，但是在热带地区，这种情况的发生程度仍然不确定。在热带东部太平洋（TEP）中影响温度和养分的上升空间和季节性变化使其成为测试环境条件变化如何影响营养相互作用和海洋社区动态的理想区域。在过去的两年中，研究人员对十个珊瑚礁地点的无脊椎动物无脊椎动物社区进行了消费者排除实验，并沿着巴拿马和哥斯达黎加的上升活动梯度分发。通过比较沿该梯度的每个站点的重复的笼子（捕食者排除）和打开设置面板，该实验会检查温度和生产力对消费者自上而下控制的作用。在这里，研究人员正在延长这项工作的持续时间，以利用当前的厄尔尼诺（Elniño）作为自然实验，以衡量这一极端事件将如何改变TEP礁上的消费者相互作用。预测2023 - 2024年（NOAA 2023）预测的厄尔尼诺现象预计（a）会导致水温极高升高，并且（b）改变了上升事件的强度和持续时间。使用两个完成实验来顺序测试消费者相互作用的强度，（a）4个月的捕食者排除和（b）短期捕食者暴露实验，该项目检验了一个假设，即增加温度和增加与厄尼诺相关的上升活性会增加TEP中消费者的影响。在当前的厄尔尼诺现象期间重复以前的实验，为温度和生产性制度的变化如何影响消费者对礁社区的影响提供了比较。 By focusing these experiments in a thermally dynamic region of the tropicalities, this research directly tests for temperature regulation of top-down processes without the confounds of latitude, while also examining the bottom-up consequences of declining productivity due to weakened upwelling activity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed precious of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.