Gradients of marine biodiversity and linkages with eDNA across the Wallacea Region

华莱士地区海洋生物多样性的梯度及其与 eDNA 的联系

• 批准号: NE/S006958/1
• 负责人: David Smith
• 金额: $ 45.15万
• 依托单位: University of Essex
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FS006958%2F1
• 关键词: Gradients; marine; biodiversity; linkages; eDNA

The interdependencies among organisms in ecological systems govern ecological function, responses to ecosystem change and the provision of ecosystem services. Complex multi-species interactions form ecological networks that increase community stability, where it is known that higher diversity promotes dynamic stability and counters pressures on the ecosystem. Understanding these ecological networks and dynamics in response to multiple chronic and acute environmental disturbances is key to designing conservation interventions, but network dynamics remain largely unknown in tropical marine systems. The Wallacea region is not only the epicenter of global coral reef diversity, it's coral reefs are also the most important source of food and income for millions of people. The region is globally important for sustaining globally threatened reef biodiversity, because it is one among few reefs that have not yet experienced large-scale degradation due to climate stress events. However, the regions' reefs are greatly transformed by local stressors, most notably terrestrial derived sediment run-off and fisheries overexploitation. Management to mitigate these local stressors is underway, but is severely hampered by a pervasive lack of data and understanding how these stressors affect biodiversity and its interactions throughout the region. Given the limited local resources, time, and expertise, presently the lack of information to inform management will not be overcome for most reefs across Wallacea. This project addresses three aims, which require addressing to overcome these challenges. Firstly, we will employ traditional visual observation techniques for reef corals, macro-invertebrates and fishes to determine how ecological networks differ between largely unimpacted, sedimented or reduced water quality, and fished sites. Ecological networks will be quantified based on field data using novel/cutting edge ecological modelling approaches and network theory. This aim focuses on easily observable non-cryptic taxa initially, and will form the basis of our comparative assessment of eDNA which has great potential but remains unvalidated in coral reef systems. Our second aim will validate eDNA's utility in describing reef biodiversity dynamics and test for the first time how networks constructed from eDNA compare to those from ecological surveys. Outcomes will provide unique insights and the potential for a step change in reef monitoring approaches by expanding opportunities to intensify spatial and temporal sampling, alongside providing confidence limits associated with ecological networks and their metrics that have been constructed using these novel eDNA data. Finally, having assessed the application of eDNA techniques, we plan to map the coral reef biodiversity of Wallacea with extensive eDNA sampling from remote regions. We will expand eDNA sampling to 10 further sites within Wallacea to provide novel data at unprecedented spatial and ecological complexity scales, enabling us to model and predict change in response to anthropogenic pressures at scales most relevant to Indonesian marine spatial planning. Despite high functional redundancy in the mega-diverse coral reef ecosystems, the loss of species will shift community composition and functionality with wide-ranging ecological, social and economic implications. For conservation efforts in complex systems where cryptic species are under-sampled but play important functional roles, there is a real-world need to know true biodiversity and network interactions. We will develop and test novel approaches to tackle this challenge to inform sustainable development in the face of the coral reef crisis. The response dynamics in ecological networks inform community robustness and this information is key to management decision making.

生态系统中生物之间的相互依赖性决定着生态功能、对生态系统变化的响应以及生态系统服务的提供。复杂的多物种相互作用形成了提高群落稳定性的生态网络，众所周知，较高的多样性可以促进动态稳定性并抵消生态系统的压力。了解这些生态网络和动态以应对多种慢性和急性环境扰动是设计保护干预措施的关键，但热带海洋系统中的网络动态在很大程度上仍然未知。华莱士地区不仅是全球珊瑚礁多样性的中心，其珊瑚礁也是数百万人最重要的食物和收入来源。该地区对于维持全球受到威胁的珊瑚礁生物多样性具有重要意义，因为它是尚未因气候压力事件而经历大规模退化的少数珊瑚礁之一。然而，该地区的珊瑚礁因当地压力因素而发生了巨大变化，最明显的是来自陆地的沉积物径流和渔业过度捕捞。缓解这些当地压力源的管理工作正在进行中，但由于普遍缺乏数据和了解这些压力源如何影响整个地区的生物多样性及其相互作用而受到严重阻碍。鉴于当地资源、时间和专业知识有限，目前华莱士大部分珊瑚礁都无法克服缺乏管理信息的问题。该项目涉及三个目标，需要解决这些目标来克服这些挑战。首先，我们将采用传统的目视观察技术来观察珊瑚礁、大型无脊椎动物和鱼类，以确定基本未受影响、沉积或水质下降和捕捞地点之间的生态网络有何不同。将使用新颖/前沿的生态建模方法和网络理论根据现场数据对生态网络进行量化。这一目标最初侧重于易于观察的非隐秘类群，并将构成我们对 eDNA 进行比较评估的基础，eDNA 具有巨大潜力，但在珊瑚礁系统中尚未得到验证。我们的第二个目标将验证 eDNA 在描述珊瑚礁生物多样性动态方面的效用，并首次测试由 eDNA 构建的网络与生态调查构建的网络的比较。结果将提供独特的见解，并通过扩大加强空间和时间采样的机会，同时提供与生态网络及其使用这些新颖的 eDNA 数据构建的指标相关的置信限度，为珊瑚礁监测方法的逐步改变提供潜力。最后，在评估了 eDNA 技术的应用后，我们计划通过从偏远地区进行广泛的 eDNA 采样来绘制华莱士珊瑚礁的生物多样性图。我们将把 eDNA 采样扩展到华莱士境内的另外 10 个地点，以提供前所未有的空间和生态复杂性规模的新数据，使我们能够在与印度尼西亚海洋空间规划最相关的规模上模拟和预测响应人为压力的变化。尽管巨型多样化的珊瑚礁生态系统具有高度的功能冗余，但物种的丧失将改变群落的组成和功能，从而产生广泛的生态、社会和经济影响。对于复杂系统中的保护工作，其中神秘物种采样不足但发挥着重要的功能作用，现实世界需要了解真正的生物多样性和网络相互作用。我们将开发和测试新方法来应对这一挑战，为面临珊瑚礁危机的可持续发展提供信息。生态网络中的响应动态告知群落的稳健性，这些信息是管理决策的关键。

项目成果

Large scale study of benthic communities in Eastern Indonesia's reef systems

印度尼西亚东部珊瑚礁系统底栖群落的大规模研究

• DOI: 10.1016/j.rsma.2021.101731
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Regional Studies in Marine Science
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: Razak T

Strategies for sample labelling and library preparation in DNA metabarcoding studies.

• DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13512
• 发表时间: 2022-05
• 期刊: MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Bohmann, Kristine;Elbrecht, Vasco;Caroe, Christian;Bista, Iliana;Leese, Florian;Bunce, Michael;Yu, Douglas W.;Seymour, Mathew;Dumbrell, Alex J.;Creer, Simon
• 通讯作者: Creer, Simon

Anaerobes and methanogens dominate the microbial communities in water harvesting ponds used by Kenyan rural smallholder farmers.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153040
• 发表时间: 2022-01
• 期刊: The Science of the total environment
• 作者: Benjamin H Gregson;A. Bani;Laurel A. Steinfield;D. Holt;C. Whitby