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

基本信息

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

项目摘要

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.

生态系统中生物体之间的相互依存关系控制生态功能，对生态系统变化的反应以及生态系统服务的提供。复杂的多物种相互作用构成了生态网络，从而提高了社区稳定性，众所周知，较高的多样性促进了动态稳定性，并在生态系统上构成了压力。理解这些生态网络和动态以响应多个慢性和急性环境干扰是设计保护干预措施的关键，但是在热带海洋系统中，网络动态基本上是未知的。 Wallacea地区不仅是全球珊瑚礁多样性的中心，而且它的珊瑚礁也是数百万人民的最重要的食物和收入来源。该地区对于维持全球受威胁的珊瑚礁生物多样性至关重要，因为它是由于气候压力事件而尚未经历过大规模退化的礁石之一。然而，地区的礁石被当地的压力源，著名的陆地衍生沉积物径流和渔业过度开发，极大地改变了礁石。减轻这些本地压力源的管理正在进行中，但由于缺乏数据而严重阻碍了这些压力，并了解这些压力源如何影响生物多样性及其在整个地区的相互作用。鉴于当地资源，时间和专业知识有限，目前缺乏信息管理的信息将无法克服Wallacea的大多数礁石。该项目解决了三个目标，这些目标需要解决以克服这些挑战。首先，我们将采用传统的视觉观察技术来用于珊瑚礁珊瑚，宏观脊椎动物和鱼类，以确定生态网络在很大程度上没有影响，沉积或降低的水质和钓鱼地点之间的不同之处。生态网络将根据现场数据量化，使用新颖/尖端的生态建模方法和网络理论。这个目标最初是针对易于观察的非释放类群的，并将构成我们对Edna的比较评估的基础，Edna具有很大的潜力，但在珊瑚礁系统中仍然没有验证。我们的第二个目标将验证Edna在描述珊瑚礁生物多样性动力学方面的效用，并首次测试如何与Edna构建的网络与生态调查相比。结局将通过扩大机会加强空间和时间抽样的机会，提供与生态网络及其相关的置信度限制，从而提供独特的见解，并提供珊瑚礁监测方法的逐步改变，并提供了使用这些新型EDNA数据构建的置信度限制。最后，在评估了EDNA技术的应用后，我们计划通过偏远地区的大量EDNA采样来绘制Wallacea的珊瑚礁生物多样性。我们将在Wallacea中将EDNA采样扩展到其他10个地点，以在前所未有的空间和生态复杂性尺度上提供新的数据，从而使我们能够建模并预测与印度尼西亚海洋空间最相关的人为压力的响应响应的变化。尽管大型多样性珊瑚礁生态系统的功能冗余很高，但物种的丧失会以广泛的生态，社会和经济影响转移社区组成和功能。为了在复杂的系统中进行保护工作，而这些系统的采样不足，但起着重要的功能作用，现实世界中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的方法，以应对这一挑战，以面对珊瑚礁危机，为可持续发展提供信息。生态网络中的响应动态为社区的鲁棒性提供了信息，这些信息是管理决策的关键。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（4）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

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
通讯作者：
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.