Skeletal Records of Coral Reef Beaching in the Central Equatorial Pacific

GSTDTAP

项目编号	1737311
	Skeletal Records of Coral Reef Beaching in the Central Equatorial Pacific
	Anne Cohen
主持机构	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
项目开始年	2017
	2017-08-15
项目结束日期	2020-07-31
资助机构	US-NSF
项目类别	Standard Grant
项目经费	427526(USD)
国家	美国
语种	英语
英文摘要	Ocean warming kills corals and efforts are underway to identify and protect coral reefs that may withstand the projected 21st century rise in tropical ocean temperatures. Coral reefs in the central equatorial Pacific (CEP) have been exposed to episodes of extreme warmth every 3-7 years for centuries, if not millennia, yet remain highly productive ecosystems. Initial data obtained by the investigator from stress signatures archived in the skeletons of long lived coral species, suggests that CEP reefs lose their symbiotic algae or bleach, sometimes severely, during warm episodes. The observation that CEP reefs bleach repetitively yet remain productive implies uncommon resilience to ocean warming. The investigator will use laboratory experiments and field observations to validate skeletal records of historical bleaching. A successful outcome will provide novel and valuable insights into the resilience of the CEP reefs and a new tool with which to identify thermally tolerant coral reef ecosystems across the tropics. Additionally, this project includes mentorship of a postdoc and six undergraduate or high school students, outreach through presentations and media, and expansion of publically available software for coral stress band analysis. Ocean warming projections indicate severe impacts to coral reefs will occur on an annual basis within the next few decades. Consequently, a coordinated effort is underway to identify reefs that might survive these changes. The investigator will test the hypothesis that such reefs exist at the epicenter of influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), where strong inter-annual temperature variability creates conditions conducive for the development of thermal resilience. The project uses laboratory-based bleaching experiments and actual stress signatures accreted by wild corals during the 2015 El Niño to validate signatures of historical bleaching archived in the skeletons of massive reef building corals. In addition the investigator will use new, long cores from the CEP to build a robust dataset of historical bleaching back to the 1800's. A successful outcome will increase confidence in the interpretation of skeletal stress bands as quantitative bleaching proxies and enable the reconstruction of the history of coral reef bleaching and recovery in the CEP.
文献类型	项目
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/71590
专题	环境与发展全球科技态势
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Anne Cohen.Skeletal Records of Coral Reef Beaching in the Central Equatorial Pacific.2017.