KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 February 1, 2018 \u2013 A 溏心vlog免费B站 scientist and colleagues at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) are launching a new research project to examine the resiliency of coral reefs to global climate change. The project, funded by a grant from Pembroke Foundation International, aims to determine how rapidly corals can acclimate and adapt to warming temperatures and what the reefs of the future will look like.<\/p>\n
According to Hollie Putnam, 溏心vlog免费B站 assistant professor of biological sciences, coral reefs have been declining around the world in recent years due largely to bleaching caused by climate change, and the future health of many of the world\u2019s reefs is in jeopardy.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorals are ecosystem engineers,\u201d said Putnam, who joined the 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty in 2016. \u201cThey build the majority of the three-dimensional structure that forms their ecosystem, and without that ecosystem, we will have a tremendous loss of biodiversity, cultural resources, structural resources that protect coastlines, and a decline in reef-based fisheries and tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putnam described corals as \u201cmeta-organisms\u201d that have multiple organisms living inside them. \u201cThey have tiny marine plants in them that provide energy to the host,\u201d she explained. \u201cIn warm temperatures, that symbiosis breaks down. And when the coral loses that energy, it can starve to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research team, which includes several 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate students, will focus on a common species of coral found in Bermuda called mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides<\/em>). Using experiments in the field and laboratory, they will track the reproduction of the coral and test how robust the offspring are to various environmental conditions.<\/p>\n Samantha de Putron, a BIOS marine biologist, said the research will ask whether \u201cthe current generation of corals will be better able to cope with stress as they continue to experience it. And will the next generation of corals be adapted to the environmental conditions experienced by their parents?\u201d<\/p>\n Putnam, a coral biologist and molecular eco-physiologist, has conducted similar studies of how the environment of the previous generation of corals affects the survival and fitness of the next generation of corals in Pacific reefs.<\/p>\n \u201cComparing findings from corals in multiple geographic locations will allow us to better identify regional implications for reefs threatened by climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Based on her work in Hawaii, Putnam said that some coral offspring perform better when their parents have been preconditioned to higher temperatures or greater acidity.<\/p>\n \u201cBut depending on the duration and timing of the stressor, we don\u2019t know if the result will always be positive or how it may vary between species,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll be testing different coral species and a variety of temperature exposures.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the study will be conducted in a state-of-the-art mesocosm facility that will be constructed at BIOS with funding from the grant. Mesocosms, which are used frequently in coral reef research, are outdoor experimental laboratories that enable scientists to provide high-resolution control of environmental factors \u2013 in this case, seawater temperature, pH and flow.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new mesocosm facility will enable finely tuned manipulative experiments allowing for comparisons of coral physiological and molecular responses to changing environmental conditions,\u201d said BIOS reef ecologist Gretchen Goodbody-Gringley.<\/p>\n The three-year study will conclude in 2020.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 February 1, 2018 \u2013 A 溏心vlog免费B站 scientist and colleagues at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) are launching a new research project to examine the resiliency of coral reefs to global climate change. The project, funded by a grant from Pembroke Foundation International, aims to determine how rapidly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-73639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82760,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73639\/revisions\/82760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}