CoralChange · How will coral reefs look like in the future? Adaptive mechanisms and sublethal effects in corals under global change
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-01-01 → 2023-08-31
- EU contribution
- €245,732
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
How will coral reefs look like in the future? Adaptive mechanisms and sublethal effects in corals under global change
The CoralChange project wants to estimate future evolution of coral reefs taking into account the energetic cost of adaptive mechanisms to global change, and their transgenerational effects that can undermine early-life history stages of coral species. Although there is clear evidence that the success of early-life stages is essential for the persistence of coral populations, the demographic consequences of their vulnerability to global change has been largely neglected. By means of a multidisciplinary proposal, CoralChange project represents a significant step forward to understand the underlining ecophysiological and demographic mechanisms driving changes in coral reefs facing global change. The results of this project will contribute to improve coral reefs management and conservation by focusing protection and restoration efforts towards those coral species showing higher probability to survive in future conditions. Thus, the project provide a fundamental tool to project future ecological trends in response to global change. The main goals of the CoralChange project are to examine the long-term biological impacts of climate change stressors and predict possible phase-shifts in the community structure of coral reefs. To achieve this goal, the project is divided into three specific objectives: (1) Assessment of coral life-history parameters in the field, (2) Experimental assessment of sublethal effects driven by adaptive mechanisms in corals under global change and (3) Assessment of long-term viability of coral populations to predict phase-shifts in composition of future coral reefs. A parallel goal of the MSCA Individual Fellowship is to foster the Fellow development as individual researcher.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Coral reefs are among the most diverse, spectacular and productive ecosystems on the planet. However, coral reefs are also among the marine ecosystems more susceptible to the adverse effects of the on-going global change. The frequency and severity of coral bleaching and mass mortality events increases every year, with serious consequences on the long-term viability of coral populations. However, during the last years, few studies have investigated the future of coral populations under different global change scenarios using demographic models. Moreover, these studies have not considered the capacity of corals to adjust their physiology to maintain performance despite environmental change (acclimatization) with the additional energetic cost of this adaptive mechanisms and their consequent transgenerational effects on the viability of future offspring. The CoralChange project will investigate, for the first time, the transgenerational effects induced by global change in stony coral and octocoral species in order to determine how their population dynamics and viability is compromised in the long-term. To achieve this goal, I will develop demographic predictive models combining field and experimental data that include coral physiological condition, trophic plasticity, reproductive success and larval viability. This new approach will identify the possible energetic costs of adaptive mechanisms to ocean warming and acidification that may undermine the early, and most vulnerable, life stages of corals. The results of this study will be essential to develop effective management and conservation strategies to safeguard coral reefs under multiple stressors, as well as identify coral species and populations with higher probability to survive in future conditions.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA · BarcelonaCoordinatorSpain
- UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · Seattle WaUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union