NSF Org: |
OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | May 8, 2019 |
Latest Amendment Date: | July 22, 2021 |
Award Number: | 1929293 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Daniel J. Thornhill
dthornhi@nsf.gov (703)292-8143 OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences GEO Directorate For Geosciences |
Start Date: | March 8, 2019 |
End Date: | July 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $255,011.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $272,425.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2021 = $17,414.00 |
History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
66 GEORGE ST CHARLESTON SC US 29424-0001 (843)953-4973 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
66 George St Charleston SC US 29424-0001 |
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): |
BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, Symbiosis Infection & Immunity |
Primary Program Source: |
01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Coral reefs represent a paradox because, despite their immense productivity and biodiversity, they are found in nutrient-poor habitats that are equivalent to "marine deserts." High biodiversity is often associated with a division of resources that allows many types of organisms to coexist with minimal competition. Indeed, unlike many other organisms on coral reefs, sponges are adapted to efficiently remove bacteria, phytoplankton, and dissolved organic matter from seawater by filter-feeding. Sponges are a dominant component of coral reefs worldwide and in the Caribbean, where their biomass exceeds that of reef-building corals. For almost a quarter century, the success of sponges in the Caribbean has been linked to their filter-feeding ability. However, recent work demonstrated that coexisting sponges on Caribbean reefs host unique communities of bacteria that might allow sponges to access multiple pools of nutrients that are not available to other organisms. In this project, the investigators will test the hypothesis that ecologically dominant sponge species in the Caribbean have unique metabolic strategies that are mediated by their associations with microbes that live within the sponge body. This research will combine manipulative field experiments with a novel combination of modern analytical tools to investigate both filter-feeding by sponge hosts and the metabolic pathways of their microbes. This work will advance our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary forces that have helped shape the species present on Caribbean coral reefs. Additionally, this project will support three early-career investigators and provide training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students at Nova Southeastern University, Appalachian State University, Stony Brook University, and Smithsonian Marine Station. The investigators will also develop innovative outreach programs that expand existing platforms at their institutions to increase public engagement and scientific literacy.
Marine sponges have been widely successful in their expansion across ecological niches in the Caribbean, with biomass often exceeding that of reef-building corals and high species diversity. However, whether this success is linked to efficient heterotrophic filter-feeding on organic carbon in the water column or to their evolutionary investment in microbial symbionts is yet to be fully elucidated. Microbial symbionts expand the metabolic capabilities of host sponges, supplementing heterotrophic feeding with inorganic carbon and nitrogen, mediating the assimilation of dissolved organic matter, and facilitating recycling of host-derived nitrogen. Despite these benefits, microbial symbiont communities are widely divergent across coexisting sponge species and there is substantial variation in host reliance on symbiont-derived carbon and nitrogen among host sponges; therefore, these associations likely mediate the ecological diversification of coexisting sponge species. The goal of this project is to test this transformative hypothesis by adopting an integrative approach to assess the individual components of holobiont metabolism (i.e., microbial symbionts and sponge host) in ten of the most common sponge species in the Caribbean. The investigators will isolate autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolic pathways and explore potential links between microbial symbiont community composition and the assimilation of particulate and dissolved organic matter (POM and DOM) from seawater. This project will elucidate whether Caribbean sponge species are on similar or divergent evolutionary trajectories, and will provide information that is critical for our understanding of how conditions in the Caribbean basin have shaped the evolution of benthic organisms.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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