Global Biogeography in a Changing Environment

Partnerships with international collaborators are essential to address global-scale marine ecological issues. The Marine Biophysics Unit has been promoting global partnerships, including 5 OIST international workshops in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2019, to address marine ecological problems in the changing global environment, especially in this era of anthropogenic climate change. Topics covered by past workshops have included global changes of coral recruitment patterns, changing population connectivity among coral reef islands, and international study of connectivity between hydrothermal vents. Together with

our collaborators, we intend to quantify the influence of climate change on coral-reef and deep-sea, hydrothermal-vent ecosystems.

Coral reefs are retreating from equatorial waters and establishing new reefs in more temperate regions, according to Price et al., 2019. The researchers found that the number of young corals on tropical reefs has declined by 85 percent – and doubled on subtropical reefs – during the last four decades.

100 Island Challenge

The Marine Biophysics Unit has been contributing to the 100 Island Challenge, a collaborative effort based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (https://100islandchallenge.org). The goal of the project is to describe the variation of coral reefs from across the globe through time by integrating classical field surveys with cutting-edge imaging technologies.

Additionally, members of the 100 Island Challenge joined a science outreach activity run by the MBU at Kyuyo Highschool. Students were introduced to marine science technology and took part in analyzing data taken from reefs all around the Pacific, including Okinawa.

2019   -  100 Island Challenge

OIST International Workshops

• Computational ecology (December 1–3, 2010)
• The influence of metapopulation structure and connectivity on the response of coral reefs to climate change and ocean acidification (March 15–21, 2016)
• 100 Island Challenge: Cross-regional perspectives of coral reef structure and function (January 15–17, 2019)

International collaborative workshops in 2012.

OIST-NSF Co-sponsored Workshops

• Mariana Vent Larvae (MarVeL) workshop: International study of connectivity between hydrothermal vents (May 10–11, 2012)
• Biogeographic variation in coral recruitment in an era of climate change and ocean acidification (April 23–27, 2013)

MACROCHESS

Where possible, researchers from the Marine Biophysics Unit are supporting an international team of researchers to create MACROCHESS (MACROecological database for species distributions across CHemosynthesis-based EcoSystemS).

Project Lead

Satoshi Mitarai, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Marine Biophysics Unit

Project Collaborators

International Collaborators

Rebecca Albright (Australian Institute of Marine Science)

Mehdi Adjeroud (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement)

Put Ang (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Jessica L. Bergman (California State University, Northridge)

Robert C. Carpenter (California State University, Northridge)

Apple P. Y. Chui (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Mary A. Coffroth (University at Buffalo)

Peter J. Edmunds (California State University, Northridge)

Tung-Yung Fan (National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Taiwan)

Atsushi G. Fujimura (University of Guam)

Ruth D. Gates (University of Hawai'i)

James L. Hench (Duke University)

Sally J. Holbrook (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Louis Legendre (Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer)

James C. Leichter (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

Shelby McIlroy (University of Hong Kong)

Jacqueline L. Padilla-Gamiño (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Claire B. Paris (University of Miami)

Nicole N. Price (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences)

Russel J. Schmitt (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Robert Steneck (University of Maine)

Makamas Sutthacheep (Ramkhamhaeng University)

Robert J. Toonen (University of Hawai’i)

Madeleine J. H. van Oppen (Australian Institute of Marine Science)

Libe Washburn (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Alex S. J. Wyatt (Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo)

Alex Yarid (California State University, Northridge)

Domestic Collaborators

Saki Harii (University of the Ryukyus)

Hiroaki Kitano (OIST)

Haruko Kurihara (University of the Ryukyus)

Soyoka Muko (Nagasaki University)

Masako Nakamura (Tokai University)

Yoko Nozawa (Academica Sinica)

Kazuhiko Sakai (University of the Ryukyus)

Go Suzuki (Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute)

Project Publications

OIST Workshop Papers

N. N. Price, S. Muko, L. Legendre, R. Steneck, M. J. H. van Oppen, R. Albright, P. Ang Jr, R. C. Carpenter, A. P. Y. Chui, T. Y. Fan, R. D. Gates, S. Harii, H. Kitano, H. Kurihara, S. Mitarai, J. L. Padilla-Gamiño, K. Sakai, G. Suzuki, P. J. Edmunds, Global biogeography of coral recruitment: tropical decline and subtropical increase. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 621, 1–17 (2019).

P. J. Edmunds, S. E. McIlroy, M. Adjeroud, P. Ang, J. L. Bergman, R. C. Carpenter, M. A. Coffroth, A. G. Fujimura, J. L. Hench, S. J. Holbrook, J. J. Leichter, S. Muko, Y. Nakajima, M. Nakamura, C. B. Paris, R. J. Schmitt, M. Sutthacheep, R. J. Toonen, K. Sakai, G. Suzuki, L. Washburn, A. S. J. Wyatt, S. Mitarai, Critical Information Gaps Impeding Understanding of

the Role of Larval Connectivity Among Coral Reef Islands in an Era of Global Change. Frontiers in Marine Science. 5, 290 (2018).

P. J. Edmunds, R. Steneck, R. Albright, R. C. Carpenter, A. P. Y. Chui, T. Y. Fan, S. Harii, H. Kitano, H. Kurihara, L. Legendre, S. Mitarai, S. Muko, Y. Nozawa, J. Padilla-Gamino, N. N. Price, K. Sakai, G. Suzuki, M. J. H. Van Oppen, A. Yarid, R. D. Gates, Geographic variation in long-term trajectories of change in coral recruitment: A global-to-local perspective. Mar. Freshwater Res. 66, 609–622 (2015).

Other Workshop Papers

J. R. Guest, P. J. Edmunds, R. D. Gates, I. B. Kuffner, A. J. Andersson, B. B. Barnes, I. Chollett, T. A. Courtney, R. Elahi, K. Gross, E. A. Lenz, S. Mitarai, P. J. Mumby, H. R. Nelson, B. A. Parker, H. M. Putnam, C. S. Rogers, L. T. Toth, A framework for identifying and characterising coral reef “oases” against a backdrop of degradation. J. Appl. Ecol., 2865–2875 (2018).

L. A. Levin, C.-L. Wei, D. C. Dunn, D. J. Amon, O. S. Ashford, W. W. L. Cheung, A. Colaço, C. Dominguez-Carrió, E. G. Escobar, H. R. Harden-Davies, J. C. Drazen, K. Ismail, D. O. B. Jones, D. E. Johnson, J. T. Le, F. Lejzerowicz, S. Mitarai, T. Morato, S. Mulsow, P. V. R. Snelgrove, A. K. Sweetman, M. Yasuhara, Climate change considerations are fundamental to management of deep-sea resource extraction. Glob. Chang. Biol. (2020), doi:10.1111/gcb.15223.

Links to Related Resources

Coral Reefs Shifting Away from Equator https://www.oist.jp/news-center/press-releases/coral-reefs-shifting-away-equator

100 Islands Challenge https://100islandchallenge.org