2015-07-012024-05-18https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/698511摘要：由於二氧化碳含量在大氣和海洋表層中的持續上升,以及人類因過度開發而造成污染問題的不斷惡化, 所引起的氣候和環境的變化對珊瑚及其多樣性生態系統的影響獲得越來越多的關注 。最近在南海北部珊瑚礁的一項研究顯示海洋酸化程度正以未曾記錄過的速率在增加,並與過去 150 年內大氣中二氧化碳的逐年增加速率同步 (Liu et al., 2014)。然而,儘管海洋加速酸化,最近的研究發現南海北部的東沙環礁卻有著地球上最高的鈣化速率 (Wong and Cohen, unpublished),與我們已知此區域處於相對較低霰石飽和的狀態及預期海洋酸化對珊瑚礁的生長限制的認知有所抵觸。兩者之間的不一致凸顯了我們對於在環境擾動下,珊瑚和珊瑚礁生態系統的生理背景了解仍然有限,此外,我們對於在過去幾十年中的自然和人為的變化需要定量和更確鑿的理解,而以上兩者對於預測未來氣候和環境對於南海和全球珊瑚礁生態系統的影響都至關重要。 在這項研究中,我們計畫整合化學/生物/物理工具來解決以上這兩個基本問題,以新成立於東沙群島的海洋觀測站為基礎,建立台灣大學-中央研究院-美國 Woods Hole 海洋研究院三方合作,期望能對東沙珊瑚礁的生物地球化學系統有更多的了解。此計畫將利用多種新開發的地球化學代用指標指示珊瑚礁系統生物地球化學的變化,以及紀錄最近 50 年來自然和人為的變化。 我們將仰賴來自不同領域的參與者來完成這個計畫,任昊佳博士(台灣大學地質科學系,生物地球化學和氣候學家)和黃國芳博士 (中央研究院地球科學研究所,微量元素和同位素地球化學家)為計畫主持人,陳世楠博士(台灣大學海洋研究所,物理海洋學家)和何東垣博士(中央研究院環境變遷研究中心,化學海洋學家)作為合作計畫主持人。此外,這項研究將與黃天福博士在中央研究院所主持的與美國 Woods Hole 海洋研究院之間的跨領域國際合作計劃緊密合作 。該整合計畫研究課題的重要性以及研究方法的多樣性都將引領世界珊瑚生態和環境變遷的相關研究。<br> Abstract: As the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and surface-ocean continues to rise, and the human activities associated with overexploitation and pollution continue to increase, there is growing concern on the impact of climate and environment changes on corals and the diverse ecosystems that they sustain. A recent study on the coral reef in the northern South China Sea suggests an accelerating acidification, at an unrecorded rate pacing the observed increase in atmospheric CO2 over the last 150 years (Yu et al., 2014). However, albeit the accelerating ocean acidification, recent observations in the Dongsha Atoll from the Northern South China Sea show the highest calcification rate in corals in the world (Wong and Cohen, unpublished results), contradictory to the relatively low aragonite saturation state in this region, and the expected effect of ocean acidification on coral reef growth. The inconsistent evidence highlight our limited knowledge regarding 1) the physiology of the coral and coral reef ecosystem in response to environmental perturbations; and 2) the quantitative and more conclusive understanding of recent natural and anthropogenic changes in the last several decades. Both are critical to better predict the future climate and environment impacts on coral reef ecosystems in the South China Sea and globally. We propose in this study to integrate chemical/biological/physical tools to address the two fundamental questions highlighted above, based on the newly established ocean observatory station on the Dongsha Island, and the ongoing collaboration among NTU-AS-WHOI (US) to better constrain the biogeochemical system around Dongsha coral reef ecosystem. This project will utilize multiple newly developed geochemical proxies to trace biogeochemical changes in the coral reef system, and to separate natural and anthropogenic changes in the last 50 years. The success of this project relies on the integration of the different skillset from each participant, including Dr. Haojia Ren (NTU Geo, biogeochemist and climatologist) and Dr. Kuo-Fang Huang (AS IES, trace element and isotope geochemist) as the lead PI, Dr. Shih-Nan Chen (NTU IO, physical oceanographer) and Dr. Tung-Yuan Ho (AS RCEC, chemical oceanographer) as the co PI. In addition, this study will take advantage of an interdisciplinary and international collaborative project led by Dr. George T. Wong at Academia Sinica. The scope of this integrated project and the great number of new proxies explored and utilized in this project is unprecedented in the world wide coral research.