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The chemical warfare between sponge and coral species informing reef restoration in Pacific Island communities in Papau New Guinea

Objective

Human activity is predicted to result in a 1.5-4 ºC global warming of air temperature by 2100. The globally averaged ocean surface temperature data shows a mean warming trend of 0.062 ºC/decade since 1900. Since 2010 this has increased to 0.280 ºC/decade. The loss of coral species is decreasing the competitive sponge species chemically fighting for space. Given the imminent threat that global warming has on the future of coral reefs, there is a strong need for robust scientific measures of reef health and future sustainability to improve the survival potential of corals and better inform reef restoration projects, ensuring healthy, diverse, and resilient coral reefs. CIRCLE (ChemIcal waRfare in CoraL rEefs) aims to investigate the influence of climate change on the chemical warfare that occurs in coral reef ecosystems between sponge and coral species, to inform conservation efforts to protect reef ecosystems. We hypothesize that the increasing ocean temperatures are influencing the diversity and distribution of sponge and coral species, where a trade-off is being made between survival and growth. This research will develop critical information for understanding the chemistry and genetic variations required for reef ecosystem growth and (re)-building in response to climate change. It will improve our understanding of future economic and social impacts of global warming on Pacific Island reef ecosystems. CIRCLE will advance the current state of the art application of multi omics techniques to explore the interspecies chemical ecology between sponge and coral species. Through the combined use of omic techniques and chemical natural product experiments we will identify biochemical markers of coral and sponge health. The knowledge gained in this project will empower local Pacific Island communities to enact procedures to monitor and protect the reef and ocean environment, protecting social and economic prosperity.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY
Net EU contribution
€ 252 728,64
Address
UNIVERSITY ROAD
H91 Galway
Ireland

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Region
Ireland Northern and Western West
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost
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