2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems in the West Pacific: threatened ecosystems or hope for the reefs?
| Project/Area Number |
20K06210
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| Research Institution | University of the Ryukyus |
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Principal Investigator |
フレデリック シニゲル 琉球大学, 熱帯生物圏研究センター, ポスドク研究員 (10625940)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | mesophotic |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
This year following issues with international collaborators (health issues and fieldwork constraints), the focus for fieldwork has been shifted domestically towards deeper areas of the reef. However, recruit data at shallow and mesophotic depths and DNA information on corals from shallow to deep could still be obtained through the international collaboration of this project.
As planned in the initial proposal, the results of this project have been presented at the INTECOL2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Japan Coral Reef Conference in Ishigaki, Japan, and at the Gordon conference on Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems in Los Angeles, USA.
In terms of publications, two papers (in Scientific Reports and Marine Pollution Bulletin) reporting on some results of this project have been published.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Due to organizational constraints, the final workshop planned with Indonesian colleagues could not be conducted in 2022 and will be conducted in 2023. The difficulties regarding fieldwork abroad also delayed the acquisition of the final data of this project.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In 2023, the final data will be obtained and analysed. Next year (2023), the main objective will be to conduct a final workshop in Indonesia in the second semester of 2023 to summarize the results obtained so far and coordinate future work together. A publication is expected on the coral biodiversity deeper parts of the reefs as well as on thermal thresholds of mesophotic corals.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The workshop planned in Indonesia in 2022 could not be conducted and will be conducted in 2023. In addition, the delays in obtaining fieldwork data from abroad, delayed the molecular work. Therefore, this coming fiscal year will require the budget to obtain the final DNA sequences for this project as well as publication costs for the last publications.
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