Sociedad Ambiente Marino Inc

RESTORING THE SEAGRASS-CORAL REEF CONTINUUM HABITATS ACROSS HEAVILY HURRICANE-IMPACTED COASTAL AREAS IN CULEBRA ISLAND, PUERTO RICO

DESCRIPTION:THIS AGREEMENT PROVIDES FUNDING UNDER THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT TO SOCIEDAD AMBIENTE MARINO TO IMPROVE THE ADAPTIVE CAPACITY OF UNDERSERVED COASTAL COMMUNITIES IN PUERTO RICO TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS THROUGH LOCALLY-LED ADAPTATION PLANNING. THE PROJECT WILL WORK WITH THREE COMMUNITIES SARDINAS IN CULEBRA, LA MARGARITA IN SALINAS, AND LA 23 IN LOIACUTE;ZA. SOCIEDAD AMBIENTE MARINO WILL COORDINATE REGIONAL CITIZEN CLIMATE DIALOGUES TO DEFINE LOCAL AND NATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR RESILIENCE PLANNING. THEY WILL CONDUCT WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING SESSIONS TO STRENGTHEN THE TECHNICAL CAPACITY OF LOCAL ACTORS AND GOVERNMENTS IN PARTICIPATORY DECISION-MAKING FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO DEVELOP COMMUNITY CLIMATE ADAPTATION PLANS WITH RESIDENTS AND INTEGRATE THESE INTO LOCAL AND NATIONAL PLANNING PROCESSES. THE PROJECT AIMS TO EMPOWER LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO LEAD THEIR OWN ADAPTATION EFFORTS, BUILDING LONG-TERM RESILIENCE AND IMPROVING CLIMATE GOVERNANCE IN PUERTO RICO. THIS WORK ADDRESSES CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FACING THESE COASTAL COMMUNITIES, INCLUDING SEA LEVEL RISE, FLOODING, HURRICANES, AND OTHER CLIMATE-RELATED RISKS. BY FOCUSING ON LOCALLY-LED ADAPTATION, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, AND PARTICIPATORY PLANNING, THE PROJECT SEEKS TO CREATE MORE EFFECTIVE AND EQUITABLE CLIMATE SOLUTIONS FOR PUERTO RICO'S MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS.ACTIVITIES:THE ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED BY THE PUERTO RICO PLANNING FOR LOCALLY-LED ADAPTATION PROJECT INCLUDE HOSTING A MULTILEVEL LAUNCH EVENT TO INTRODUCE THE INITIATIVE TO VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS, FACILITATING FIVE REGIONAL CITIZEN CLIMATE ASSEMBLIES TO GATHER INPUT AND BUILD CONSENSUS ON LOCAL AND NATIONAL CLIMATE PRIORITIES, AND DEVELOP AND CONDUCT TRAINING SESSIONS FOR BOTH POLICY MAKERS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS. THESE SESSIONS WILL FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PLANNING, LOCALLY-LED ADAPTATION APPROACHES, AND EFFECTIVE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION STRATEGIES. THE PROJECT AIMS TO ESTABLISH A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE AROUND THESE TOPICS, CULMINATING IN AN ISLAND-WIDE KNOWLEDGE-SHARING EVENT. A KEY COMPONENT OF THE PROJECT INVOLVES WORKING DIRECTLY WITH THREE COASTAL COMMUNITIES: SARDINAS IN CULEBRA, LA MARGARITA IN SALINAS, AND LA 23 IN LOIACUTE;ZA. IN EACH COMMUNITY, THE TEAM WILL HOST PARTICIPATORY MEETINGS TO IDENTIFY AND PRIORITIZE CLIMATE RISKS AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS. THIS INPUT WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY CLIMATE ADAPTATION PLANS. ONCE DEVELOPED, THESE PLANS WILL BE PRESENTED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR INTEGRATION INTO MUNICIPAL AND REGIONAL PLANNING PROCESSES. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AT LEAST THREE COMMUNITY-DESIGNED PILOT INTERVENTIONS TO ADDRESS SPECIFIC CLIMATE ADAPTATION NEEDS. THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT PERIOD, THE TEAM WILL CONDUCT QUARTERLY MEETINGS WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO DEVELOP IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAPS AND ENSURE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THESE LOCALLY-LED ADAPTATION EFFORTS. ONGOING EVALUATION AND REPORTING WILL BE CARRIED OUT TO TRACK PROGRESS AND ADJUST STRATEGIES AS NEEDED. THROUGH THESE ACTIVITIES, THE PROJECT AIMS TO EMPOWER LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO LEAD THEIR OWN CLIMATE ADAPTATION EFFORTS AND IMPROVE OVERALL CLIMATE GOVERNANCE IN PUERTO RICO.SUBRECIPIENT:THE ACTIVITIES TO BE IMPLEMENTED THROUGH SUBAWARDS FOCUS ON GOAL 3 OF THE PLALLA WORK PLAN: INCORPORATING LOCALLY-LED ADAPTATION CONSIDERATIONS INTO COMMUNITY, LOCAL, AND NATIONAL PLANNING PROCESSES. THE THREE COMMUNITIES - COMUNIDAD SARDINAS IN CULEBRA, COMUNIDAD LA MARGARITA IN SALINAS, AND COMUNIDAD LA 23 IN LOIACUTE;ZA - WILL PLAY CRUCIAL ROLES IN THIS PROCESS. SUBAWARD RECIPIENTS ASOCIACIOACUTE;N DE RESIDENTES DE LA MARGARITA AND TALLER SALUD, ALONG WITH A COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION IN CULEBRA, WILL LEAD EFFORTS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COMMUNITIES TO HOST PARTICIPATORY MEETINGS. THESE MEETINGS WILL IDENTIFY, DISCUSS, AND PRIORITIZE CLIMATE RISKS AND SOLUTIONS WITH COMMUNITY RESIDENTS, TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THEIR SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT. THE SUBAWARD RECIPIEN

EO14042 OCEAN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND AWARENESS USING NASA OBSERVATIONS AND SCIENCE FOR LOW-INCOME HISPANIC/LATINO STUDENTS (OCEANOS)

RAPID RESPONSE TO ADDRESS THE EXPANSION OF STONY CORAL TISSUE LOSS DISEASE (SCTLD) IN PUERTO RICO

RAPID: THE BLACK URCHIN (DIADEMA ANTILLARUM) MASSIVE RESURGENT DIE-OFF: CAUSES, DEMOGRAPHIC AND COMMUNITY CONSEQUENCES -IN RECENT DECADES, MANY MARINE SPECIES IN CARIBBEAN CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEMS HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BY DISEASE. A WELL-DOCUMENTED MASS MORTALITY EVENT AFFECTING THE LONG-SPINED BLACK SEA URCHIN DIADEMA ANTILLARUM IN THE EARLY 1980S STANDS OUT BECAUSE IT HAD WIDE-RANGING IMPACTS ON REEF ECOSYSTEMS. THE URCHINS FUNCTION AS GATEKEEPER GRAZERS, FEEDING MAINLY ON MACROALGAE AND PREVENTING ALGAE FROM OVERGROWING REEFS. IN THE 1980S, AN UNKNOWN DISEASE KILLED OVER 90% OF THESE URCHINS ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN, CHANGING THE REEFSCAPE FROM CORAL TO ALGAL DOMINATED. NEARLY 40 YEARS LATER, BLACK SEA URCHIN POPULATIONS HAVE YET TO RECOVER. IN EARLY 2022, A NEW MORTALITY EVENT OF D. ANTILLARUM WAS REPORTED ALONG THE CARIBBEAN, INCLUDING PUERTO RICO. THIS RAPID PROJECT IS IDENTIFYING THE MICROBES INVOLVED IN THE CURRENT MORTALITY EVENT. THE INVESTIGATORS ARE ALSO ASSESSING URCHIN POPULATIONS UNDER CONTRASTING ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND DISEASE INCIDENCES. RESULTS ARE PROVIDING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF DISEASE IN DIADEMA, AND INSIGHTS LEARNED MAY HELP PREVENT OR MITIGATE FUTURE MORTALITY EVENTS. THE PROJECT IS PROVIDING TRAINING FOR UNDERREPRESENTED UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS IN MICROBIOLOGY, BIOINFORMATICS, BIOCHEMISTRY, AND ECOLOGY. WITH USE OF MULTI-OMICS TECHNOLOGY, THIS RAPID PROJECT IS ADVANCING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT DIE-OFF OF DIADEMA IN THE CARIBBEAN, INCLUDING HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS AND HOW THESE ARE INFLUENCED BY ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS. THE INVESTIGATORS ARE PURSUING THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: (1) ARE THE MICROBIAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PROFILES OF DISEASED URCHINS SIMILAR TO HEALTHY ONES? (2) DO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS, I.E., TEMPERATURE, SALINITY, PH, AND DISSOLVED OXYGEN, INFLUENCE DISEASE INCIDENCE? (3) ARE DIFFERENT SIZE CLASSES OF URCHINS DIFFERENTIALLY BEING AFFECTED BY THE DISEASE? THIS PROJECT IS FOCUSING ON FOUR STUDY SITES ALONG THE EASTERN AND NORTHERN COAST OF PUERTO RICO, WHERE DEMOGRAPHIC AND BIOCHEMICAL DATA HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED. AT THREE-MONTH INTERVALS, HEALTHY AND DISEASED D. ANTILLARUM URCHINS ARE BEING EVALUATED FOR CHANGES IN THE MICROBIOME USING METAGENOMIC AND UNTARGETED METABOLOMIC STRATEGIES. IN ADDITION, URCHINS FROM EIGHT TRANSECTS PER SITE ARE BEING COUNTED AND MEASURED TO DETERMINE HOW DISEASE MODULATES LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS, I.E., POPULATION SIZE-STRUCTURE AND DENSITY, AND TO ASSESS DISEASE INCIDENCE. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISEASE INCIDENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENTS IS BEING ASSESSED. THESE MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES AND CUTTING-EDGE TECHNIQUES, COMBINED WITH THE EXISTING DEMOGRAPHIC AND MICROBIAL DATA, MAKE THIS A ONE-OF-A-KIND PROJECT TO STUDY THE PROGRESSION AND EFFECTS OF THE DISEASE AT THE METABOLIC, MICROBIAL, POPULATION, AND ECOSYSTEM LEVELS. 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.

WATERSHEDS WATER QUALITY AND COASTAL COMMUNITIES IN PUERTO RICO(WATER2COASTS): AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ISLAND LANDSCAPE TO COASTAL OCEAN ASSESSMENT WITH SOCIOECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS

PREVENTING HABITAT LOSS OF THE ENDANGERED CACTUS LEPTOCEREUS GRANTIANUS BY INCREASING THE WAVE ATTENUATION CAPABILITY OF SEAGRASS BEDS AND CORAL REEFS

???IMPACT OF THE INVASIVE SEA VINE HALOPHILA STIPULACEA ON NATIVE SEAGRASSES, INVERTEBRATES AND FISH ASSEMBLAGES???