Collabortive Research: A Field Test of Source-Sink Dynamics in Marine Systems: Linking Recruitment, Dispersal and Post-Settlement Processes in Space and Time

源汇动态可以确定许多海洋和河口物种的分布模式和丰度。在来源栖息地，人口过剩（出生+移民死亡+移民），而在汇区，人口赤字（死亡+移民出生+移民）导致当地灭绝，而没有来自来源的移民。此外，由于来源国移民对汇的补贴，相互联系的来源国和汇的总产量可能高于单独的任何一国。基于源汇动态的假设隐含地包含了招聘过程、物理运输机制、扩散行为、定居后人口统计和不同时空尺度的栖息地异质性。目前海洋生态学的许多范式可以被纳入或应用于源汇动力学的概念框架内。包含空间异质性、年龄或阶段结构和分散的矩阵种群模型为在野外测试源汇动态的假设的生成提供了理论结构。研究人员将在一个海洋和河口物种模型系统中对源汇动力学进行全面的实验调查。他们将广泛的种群数据和具有分散的阶段结构、空间明确的矩阵种群模型，以产生关于在假定的源和汇栖息地的亚种群之间的生存、生长、繁殖和分散的可检验的假设。Mesocosm水槽实验将开始研究动态的基本机制，特别是关于定居后的扩散和繁殖成功分别与食物和人口密度的关系。矩阵模型将用于评价在相互联系和独立的源汇生境中扩散、特定阶段生长、生存和繁殖力对种群增长率的重要性。本研究是对海洋系统中源汇动力学存在及其后果的全面检验。

Source sink dynamics may define the patterns in distribution and abundance of many marine and estuarine species. In source habitats there is a demographic surplus (births + emigration deaths + immigration), whereas in sinks a demographic deficit (deaths + immigration births + emigration) leads to local extinction, without immigration from sources. Moreover, total production in linked sources and sinks may be higher than in either alone, due to subsidies to sinks by emigrants from sources. Hypotheses based on source sink dynamics implicitly incorporate recruitment processes, physical transport mechanisms, dispersal behavior, post settlement demography and habitat heterogeneity across various scales of space and time. Many of the current paradigms of marine ecology can be subsumed or applied within the conceptual framework of source sink dynamics. Matrix population models that incorporate spatial heterogeneity, age or stage structure, and dispersal provide a theoretical construct for the generation of hypotheses to test source sink dynamics in the field. The investigators will perform a comprehensive experimental investigation of source sink dynamics in a model system for marine and estuarine species. They will extensive population data and a stage structured, spatially explicit matrix population model with dispersal to generate testable hypotheses concerning survival, growth, reproduction and dispersal between subpopulations in putative source and sink habitats. Mesocosm flume experiments will begin to examine the mechanisms underlying the dynamics, with particular regard to post settlement dispersal and reproductive success in relation to food and population density, respectively. Matrix models will be used to evaluate the importance of dispersal, and stage specific growth, survival and fecundity to population growth rate in linked and independent source and sink habitats. This research represents a comprehensive test of the existence and consequences of source sink dynamics in a marine system.