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

源汇动力学可以决定许多海洋和河口物种的分布和丰度模式。在源头栖息地，人口过剩(出生+移民死亡+移民)，而在汇，人口赤字(死亡+移民出生+移民)导致当地灭绝，没有来源移民。此外，由于来自源头的移民对汇的补贴，相关来源和汇的总产量可能高于其中任何一个。基于源汇动力学的假设隐含地包含了招募过程、物理传输机制、扩散行为、定居后人口统计学和不同空间和时间尺度上的栖息地异质性。目前的许多海洋生态学范式都可以归入或应用于源汇动力学的概念框架内。矩阵种群模型融合了空间异质性、年龄或阶段结构以及分散性，为检验田间源汇动态的假设的产生提供了理论构建。研究人员将在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研究。他们将广泛的种群数据和带有扩散的阶段性结构的、空间上显式的矩阵种群模型来生成关于假定的源和汇生境中的子种群之间的生存、生长、繁殖和扩散的可检验假设。中游水槽实验将开始研究这种动态的机制，特别是分别与食物和人口密度有关的定居后扩散和繁殖成功。矩阵模型将被用来评估扩散和阶段特定的生长、存活和繁殖力对相关和独立的源和汇生境中种群增长率的重要性。这项研究代表了对海洋系统中源汇动力学的存在和后果的全面测试。

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.