BIOCOMPLEXITY: Marine Benthic Population Dynamics

控制近岸底栖物种种群动态的过程是什么？幼虫生产和运输、幼虫定居、局部干扰、捕食、争夺空间等？每一个都很复杂。例如，幼虫的定居不仅取决于幼虫到达的速度，而且还取决于游离基的可用性、幼虫的行为和小规模的水动力。这些过程中的每一个都是非线性的，已经分别进行了研究。原则调查人员已经成功地确定了其中的一些过程。但由于每一个都很复杂，并且在不同的时间和空间尺度上运行，在将它们结合在一起方面进展甚微。这个项目应该结合使用观测和数学技术来增加对这些过程的理解。还将调查以下问题：近岸幼虫在招募、幼虫运输和幼虫扩散方面的差异是否源于局部层结的差异，以及幼虫与当地层结相互作用的行为是否导致幼体运输的差异。

The processes that govern the population dynamics of nearshore benthic species ? larval production and transport, larval settlement, local disturbance, predation, competition for space, etc ? are each complex. For example, larval settlement depends not only upon the rate of arrival of larvae but also the availability of free substrate, larval behavior, and small?scale hydrodynamics. Each of these processes is nonlinear and has been studied separately. The principle investigators have already been successful in identifying some of these processes. But because each one is complex and operates at a different temporal and spatial scale, little progress has been made in coupling them together. This project should increase understanding of these processes using, a combination of observational and mathematical techniques. The following will also be investigated: whether alongshore differences in recruitment, larval transport, and larval dispersal result from the differences in local stratification, and whether the behavior of the larvae interacting with the local stratification results in differences in larval transport.