Community Dynamics in a Polar Ecosystem: Benthic Recovery From A Large Scale Organic Enrichment in the Antarctic

极地生态系统中的群落动态：南极大规模有机富集的底栖生物恢复

• 批准号: 0126319
• 负责人: Stacy Kim
• 金额: $ 38.86万
• 依托单位: San Jose State University Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-05-01 至 2006-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0126319&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Community; Dynamics; Polar; Ecosystem; Benthic

Kim0126319Antarctic marine ecosystems differ from other polar, temperate and tropical systems at the level of individuals, populations and communities. The environment is characterized by extreme seasonality in light and food availability, along with cold stenothermal conditions. Additionally, human impacts are more limited in Antarctica than in highly populated or exploited areas. A unique research opportunity will occur in 2003 with the installation of a sewage treatment plant at McMurdo Station. This will allow for the conduct of a large-scale experiment on community recovery from organic enrichment and physical disturbance. This research will test whether major hypotheses related to community structure and disturbance recovery, which were formulated and demonstrated in more accessible marine communities, applies to Antarctic ecosystems. This research will build on a ten-year time-series that follows benthic community degradation resulting from emplacement of a sewage outfall. A complicating factor in the local McMurdo ecosystem is the input of fecal matter from the abundant populations of marine mammals and large fishes. Sampling will span the implementation of sewage treatment and the data will be incorporated in a meta-analysis of community recovery from organic disturbance in a variety of habitats, to test the generality of recovery patterns. Experimental manipulations will compare the potentially complex roles of burial and patch size in recovery dynamics. The knowledge gained from this research can be applied to other examples of high organic loading in polar habitats. Significant anthropogenic inputs in high latitudes include pulp mills and increases in human occupation and visitation as well as natural sources including woody debris in river outputs and carcass-falls from the productive surface waters above also present significant carbon inputs to high latitude environments. This study will significantly further the understanding of anthropogenic impacts in polar environments using an integrated approach to evaluate the recovery of the infaunal and epifaunal assemblages after a substantial carbon-loading perturbation sustained over ten years.

Kim0126319南极海洋生态系统在个体、种群和群落水平上不同于其他极地、温带和热带系统。环境的特点是极端季节性的光和食物供应，沿着寒冷的狭温条件。此外，人类对南极洲的影响比人口稠密或开发区更为有限。2003年将在麦默多站安装一个污水处理厂，这将是一个独特的研究机会。这将使我们能够进行一次大规模的实验，使社区从有机物富集和物理干扰中恢复过来。这项研究将检验在较易接近的海洋群落中提出和证明的有关群落结构和干扰恢复的主要假设是否适用于南极生态系统。这项研究将建立在一个10年的时间序列，以下底栖生物群落退化造成的污水排放口的安置。当地麦克默多生态系统的一个复杂因素是大量海洋哺乳动物和大型鱼类的粪便。取样将跨越污水处理的实施，数据将纳入各种生境中有机干扰的社区恢复的元分析，以测试恢复模式的一般性。实验操作将比较潜在的复杂作用的掩埋和补丁大小恢复动力学。从这项研究中获得的知识可以应用于极地栖息地高有机负荷的其他例子。高纬度地区的重要人为输入包括纸浆厂米尔斯和人类居住和访问的增加，以及自然来源，包括河流输出中的木质残体和从上面的生产性表面沃茨掉落的尸体，也对高纬度环境产生了重要的碳输入。这项研究将大大进一步了解人类活动对极地环境的影响，采用综合方法评估持续十年以上的大量碳负荷扰动后底栖动物和表栖动物组合的恢复情况。