Linkages Between Larvae and Recruitment of Coral Reef Fishes Along the Florida Keys Shelf: an Integrated Field and Modeling Analysis of Population Connectivity in a Complex System

该项目涉及海洋人口连通性这一重要和及时的主题。底栖海洋生物种群通过幼虫繁殖体的扩散在多大程度上联系在一起，是一个尚未回答的生态学和海洋学中心问题。海洋系统的复杂海洋学，以及高死亡率和幼虫扩散密度，使得直接测量幼虫来源通常是不可行的，特别是对分布在开阔海岸线的海洋种群。此外，生态种群连通性不仅是幼虫物理运输的函数，也是影响幼虫生长、存活和定居条件的因素相互作用的结果。例如，与营养丰富的近岸水域的幼虫相比，低营养的开阔海洋环境可能导致幼虫生长较慢，中上层幼虫的持续时间较长，幼虫的存活率较低。数据表明，幼虫的相对状况影响它们在珊瑚礁上的生存以及它们对种群的贡献程度。归根结底，由于洋流、产卵模式、幼虫存活、栖息地及其相互作用是高度可变的，在海洋复杂环境中检查多个时间和空间尺度上的生态种群连通性的唯一方法将是数据验证的三维生物物理模型，该模型能够评估广泛的时空变化的扩散结果。这项研究的总体目标是量化上游(远场)和本地(近场)珊瑚鱼幼体来源对佛罗里达群岛的相对贡献。这项拟议的研究将把一个全面的三维流体动力学模型与拉格朗日颗粒跟踪模型相结合，将观测到的浮游鱼群分布与幼体定居之间的路径联系起来。这项工作的更广泛影响包括为两名跨学科研究生提供研究和教育机会，他们的论文研究将是研究的组成部分，一名博士后(部分支持)，以及几名本科生现场和实验室助理。人口连通性领域的重要项目得到了生物和物理海洋学方案的合作支持。

This project deals with the important and timely theme of marine population connectivity. The degree to which populations of benthic marine organisms are connected via the dispersal of larval propagules is a central unanswered ecological and oceanographic question. The complex oceanography of marine systems, and high mortality and diffuse concentrations of larvae make direct measurement of larval sources generally unfeasible, particularly for marine populations distributed along open coastlines. In addition, ecological population connectivity is not only a function of the physical transport of larvae, but also the interaction of factors influencing larval growth, survival, and condition at settlement. For example, oligotrophic open-ocean environments may lead to slower larval growth, longer pelagic larval durations, and lower survivorship of larvae compared to larvae from nutrient-rich nearshore waters. Data indicate that the relative condition of larvae influences their survival on the reef and the degree to which they contribute to the population. Ultimately, as ocean currents, spawning patterns, larval survivorship, settlement, and their interactions are highly variable, the only method for examining ecological population connectivity over multiple time and space scales in oceanographically complex environments will be data-validated three dimensional biophysical models capable of assessing dispersal outcomes over a wide range of temporal and spatial variation. The overall goal of this study is to quantify the relative contributions of upstream (far-field) versus local (near-field) sources of reef fish larvae to the Florida Keys. The proposed study will integrate a comprehensive, three dimensional hydrodynamic model with a Lagrangian particle tracking model to connect the pathways between observed ichthyoplankton distributions and larval settlement. The broader impacts of the work include providing research and educational opportunities for two interdisciplinary graduate students whose dissertation research will be an integral part of the study, a post-doc (partial support), and several undergraduate field and laboratory assistants. The important project in the area of Population Connectivity is cooperatively supported by the Biological and Physical Oceanography Programs .