Collaborative Research: Recruitment dynamics and population connectivity in Bahamian octocorals

在海洋底栖生物种群动态分析中，新个体的补充在种群中起着重要作用。了解新成员是来自当地种群（封闭种群）还是来自其他来源（开放种群），以及来自哪些来源（连通性）对于了解底栖生物种群的动态以及底栖生物物种的保护和管理至关重要。评估人口是封闭的还是开放的在方法上是困难的，而且大多数这类分析本质上是推断性的。巴哈马群岛的加勒比柳珊瑚（Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae）的收获创造了对种群密度的大规模操纵，并提供了一个独特的机会来直接确定elisabethae种群是否关闭以及关闭的规模。从采收对种群招募和种群年龄结构的影响来评估白檀种群的连通性。在该项目中，将继续评估恢复种群的招募和连通性，并将使用将开发的新标记进行基于DNA微卫星的连通性增强措施。将建立一个高分辨率的巴哈马幼虫扩散的生物物理模型，并将实证研究的结果与扩散模拟进行比较。生物物理模型在评估连通性模式方面具有潜在的强大功能，该研究项目提供了一个独特的机会来验证生物物理模型，并比较用于评估海洋群落连通性的不同方法。对另外五种密切相关但未收获的物种进行平行研究，将提供有关生殖策略在确定跨物种和生境的补充方面的作用、幼虫供应的相对重要性以及定居后过程在确定分布格局方面的资料。这项研究的更广泛影响在很大程度上是基于解决海洋生态学的一个基本问题，即海洋种群是开放的还是封闭的，并评估在作出这一决定时不同方法的效用。这个问题对珊瑚礁物种特别重要，它们正日益受到威胁，需要制定健全的保护政策。此外，这项研究的重点是一种商业上重要的物种，目前正在巴哈马群岛捕捞，可以在整个加勒比地区捕捞。有关人士，例如对珊瑚礁的保育及管理有兴趣的政府及非政府组织，都会对这项研究有广泛的兴趣。该项目的教育方面分为两类。首先，该项目将涉及来自美国和巴哈马的研究生和本科生的参与和培训。其次，该研究将构成一个案例研究的基础，该案例研究将为国家科学案例研究教学中心开发。该案例研究将在布法罗大学的本科课程中使用，并通过该中心的网站向世界各地的教师提供。

Recruitment, the addition of new individuals to populations, has played a prominent role in analyses of the population dynamics of marine benthic species. Understanding whether recruits come from local populations (closed populations) or from other sources (open populations) and from which sources (connectivity) is essential to understanding of the dynamics of benthic populations and to the conservation and management of benthic species. Assessing whether populations are closed or open is methodologically difficult and most such analyses have been inferential in nature. The harvest of the Caribbean gorgonian, Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae in the Bahamas, has created a massive manipulation of population density and has provided a unique opportunity to directly determine whether P. elisabethae populations are closed and on what scale. Connectivity of P. elisabethae populations is being assessed from the effects of the harvest on recruitment and population age structure. In this project, assessments of recruitment and connectivity in recovering populations will be continued and enhanced DNA microsatellite based measures of connectivity will be undertaken using new markers which will be developed. A high resolution bio-physical model of larval dispersal in the Bahamas will be developed and the results of the empirical studies will be compared with the simulation of dispersal. Bio-physical models are a potentially powerful in assessing patterns of connectivity and this research project provides a unique opportunity to validate the biophysical model and compare the different methodologies used to assess connectivity in marine communities. Parallel studies of five additional, closely related, species that are not harvested will provide information on the role of reproductive strategies in determining recruitment across species and habitats and the relative importance of larval supply, and post-settlement processes in establishing distribution patterns.The broader impacts of the study are in large part based on addressing one of the fundamental questions of marine ecology, whether marine populations are open or closed and assessing the utility of different methodologies in making that determination. The question is of particular concern for coral reef species, which are increasingly at risk and require the development of sound conservation policies. In addition, the study focuses on a commercially important species that is currently being harvested in the Bahamas and could be harvested throughout the Caribbean. The study will be of broad interest to stakeholders such as governmental and non-governmental organizations interested in the conservation and management of coral reefs. Educational aspects of the project fall into two categories. Firstly, the project will involve the participation and training of graduate and undergraduate students from both the U.S. and the Bahamas. Secondly, the research will form the basis of a case study to be developed for the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. The case study will be used in University at Buffalo undergraduate classes and through the Center's website will be available to instructors throughout the world.