Phytoplankton Traits, Functional Groups and Community Organization: A Synthesis

浮游植物占全球初级生产力的一半，其生物量和群落组成对全球碳循环和其他生物地球化学循环以及生态系统功能产生重大影响。解释浮游植物群体的全球分布模式，并预测浮游植物群落将如何在人为环境变化下重新组织，需要了解浮游植物物种生态位的各种生态生理特征。在这个项目中，研究人员将组装一个基于查询的浮游植物特征数据库，如细胞/菌落大小，生长速率，资源获取和捕食者回避特征等。将包括所有可用种属和菌株的数据。他们将使用该数据库来回答浮游植物生态学中的基本问题，例如：1）哪些特征表现出权衡（成对和超越）以及它们是什么形状？2)哪些特征与细胞/身体大小异速生长？第一原理的标度指数能被预测吗？异速生长标度作为一种简化表征真实的生物体的复杂特征空间的方法，其潜在的限制是什么？3)浮游植物的主要功能/分类群体之间有哪些特征差异？分类学/系统发生学对特定功能特征的限制有多大？4)海水和淡水种群的性状分布是否存在差异？研究人员还将使用该数据库来参数化基于适应动力学方法的浮游植物群落组织和进化的新模型。他们将使用这些模型来探索在不同的环境情景下，在给定生理约束和生态相互作用的情况下，群落结构是如何出现的。元素的化学计量，尺寸结构和功能团分布在不同的空间和时间尺度的变化也将被检查。该项目的广泛影响将使科学界受益，并提供广泛的教育经验。研究人员将建立一个浮游植物特性的数据库，供广大科学界使用。该数据库将用于浮游植物功能群的参数化模型，并探索不同环境条件下的群落组织机制，包括全球变化情景。通过应用一般的生态学原理和新的生态信息学和建模工具来回答有关浮游植物群落和生物海洋学的基本问题，该项目将跨越跨学科的界限，因此，应该促进我们对水生生态系统功能的理解。该项目包括为一名研究生和一名博士后提供培训机会。此外，当地学校的教师将被邀请在夏季与研究人员合作，开发有关浮游植物生态和全球变化的基于调查的教育模块，其中将包括该项目的发现。该项目的成果将通过在生态、海洋学和地球化学领域的各种刊物上发表的出版物加以传播。

Phytoplankton account for half of global primary productivity and their biomass and community composition significantly impact global carbon and other biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning. Explaining patterns of global distributions of phytoplankton groups and predicting how phytoplankton communities will re-organize under anthropogenic environmental change requires knowledge of diverse eco-physiological traits defining ecological niches of phytoplankton species. In this project, the investigators will assemble a query-based database of diverse phytoplankton traits such as cell/colony size, growth rates, resource acquisition and predator avoidance traits, among others. Data for all available species and strains will be included. They will use the database to answer fundamental questions in phytoplankton ecology such as: 1) what traits exhibit trade-offs (pairwise and beyond) and what shapes are they? 2) What traits scale allometrically with cell/body size? Can scaling exponents from first principles be predicted? What are potential limits to allometric scaling as a way of simplifying the complex trait space that characterizes real organisms? 3) What are trait differences among major functional/taxonomic groups of phytoplankton and how much does taxonomy/phylogeny constrain particular functional traits? 4) Are there differences in trait distributions between marine and freshwater groups? The investigators will also use the database to parameterize novel models of phytoplankton community organization and evolution based on adaptive dynamics approaches. They will use the models to explore how community structure emerges under different environmental scenarios, given physiological constraints and ecological interactions. Changes in elemental stoichiometry, size structure and functional group distributions at different spatial and temporal scales will also be examined. The broader impacts of the project will benefit the scientific community as well as provide broad educational experiences. The investigators will produce a database of a diverse set of phytoplankton traits that will be made available to the wide scientific community. The database will be used to parameterize models of phytoplankton functional groups and explore mechanisms of community organization under different environmental conditions, including global change scenarios. By applying general ecological principles and novel ecoinformatics and modeling tools to answer fundamental questions about phytoplankton communities and biological oceanography, this project will span the interdisciplinary boundaries and should, therefore, advance our understanding of aquatic ecosystem functioning. The project includes training opportunties for a graduate student and a postdoc. In addition, teachers from local schools will be invited to work with the investigators in the summer to develop inquiry-based educational modules on phytoplankton ecology and global change that will include findings from this project. The results of this project will be disseminated through publications in a wide range of journals covering ecological, oceanographic and biogeochemical fields.