RAPID: Relative impacts of density- and trait-mediated effects on a top predator: how has the Deepwater Horizon oil spill affected Brown Pelican population biology?

RAPID：密度和性状介导的影响对顶级捕食者的相对影响：深水地平线漏油事件如何影响褐鹈鹕种群生物学？

• 批准号: 1139962
• 负责人: Jordan Karubian
• 金额: $ 19.99万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-07-15 至 2013-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1139962&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Relative; impacts; density; trait

This project uses the environmental disturbance generated by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to assess the relative importance of density vs. trait-mediated effects in regulating populations of the brown pelican. The investigators will combine post- and pre-spill data to quantify the effects of different levels of oil exposure on population density and ecologically relevant traits, and on the population-level consequences of different exposure scenarios. By providing a detailed analysis of how traits such as foraging behavior combine with population density to influence the dynamics of a top predator, the study will further our understanding of the ecological factors that regulate population dynamics and the long-term, non-lethal effects of major anthropogenic disturbances. The brown pelican was completely extirpated from Louisiana in the 1960's and only recently removed from the Endangered Species list. Since then, it has become a culturally important symbol of ecosystem resilience in the Gulf of Mexico. The project will raise public awareness about how exposure to environmental contaminants may affect this and other colonial nesting seabirds affected by the oil spills, and results will inform conservation practitioners and wildlife biologists about effective management of these populations. The proposed research will also provide training to one undergraduate student and one female post-doctoral fellow.

该项目利用墨西哥湾BP深水地平线石油泄漏所产生的环境扰动来评估密度与性状介导效应在调节褐派力肯种群中的相对重要性。调查人员将联合收割机结合泄漏后和泄漏前的数据，以量化不同程度的石油暴露对人口密度和生态相关特征的影响，以及对不同暴露情景的人口后果的影响。通过提供一个详细的分析，如觅食行为联合收割机与人口密度的特点，影响动态的顶级捕食者，这项研究将进一步我们的理解，调节人口动态和长期的生态因素，主要人为干扰的非致命影响。棕色派力肯在20世纪60年代从路易斯安那州完全灭绝，直到最近才从濒危物种名单中删除。从那时起，它已成为墨西哥湾生态系统恢复力的重要文化象征。该项目将提高公众对暴露于环境污染物可能如何影响这种海鸟和其他受石油泄漏影响的殖民筑巢海鸟的认识，其结果将告知保护从业人员和野生生物学家如何有效管理这些种群。拟议的研究还将为一名本科生和一名女博士后研究员提供培训。