Collaborative Research: Biodiversity, connectivity and ecosystem function in organic-rich whale-bone and wood-fall habitats in the deep sea

富含有机物的栖息地岛屿支持整个自然生态系统中的特殊群落，并在维持α和β多样性方面发挥重要作用，从而促进适应性辐射和进化新颖性。鲸骨和树木落在深海中广泛存在，对生物多样性和进化新颖性有根本贡献；尽管如此，在这些富含有机物的元群落系统中，生物多样性、连通性和生态系统功能的大规模模式仍未被探索。pi提出了一种新的比较实验方法来评估深海海底鲸鱼和木材栖息地中生物多样性和连通性的深度、区域和盆地间变化，以及生物多样性和生态系统功能之间的相互作用。他们的实验将使用底部着陆器，在东北太平洋和西南大西洋盆地的两个深度（1500米和3000米），相距250-500公里，携带和保存骨头、木材和对照基质（玄武岩）的样本，并在15个月后定量恢复殖民组合。每个深度将有三个复制。他们的实验将测试有关生物多样性（遗传和分类）的基本假设，以及在能源有限的深海环境中利用这些资源丰富的栖息地的大型动物和微生物的生物地理学，并将探索鲸鱼骨骼和木材作为模型实验系统的效用，以解决深海中连通性和分解者功能的模式。本项目将在五个方面产生更广泛的影响：(1)至少两名研究生将进行博士研究，三名本科生将参与研究巡航并在项目内撰写高级论文。(2)项目成果将被纳入两所大学的本科和研究生课程。(3)根据项目成果，pi将在周五港实验室开发并提供一门新的研究生水平暑期课程，题为“深海生物多样性，连通性和生态系统功能”。巴西圣保罗大学（University of Sao Paulo）也将免费提供类似的课程。(4)公共宣传将包括夏威夷大学和奥本大学的项目网站和邮轮博客，以及在夏威夷大学和奥本大学的开放日上的演讲。(5)研究结果将在诸如皮尤海洋保护研究员年会上发表。

Organic-rich habitat islands support specialized communities throughout natural ecosystems and often play fundamental roles in maintaining alpha and beta diversity, thus facilitating adaptive radiation and evolutionary novelty. Whale-bone and wood falls occur widely in the deep-sea and contribute fundamentally to biodiversity and evolutionary novelty; nonetheless, large-scale patterns of biodiversity, connectivity, and ecosystem function in these organic-rich metacommunity systems remain essentially unexplored. The PIs propose a novel comparative experimental approach to evaluate bathymetric, regional, and inter-basin variations in biodiversity and connectivity, as well as interactions between biodiversity and ecosystem function, in whale-bone and wood-fall habitats at the deep-sea floor. Their experiments will use bottom landers to carry and hold samples of bone and wood and a control substrate (basalt) at two depths (1500 and 3000 m), 250-500 km apart, in the NE Pacific and SW Atlantic basins, with quantitative recovery of the colonizing assemblages 15 month later. Each depth will have three replicates. Their experiments will test fundamental hypotheses concerning biodiversity (genetic and taxonomic) and biogeography of macrofaunal and microbial organisms exploiting these resource-rich habitats in energy limited deep-sea environments, and will explore the utility of whale-bone and wood falls as model experimental systems to address patterns of connectivity and decomposer function in the deep sea. The project will have broader impacts in five areas: (1) At least two graduate students will conduct Ph.D. research, and three undergraduate students will participate in research cruises and develop senior theses within the project. (2) Project results will be incorporated into undergraduate and graduate courses at two universities. (3) The PIs will develop and deliver a new a graduate-level summer course at Friday Harbor Laboratory entitled Deep-Sea Biodiversity, Connectivity and EcosystemFunction based on project results. A similar course will be offered at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil at no cost to NSF. (4) Public outreach will include project web sites and cruise blogs at both the University of Hawaii (UH) and Auburn University, and presentations at UH and Auburn open houses. (5) Results will be presented at conservation forums such as the annual meeting of Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation.