RAPID: Ecological responses to large-scale climate disturbance: Could the interaction of overfishing and disturbance initiate phase-shifts in tropical seagrass ecosystems?

RAPID：对大规模气候扰动的生态反应：过度捕捞和扰动的相互作用是否会引发热带海草生态系统的相移？

• 批准号: 1329408
• 负责人: Michael Heithaus
• 金额: $ 19.46万
• 依托单位: Florida International University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-04-01 至 2015-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1329408&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Ecological; responses; large; scale

Intellectual Merit: Large-bodied marine predators have both direct and indirect effects on other members of their communities through predation-related removals and intimidation-related (that is, non-consumptive) changes in behavior of other organisms, respectively. Thus, large-bodied predators can produce cascading effects on other aspects of the ecosystem. Understanding the nuances of top predator effects on ecosysytem structure and function is a topic of keen ecological interest with strong implications for conservation and management. The PIs have been working for 15 years in the pristine seagrass ecosystem of Shark Bay, western Australia. Their work has shown that tiger sharks induce a reduction in seagrass grazing by dugongs which allows a slow-growing but highly palatable seagrass (Amphibolis antarctica) to persist and even dominate. The slow-growing seagrass has recently experienced a widespread die-off, and two important questions are: (1) what are the immediate effects on the ecosystem; and (2) how does the presence or absence of sharks affect re-establishment of this species, with long-term consequences for the system? The natural die-back of A. Antarctica provides a unique opportunity to study these questions of diversity, structure, and persistence, and to examine the effects of a natural disturbance in a pristine ecosystem that has been studied for many years. A RAPID award is needed to take advantage of this situation shortly after disturbance.Broader Impacts: The project will provide important insights into the impacts of climate change and overfishing on ecosystem dynamics, and the PIs will integrate results into their on-going outreach programs, including a website (www.sberp.org), public lectures, and video-based projects for elementary, middle, and high school students. Data will be provided to the Department of Environment and Conservation of Western Australia to assist in their management of Shark Bay, as well as US data depositories. The project will provide support for research by a PhD student, a postdoc, and multiple undergraduate assistants.

智力优势：大型海洋捕食者通过捕食相关的迁移和恐吓相关的（即非消耗性的）改变其他生物的行为，分别对其社区的其他成员产生直接和间接的影响。 因此，大型食肉动物可以对生态系统的其他方面产生级联效应。 了解顶端捕食者对生态系统结构和功能的影响的细微差别是一个具有强烈生态学意义的主题，对保护和管理具有重要意义。 PI已经在澳大利亚西部的Shark Bay的原始海草生态系统中工作了15年。他们的工作表明，虎鲨减少了儒艮对海草的放牧，这使得生长缓慢但美味可口的海草（Amphibolis anarctica）得以生存，甚至占主导地位。生长缓慢的海草最近经历了大范围的死亡，两个重要的问题是：（1）对生态系统的直接影响是什么？（2）鲨鱼的存在或缺乏如何影响这一物种的重建，对系统的长期影响？ A.南极洲提供了一个独特的机会来研究这些问题的多样性，结构和持久性，并检查自然干扰的影响，在一个原始的生态系统，已经研究了多年。更广泛的影响：该项目将为气候变化和过度捕捞对生态系统动态的影响提供重要的见解，PI将把结果整合到他们正在进行的外展计划中，包括网站（www.sberp.org），公开讲座和面向小学，初中和高中学生的视频项目。 数据将提供给西澳大利亚州环境和自然保护部，以协助他们管理筲箕湾，以及美国的数据库。该项目将为一名博士生、一名博士后和多名本科生助理的研究提供支持。