Collaborative Research: Evaluating how abalone populations in the California Current are structured by the interplay of large-scale oceanographic forcing and nearshore variability

海洋的多变性日益被认为是海洋生态系统变化的驱动因素。了解这种海洋变异性及其极端对生物、种群、生态系统及其提供的关键服务的影响具有重大的科学意义，对资源管理和政策至关重要。该项目的首要目标是确定栖息地质量的小规模异质性和特定地点对极端海洋条件的脆弱性如何有助于确定安全空间，并保护沿海人口和渔业免受极端海洋条件的频率、强度和持续时间增加的不利影响。该项目将把详细的近岸海洋学研究与生态学实验和耦合的生物物理模型结合起来，以增进对当地海洋可变性的驱动因素及其对沿海海洋动物的影响的了解。这项研究将确定多种潜在压力的环境驱动因素在该领域如何共同变化，以及这种变化如何影响沿海物种的种群动态。具体地说，该项目将提供关于海洋酸化、溶解氧和温度的变化将如何影响绿色和粉红色鲍鱼的关键见解，绿色和粉红色鲍鱼是南加州洋流中一种重要的生态和经济资源。小组成员将与伙伴非政府组织、资源机构和渔业合作社联合会合作，传播成果，并将数据和见解纳入下加利福尼亚州、墨西哥和美国加利福尼亚州的渔业管理和适应倡议。该项目还将通过直接参与研究、密集课程和国际讲习班，支持在高中、本科生、研究生和博士后各级代表人数不足的群体的培训和专业发展。尽管有大规模的驱动因素和区域扰动，但海洋状况的局部变化可能是沿海海洋物种整体表现和脆弱性的主要驱动因素。作为该项目的一部分进行的研究将检验两个具体假设：(1)上升流与潮汐的相对影响，受海岸几何形状和与岩礁和海藻林有关的复杂结构的影响，造成当地物理条件的高度变异性，尺度为10-1000米；(2)海洋条件的局部变异性导致久居的海洋生物的行为出现高度的局部斑块，在不断升级的热浪、缺氧和酸化的情况下提供安全的空间，这些热浪、缺氧和酸化最近在加州当前地区造成了多种物种的大规模死亡。将在墨西哥下加利福尼亚州海岸进行海洋-生态综合实地研究，以绿色和粉色鲍鱼(Haliotis fulgen，H.corrugata)为模式物种。相辅相成的实验室实验将评估不同的暴露制度(高温和/或低溶解氧和酸度事件的频率、强度和持续时间)如何影响当前和未来环境下鲍鱼种群的人口和持久性。耦合的生物物理和种群模型将综合实地和实验室实验的结果，以了解海洋条件的局部变异性如何在较长时期内影响种群动态。这项研究将通过(1)确定大尺度海洋现象如何在与沿海海洋生态系统最相关的地方尺度的海洋状况(溶解氧、酸度、温度)中表现出来，以及(2)确定当前和预期的未来海洋状况和变化对重要海洋物种的影响，从而促进对影响沿海物种复原力的因素的理解。

Oceanographic variability is increasingly recognized as a driver of change in marine ecosystems. Understanding the effects of this oceanographic variability and its extremes on organisms, populations, ecosystems and the critical services they deliver is of great scientific interest and pivotal for resource management and policy. The overarching goal of this project is to determine how small-scale heterogeneity in habitat quality and site-specific vulnerability to extreme oceanographic conditions might help identify safe spaces and protect coastal populations and fisheries from the detrimental effects of increasing frequency, intensity and durations of extreme oceanographic conditions. This project will combine detailed nearshore oceanographic studies with ecological experiments and coupled biophysical modeling to advance understanding of the drivers of local oceanographic variability and consequent effects on coastal marine animals. The research will determine how multiple, potentially stressful, environmental drivers co-vary in the field and how such variation affects the population dynamics of coastal species. Specifically, this project will provide key insights regarding how changes in ocean acidification, dissolved oxygen and temperature will affect green and pink abalone, an ecologically and economically important resource in the southern California Current. Team members will work with partner non-governmental organizations, resource agencies, and fishing cooperative federations to disseminate results and incorporate data and insights into fisheries management and adaptation initiatives in Baja California, Mexico and in California, USA. This project will also support the training and professional development of underrepresented groups at the high school, undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels through direct involvement in research, intensive courses and international workshops.Despite large-scale drivers and regional perturbations, local variability in ocean conditions may be a major driver of the overall performance and vulnerability of coastal marine species. Research performed as part of this project will test two specific hypotheses: (1) The relative influences of upwelling versus tides, as mediated by coastal geometry and structural complexity associated with rocky reefs and kelp forests act to create high local variability in physical conditions, at scales of 10s-1000s meters; and (2) Local variability in oceanographic conditions results in high local patchiness in the performance of sedentary marine organisms, providing for safe spaces in the face of escalating heat waves, hypoxia, and acidification, that have caused recent mass mortalities in multiple species across the California Current region. Integrated oceanographic-ecological field studies will be conducted along the coast of Baja California, Mexico, using green and pink abalone (Haliotis fulgens, H. corrugata) as model species. Complementary laboratory experiments will evaluate how different exposure regimes (frequency, intensity and duration of high temperature, and/or low dissolved oxygen and acidity events) may affect the demography and persistence of abalone populations under current and future environments. Coupled biophysical and population models will integrate results from the field and laboratory experiments to understand how local variability in ocean conditions affects population dynamics over longer periods. The research will advance the understanding of factors affecting the resilience coastal species by (1) ascertaining how large-scale oceanographic phenomena manifest in ocean conditions (dissolved oxygen, acidity, temperature) at local scales that are most relevant to coastal marine ecosystems and (2) determining the effects of current, and expected future, ocean conditions and variability on important marine species.