RAPID: Species on the Move: Tropicalization of Western Atlantic Seagrass Beds

快速：迁徙中的物种：西大西洋海草床的热带化

• 批准号: 1916989
• 负责人: Kenneth Heck
• 金额: $ 4.75万
• 依托单位: Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-02-01 至 2020-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1916989&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Species; Move; Tropicalization; Western

This project builds on an ongoing project that studies the tropicalization of seagrass beds in the northern Gulf of Mexico where native species are prevented from moving north as temperature rises because of the continental land mass. Hurricane Michael opened a new pass from the Gulf of Mexico to St Joseph Bay, enabling elevated immigration of tropical species (e.g. parrotfish), and the associated winds and storm surge likely decimated green turtle populations. This project takes advantage of the hurricane's passage to study the interplay of turtles and parrotfish as consumers of the dominant seagrass and will support new and complemental sampling to evaluate the storm's effect on the ongoing tropicalization of St Joseph Bay. Seagrass communities provide major ecosystem services and their resilience to changing climate has consequences for coastal communities. This project will expand on the NSF-funded network to capture critical environmental information during this hurricane-induced natural experiment of increased species access. Training of two female early career scientists (one from an underserved group) will take place in addition to mentoring through collaborations with the partners of the network.The recent passage of Major Hurricane Michael directly over the northernmost site (St. Joe Bay, FL) of the NSF collaborative project "Collaborative Research: The tropicalization of Western Atlantic seagrass beds" has raised additional questions regarding the trajectory and speed of the influx of tropical grazers along the northern Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Michael produced numerous overwash areas along Cape San Blas and opened a new pass from the Gulf of Mexico to St. Joseph Bay. This will likely alter salinities and water temperatures and bring additional larval and adult recruits to the Bay. Hurricanes have been documented to move species large distances from their low-latitude home ranges and while these can be only short-lived range shifts, there is potential for enhanced establishment in locations where tropicalization is already occurring owing to the decreasing frequency of cold winter temperatures. This study investigates to what extent these newly formed passes allow elevated immigration of tropically-associated species, such as the seagrass consuming emerald parrotfish into St. Joe Bay. Supporting new and complementary field activities, and leveraging the 12 year record of fish abundance and species composition in St. Joe Bay and the 2017 population estimate of green turtle abundance in the Bay are used to evaluate the storm's effects on the on-going tropicalization of St. Joe Bay that could dramatically affect the overall conclusions of our collaborators in other locations of the NSF funded network of sites.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个项目是在一个正在进行的项目的基础上进行的，该项目研究墨西哥湾北方海草床的热带化问题，因为那里的大陆块阻止了当地物种随着温度上升而向北迁移。飓风迈克尔打开了一个从墨西哥湾到圣约瑟夫湾的新通道，使热带物种（如鹦嘴鱼）的移民增加，相关的风和风暴潮可能使绿色海龟种群大量减少。该项目利用飓风的通道，研究海龟和鹦嘴鱼作为占主导地位的海草消费者的相互作用，并将支持新的和补充的采样，以评估风暴对圣约瑟夫湾正在进行的热带化的影响。海草群落提供了重要的生态系统服务，它们对气候变化的适应能力对沿海社区产生了影响。该项目将扩大国家科学基金会资助的网络，以在飓风引起的增加物种访问的自然实验期间捕获关键的环境信息。培训两名早期职业女性科学家除了通过与网络伙伴的合作提供指导外，还将提供一个培训班（一个来自得不到充分服务的群体）。（佛罗里达州圣乔湾）的NSF合作项目“合作研究：西大西洋海草床的热带化”提出了关于热带食草动物沿着墨西哥湾北方流入的轨迹和速度的更多问题。飓风迈克尔在圣布拉斯角沿线产生了大量沿着过洗区，并在墨西哥湾和圣约瑟夫湾之间开辟了一条新的通道。这可能会改变盐度和水温，并为海湾带来更多的幼虫和成虫。据记载，飓风使物种远离低纬度的家园，虽然这些只是短暂的范围转移，但由于冬季寒冷温度的频率降低，在已经发生热带化的地方，有可能加强定居。本研究调查在何种程度上这些新形成的通行证允许升高移民的热带相关物种，如海草消费翡翠鹦嘴鱼到圣乔湾。支持新的补充性外地活动，并利用12年来圣乔湾鱼类丰度和物种组成的记录以及2017年海湾绿色海龟丰度的人口估计来评估风暴对乔湾的热带化，这可能会极大地影响我们的合作者在NSF资助的网络的其他地点的整体结论。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。