RUI: The role of ecological memory in nearshore seagrass beds affected by multiple stressors

RUI：生态记忆在受多种压力因素影响的近岸海草床中的作用

• 批准号: 2045212
• 负责人: Elizabeth Stoner
• 金额: $ 67.62万
• 依托单位: Bentley University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045212&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; role; ecological; memory; nearshore

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project seeks to determine how ecological memory, shaped by an extreme disturbance, informs the response of coastal ecosystems to multiple stressors at population, community, and ecosystem levels. Seagrass ecosystems are among the most highly productive ecosystems on earth, yet are vulnerable to disturbance by both human activity and natural processes. Hurricane Dorian was a Category 5 hurricane that hit the Bahamas in 2019. By comparing seagrass communities in the direct path of the storm with neighboring areas that were less impacted, this project is evaluating how ecological memory might affect responses of seagrass ecosystems to common human-caused and natural stressors. The investigators are early-career scientists, and results from this study are likely to inform conservation, management, and restoration of seagrass ecosystems. They are providing substantial educational opportunities for students in the United States and in the Bahamas, including virtual and hands-on field research experiences for undergraduate students, some from groups traditionally underrepresented in science. Facilitated by Friends of the Environment, a local NGO on Abaco Island, virtual reality videos and curricula will also enhance STEM educational opportunities for Bahamian high school students Seagrass ecosystems, a widespread and ecologically important nearshore system, may be shaped by the ecological memory of past disturbances. These legacies may influence how seagrass ecosystems respond to environmental change. The investigators will conduct new research that complements seven years of existing data in a study system in the path of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas to assess how ecological memory shapes the response of coastal seagrass beds at multiple levels of biological organization. They are using a combination of modeling, field observations, field experiments, and laboratory analyses to compare highly and minimally hurricane-impacted sites to determine: the distribution and relative abundance of three seagrass species; the relative abundance and species diversity of naturally occurring invertebrate and vertebrate grazers; overall species richness, functional diversity, and habitat complexity of each field site; seagrass growth rates and primary productivity; and abiotic environmental characteristics — irradiance, temperature, and nutrient content— of ambient seawater. They will sample twenty plots per site each quarter—including unaltered controls and experimental plots simulating mechanical damage, increased grazing pressure, and both mechanical damage and grazing. The goal is to provide a better understanding of how ecological memory drives the outcome of current ecological processes, which in turn will inform conservation and restoration efforts as seagrasses continue to decline globally.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.

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。该项目旨在确定生态记忆，塑造了一个极端的干扰，通知沿海生态系统在人口，社区和生态系统层面的多重压力的反应。海草生态系统是地球上生产力最高的生态系统之一，但容易受到人类活动和自然过程的干扰。飓风多利安是2019年袭击巴哈马的五级飓风。通过比较风暴直接路径上的海草群落与受影响较小的邻近地区，该项目正在评估生态记忆如何影响海草生态系统对常见人为和自然压力的反应。研究人员是早期职业科学家，这项研究的结果可能会为海草生态系统的保护，管理和恢复提供信息。它们为美国和巴哈马的学生提供了大量的教育机会，包括为本科生提供虚拟和实际实地研究经验，其中一些学生来自传统上在科学领域代表性不足的群体。在阿巴科岛当地非政府组织“环境之友”的协助下，虚拟现实视频和课程也将增加巴哈马高中生的STEM教育机会。海草生态系统是一个广泛的、具有重要生态意义的近岸系统，可能会受到过去扰动的生态记忆的影响。这些遗产可能会影响海草生态系统如何应对环境变化。研究人员将进行新的研究，补充巴哈马飓风多利安路径研究系统中七年的现有数据，以评估生态记忆如何在多个生物组织层次上塑造沿海海草床的反应。他们正在使用建模，实地观察，实地实验和实验室分析相结合，以比较高度和最低飓风影响的网站，以确定：分布和相对丰度的三个海草物种;相对丰度和物种多样性的自然发生的无脊椎动物和脊椎动物食草动物;整体物种丰富度，功能多样性和栖息地的复杂性，每个领域的网站;海草生长率和初级生产力;以及周围海水的非生物环境特性-辐照度、温度和营养物含量。他们每个季度在每个地点抽取20块地，包括未改变的对照和模拟机械损伤、增加放牧压力以及机械损伤和放牧的实验地。其目标是更好地了解生态记忆如何推动当前生态过程的结果，这反过来又将为全球海草持续减少的保护和恢复工作提供信息。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。