OCE-PRF: Cliff Hangers: Investigating Effects of a Submarine Canyon on the Distribution and Behavior of Midwater Animals and their Predators

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。深海开放沃茨是我们星球上最大的动物群落。这些群落在很大程度上仍未得到充分研究，但已知它们提供关键服务，包括从表层海洋向深海输出碳，并喂养具有经济和社会重要性的鱼类种群和海洋哺乳动物。这些中层水动物是海洋食物网基础与重要捕食者之间的关键联系，捕食者依赖于寻找和利用密集的猎物群。然而，相对较少的信息目前存在的海洋机制或生态驱动器，塑造这些重要的猎物的分布模式。海底峡谷是沿着海岸线的共同特征，连接着深海和近岸生态系统。它们是生物和人类活动的热点。该项目将研究海底峡谷对中层水群落的分布、密度和多样性的作用，以及随后对顶级捕食者的丰度和栖息地利用的影响，并结合声学、视觉和生物记录技术。该项目将支持博士后研究人员的培训，并通过提供资源，进一步发展一个持续的支持网络，帮助当地女性识别STEM社区学院学生转入当地公立四年制大学，支持STEM领域的妇女招聘和保留。该项目的成果还将通过在加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯的西摩海洋发现中心举办的双语数字展览与公众分享。深海中层（200-5000米深）是地球上最大的栖息地，占整个生物圈的90%以上，但它仍然是最不了解和最神秘的生态系统之一。目前已知，深海中上层群落提供关键的生态系统服务，包括从表层海洋输出碳，并在深海固存，以及为具有经济和社会重要性的鱼类种群和海洋哺乳动物等掠食者提供食物。然而，相对较少的信息，目前存在的海洋机制或生态驱动器，塑造这些重要的中营养级动物的分布模式。海底峡谷是常见的突然水深特征，将通常分离的深海和浅海近岸群落聚集在一起，对沿海海洋动态和生态系统产生深远影响。群落通常是初级生产和捕食者活动的热点。该项目将调查海底峡谷测深对连接这两个营养水平的中层水群落的分布、密度、多样性和组成的作用，以及对顶级捕食者的丰度和栖息地利用的后续影响。该项目将比较社区在一个峡谷壁网站和在中层水时间序列网站，确定海洋驱动程序和机制驱动的变化，在近壁社区，并确定捕食者分布和峡谷测深之间的关系，通过结合声学，视觉和生物记录技术。目前对深海中层水和大陆架群落之间联系的了解仍然有限，但日益增加的人为压力，如捕鱼，污染和气候变化，需要基于生态系统的解决方案，从根本上理解这些相互联系。通过调查水深测量、海洋学条件、深水中上层猎物及其捕食者之间关系的机制和驱动因素，该项目将有助于填补这一知识空白，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识产权进行评估来支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).The deep open ocean waters house the largest animal communities on our planet. These communities remain largely understudied but are known to provide critical services including carbon export from the surface ocean into the deep-sea and feeding economically and socially important fish stocks and marine mammals. These midwater animals are the key link between the base of the marine food web and important predators, which rely on finding and exploiting dense prey aggregations. However, relatively little information currently exists about the oceanic mechanisms or the ecological drivers that shape the distribution patterns of these important prey. Submarine canyons are common features along coastlines that link the deep open ocean with the nearshore ecosystem. They are hotspots of both biological and human activity. This project will examine the role of a submarine canyon on the distribution, density, and diversity of the midwater community and subsequent impacts on the abundance and habitat-use of top predators with a combination of acoustic, visual, and biologging techniques. This project will support the training of a post-doctoral researcher and support the recruitment and retention of women in STEM by providing resources to further the development of a continuous support network for local female-identifying STEM community college students transferring to the local public 4-year university. The results of this project will also be shared with the public through a bilingual digital exhibit at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz, CA. The deep midwater (200-5000 m depths) is the largest habitat on our planet and represents over 90% of the entire biosphere, yet it is still one of the least understood and most mysterious ecosystems. Deep pelagic communities are now known to provide critical ecosystem services including carbon export from the surface ocean with sequestration in the deep-sea and provisioning predators like economically and socially important fish stocks and marine mammals. However, relatively little information currently exists about the oceanic mechanisms or the ecological drivers that shape the distribution patterns of these important mid-trophic level animals. Submarine canyons are common abrupt bathymetric features that bring together normally separated deep oceanic and shallow nearshore communities and have profound influences on coastal ocean dynamics and ecosystems. Canyons are often hotspots of both primary production and predator activity. This project will investigate the role of submarine canyon bathymetry on the distribution, density, diversity, and composition of the midwater community linking these two trophic levels and the subsequent impacts on the abundance and habitat-use of top predators. This project will compare communities at a canyon wall site and at a midwater time series site, identify the oceanographic drivers and mechanisms driving variability in the near-wall community, and determine the relationships between predator distribution and canyon bathymetry through a combination of acoustic, visual, and biologging techniques. Current knowledge of the linkages between deep midwater and shelf communities remains limited, but increasing anthropogenic stressors like fishing, pollution, and climate change demand ecosystem-based solutions fundamentally based on understanding these interconnections. By investigating the mechanisms and drivers of the relationships between bathymetry, oceanographic conditions, deep water pelagic prey, and their predators, this project will help to address this knowledge gap, and the results will have important implications for the management and conservation of groundfishes and marine mammals.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.