The past, present and future of unique cold-water benthic (sea floor) ecosystems in the Southern Ocean

生物多样性的丧失和灭绝是当今的关键问题，目前约有100万种动植物物种面临灭绝的威胁，其中许多物种在几十年内就会灭绝。我们依靠这些自然资源生存(如食物、药物使用)和休闲(如旅游)。大约66%的海洋环境因人类活动而发生了显著变化。南极洲周围的南大洋极易受到环境变化的影响；它是地球上变暖最快的地区之一。因此，它是一个了解环境变化的天然实验室。该奖学金旨在以南大洋为例，了解生态系统对环境变化的生物反应。这个项目是新颖的，因为它将包括从很长一段时间到现在的南极海底群落数据。为了了解南极洲在过去5000万年里发生了怎样的变化，我将研究在南极洲发现的极好的化石遗址，这些遗址保存完好，暴露在温暖的温室和寒冷的冰库时期。我将使用这些过去的类比来确定气候变暖的潜在影响。此外，我将制定方法论，以了解现代南大洋生态系统的结构、功能和稳定性。总而言之，这项工作将逐步提高我们在不断变化的环境中预测生态系统干扰的能力。这里的南大洋海底社区很脆弱，被认为处于现代环境变化的高风险之中。我们需要了解这些社区的稳定性以及它们是如何形成的，以便能够保护它们免受日益增长的人类影响，如旅游业、渔业和气候变化。南极洲的大部分海洋生物多样性是在海底发现的，那里的动物如灯壳、海绵和海百合很常见。我对这些海底动物之间的互动，以及它们与环境之间的互动很感兴趣。研究化石记录还将揭示这些南大洋群落演化的环境条件。我将比较南极洲历史上温暖和冷水时期海底动物群落的结构。我将寻找环境变化与有机体组成和相互作用的变化之间的联系。这将帮助我们了解捕食者和猎物的相互作用，以及环境条件首先导致这个独特的群落进化。研究过去让我们对快速气候变化等干扰如何改变生物多样性有了深入的了解。例如：在过去的什么温度下，我们看到生态系统结构变化到我们在现代南大洋海底发现的结构？如果气候变化导致气温上升超过这一水平，很可能会重建社区。该研究金还将考察现代南大洋海底社区。将开发一种机器学习工具，以便从照片和视频数据中快速识别现代社区的组成和结构。统计方法将被用来确定支撑群落结构的动物，以及改变它们的丰度将对群落的其他部分产生什么影响。随着我对这些独特的海底群落的结构、功能和进化的新理解，我将准确地指出人类引起的环境变化，如变暖和入侵物种的引入，可能会影响生物多样性和重建群落。这项工作将提供关于如何管理海洋区域的信息，指导渔业和旅游业等活动的可持续性，并查明气候变化对生物多样性和海洋生物社区的风险。

Biodiversity loss and extinction are key issues today, around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades. We rely on these natural resources for survival (e.g. food, drug uses) and leisure (e.g. tourism). Approximately 66% of marine environments have been significantly altered by human actions. The Southern Ocean, surrounding Antarctica is extremely vulnerable to environmental change; it is one of the fastest warming areas on the planet. As such, it is a natural laboratory for understanding environmental change. This fellowship aims to understand the biological response of ecosystems to environmental change, using the Southern Ocean as an example. This project is novel as it will include data on Antarctic sea floor communities from a long-time frame to the present day. To understand how Antarctica has changed over the last 50 million years, I will study the excellent fossil sites found in Antarctica, with well-preserved exposures from warm greenhouse and cool icehouse periods. I will use these past analogues to identify potential effects of climate warming. In addition, I will develop methodologies to understand the structure, function and stability of modern Southern Ocean ecosystems. Combined, this work will provide a step-wise increase in our ability to predict ecosystem disturbance in a changing environment.Southern Ocean sea floor communities here are vulnerable, deemed to be at a high risk from modern environmental change. We need to understand the stability of these communities, and how they formed, to be able to protect them from increasing human influence such as tourism, fishing, and climate change. Most marine biodiversity in Antarctica is found on the sea floor, where animals such as lamp shells, sponges, and sea lilies are common. I am interested in the interactions between these sea floor animals, and between the animals and their environment. Studying the fossil record will also indicate the environmental conditions under which these Southern Ocean communities evolved.I will compare the structure of sea floor animal communities from warm and cold-water periods in Antarctica's history. I will be looking for links between changes in environment, and changes in the composition and interactions of the organisms. This will help inform us of what predator and prey interactions, and environmental conditions caused this unique community to evolve in the first place. Studying the past gives us insights into how disturbances such as rapid climate change can alter biodiversity. For example: at what temperature in the past do we see the ecosystem structure change to what we find on modern Southern Ocean sea floors? If climate change causes temperatures to rise higher than this, it is likely to restructure the community. The fellowship will also look at the modern Southern Ocean sea floor community. A machine learning tool will be developed to identify the composition and structure of modern communities rapidly from photograph and video data. Statistical methods will be used to identify animals that underpin the community structure, and what effects changing their abundance will have on the rest of the community. With my new understanding of the structure, function, and evolution of these unique sea floor communities, I will pinpoint how human induced environmental change, such as warming, and the introduction of invasive species, could affect biodiversity and restructure communities. This work will provide information about how to manage marine areas, guiding the sustainability of activities such as fishing and tourism, in addition to identifying the risks to biodiversity and marine communities from climate change.