TOWARDS AN INTEGRATIVE THEORY OF RECRUITMENT IN MARINE BENTHIC ORGANISMS

海洋底栖生物补充的综合理论

• 批准号: NE/H008551/1
• 负责人: Michael Burrows
• 金额: $ 6.39万
• 依托单位: Scottish Association For Marine Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2010 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FH008551%2F1
• 关键词: TOWARDS; INTEGRATIVE; THEORY; RECRUITMENT; MARINE

For several decades, ecologists have documented the distribution and abundance of organisms that are attributed to variation in mortality, fecundity and migration. Such basic understanding of the abundance and distribution of organisms in nature (their 'population dynamics') is fundamental for conservation and to manage stocks of exploited species. One aspect which is gaining increasing recognition is the importance of early life history stages in determining population dynamics of species in a whole range of habitats. Eco-physiological investigations carried out during recent years have shown that juvenile/adult patterns can in part be determined by environmental experience of early life history stages. In the marine environment consideration of the effects of the environment on early life stages is complicated because for many organisms the early life stages (larvae) occupy a different environment from the adults. In many marine invertebrates including commercially fished species such as lobsters, crabs and scallops the adults live on the sea bed (they are described as benthic) while the larvae live in the planktonic pelagic environment. During this planktonic period larvae may disperse away from the parental habitat. However at some point it is necessary that larvae find a suitable habitat to settle and recruit to the adult benthic lifestyle. This life history pattern means that adult reproduction and the recruitment of young stages is often decoupled and hence understanding the population dynamics of these organisms is especially challenging. Over the past two decades ecologists have built models to understand population dynamics of marine benthic invertebrates based on variations in larval settlement rate in combination with post-settlement processes. These models are based only on the number of organisms (e.g number of settling larvae) without considering whether some larvae are better than others (i.e. their quality). In the pelagic planktonic environment a whole range of environmental factors may affect the 'quality' of larvae. Sub-optimal food, salinity, temperature or sub-lethal pollution exposure, experienced during the larval phase, can affect the survival of juvenile stages through effects on larval quality. The extent to which larval quality modifies the relationship between number of larval settlers and juvenile/adult abundance is not known. The present project addresses this issue using intertidal barnacles as model species. The project will investigate natural variation in larval quality over the west coast of Scotland in areas of high and low coastal productivity. This observational programme will determine the magnitude of differences in larval quality at settlement. In parallel to these observations we will perform field experiments, using larvae reared in the laboratory, to determine how differences in larval quality affect models relating number of settlers to number of adults. By combining larval quality with consideration of larval numbers we expect to produce more accurate models to understand population dynamics. In the face of global change a general theory of mechanisms affecting recruitment of marine organisms to adult populations is required to enable appropriate management of natural resources. The fact that failures of recruitment in exploited populations are usually followed by population breakdowns suggests that larval processes play a central role in population maintenance. However, the understanding of this critical larval phase and its interaction with post settlement process in exploited and non-exploited species is still limited. The proposed project is an important step toward integrating two separate fields of study to aid management of marine populations.

几十年来，生态学家已经记录了生物体的分布和丰度，这些生物体的分布和丰度归因于死亡率、繁殖力和迁移的变化。对自然界中生物的丰度和分布（它们的“种群动态”）的这种基本了解对于保护和管理被开发物种的种群至关重要。其中一个方面是越来越多的认识是早期生活史阶段的重要性，在确定种群动态的物种在整个范围内的栖息地。近年来进行的生态生理研究表明，少年/成人模式可以部分地由早期生活史阶段的环境经验。在海洋环境中，考虑环境对生命早期阶段的影响是复杂的，因为对许多生物来说，生命早期阶段（幼虫）所处的环境与成虫不同。许多海洋无脊椎动物，包括龙虾、螃蟹和扇贝等商业捕捞物种，其成年动物生活在海床上（它们被称为底栖动物），而幼虫生活在浮游水层环境中。在此期间，幼虫可能会从父母的栖息地分散。然而，在某些时候，幼虫必须找到合适的栖息地定居并恢复成年底栖生物的生活方式。这种生活史模式意味着成年繁殖和年轻阶段的招募往往是脱钩的，因此了解这些生物的种群动态特别具有挑战性。在过去的二十年里，生态学家建立了模型，以了解海洋底栖无脊椎动物的种群动态的基础上的变化，结合解决后的过程中的幼虫定居率。这些模型仅基于生物体的数量（例如沉降幼虫的数量），而不考虑某些幼虫是否优于其他幼虫（即它们的质量）。在远洋浮游环境中，一系列的环境因素可能会影响幼虫的“质量”。在幼虫阶段所经历的次优食物、盐度、温度或亚致死污染暴露可通过影响幼虫质量而影响到幼虫阶段的存活。幼虫质量在多大程度上修改幼虫定居者和少年/成人丰度之间的关系尚不清楚。本项目使用潮间藤壶作为模式物种来解决这个问题。该项目将调查苏格兰西海岸高和低沿海生产力地区幼虫质量的自然变化。这一观察方案将确定幼虫质量在定居点的差异程度。在这些观察的同时，我们将进行现场实验，在实验室饲养的幼虫，以确定幼虫质量的差异如何影响模型的定居者数量的成年人。通过将幼虫质量与幼虫数量相结合，我们期望产生更准确的模型来了解种群动态。面对全球变化，需要有一个关于影响海洋生物补充成成体种群的机制的一般理论，以便能够适当管理自然资源。事实上，在被剥削的人口招聘失败后，人口崩溃通常表明，幼虫过程中发挥核心作用，人口的维持。然而，对这一关键的幼虫阶段及其与开发和非开发物种定居后过程的相互作用的理解仍然有限。拟议的项目是朝着整合两个独立的研究领域以帮助管理海洋种群迈出的重要一步。

项目成果

Persistent and context-dependent effects of the larval feeding environment on post-metamorphic performance through the adult stage

幼虫摄食环境对成年阶段变态后表现的持续和环境依赖性影响

• DOI: 10.3354/meps11586
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Torres G

Scale-dependent natural variation in larval nutritional reserves in a marine invertebrate: implications for recruitment and cross-ecosystem coupling

海洋无脊椎动物幼虫营养储备的规模依赖性自然变化：对补充和跨生态系统耦合的影响

• DOI: 10.3354/meps12081
• 发表时间: 2017
• 期刊: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Gimenez L