Bench to benthos - predicting ecological community assembly using seagrass restoration

从平台到底栖生物 - 利用海草恢复预测生态群落组装

• 批准号: NE/X012697/1
• 负责人: James Bull
• 金额: $ 10.25万
• 依托单位: Swansea University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FX012697%2F1
• 关键词: Bench; benthos; predicting; ecological; community

Understanding how species re-colonise an area they have previously been lost from, to assemble new ecological communities after conservation methods are used to restore these habitats, is vital to ensure our limited resources are used as effectively as possible, maximising the benefits we get from natural ecosystems. For example, seagrass meadows provide coastal stabilisation, biodiversity enhancement, nutrient cycling, and are a global source of blue carbon capture, yet have been substantially lost from around the UK coast due to disease, pollution, and coastal development. We are pioneering UK and global efforts to successfully restore resilient seagrass meadows to ensure that future generations will benefit from the crucial ecosystem services they provide.Previous work studying ecological community assembly has identified four main processes that affect the final outcome: (i) how well each species' biology fits with the local habitat (niche selection); (ii) how easily individuals can move from one place to another (dispersal); (iii) how important random events are in promoting or reducing success (ecological drift); and (iv) how quickly variation in species genones can accumulate in a way that benefits them (genetic diversification). This work has generally been carried out using simplified laboratory experiments with micro-organisms like bacteria, or with mathematical equations and computers, to predict how patterns of re-colonisation develop over time. Other approaches have relied on inferring the historical mechanisms involved with community assembly by using current snapshots of the community, which can be strongly influenced by factors beyond our control. While these approaches are important first steps in building our understanding of the importance of different ecological assembly processes, we lack data and evidence from more complex, natural ecosystems at the start of their re-assembly journey to properly test the real-world application of advances in theory This increased natural complexity may introduce surprising or unexpected new features that previous work was unable to account for or predict. Our project will combine insights from previous laboratory- and mathematical-based approaches, with field data of the micro-organisms that live on the seagrass roots and leaves, from recently restored UK seagrass meadows (1 to 5 years old). We will develop and test novel predictions about the relative importance of the four assembly processes defined above, during the early phases of seagrass restoration. Importantly, we will also build a global network of researchers to provide further expertise and data from later stages of seagrass restoration. We predict that niche selection and ecological drift will be most important for determining the longer-term success, resilience and stability of these vital but threatened ecosystems, given the physical and temporal limitations of this system. Our work will be the first to directly assess the mechanisms that drive early community assembly in this globally important ecosystem.

了解物种如何重新殖民他们以前失去的地区，在保护方法用于恢复这些栖息地后组装新的生态群落，对于确保我们有限的资源尽可能有效地利用，最大限度地提高我们从自然生态系统中获得的利益至关重要。例如，海草草甸提供海岸稳定，生物多样性增强，营养循环，是全球蓝色碳捕获的来源，但由于疾病，污染和沿海开发，英国海岸周围已经大量丧失。我们是英国和全球努力的先驱，成功地恢复有弹性的海草草甸，以确保后代将受益于他们提供的关键生态系统服务。以前的研究生态群落组装的工作已经确定了四个影响最终结果的主要过程：（i）每个物种的生物学与当地栖息地的适应程度（小生境选择）;（ii）个人从一个地方迁移到另一个地方的容易程度（三）随机事件在促进或减少成功方面的重要性（生态漂移）;（iv）物种基因组中的变异以有利于它们的方式积累的速度有多快（遗传多样性）。这项工作通常是使用简化的实验室实验，用细菌等微生物，或用数学方程和计算机来预测再殖民模式如何随时间发展。其他方法依赖于通过使用社区的当前快照来推断社区组装所涉及的历史机制，这可能会受到我们无法控制的因素的强烈影响。虽然这些方法是建立我们对不同生态组装过程重要性的理解的重要的第一步，但我们缺乏来自更复杂的自然生态系统的数据和证据，在它们的重新组装之旅开始时，以适当地测试理论进步的现实应用。我们的项目将结合联合收割机的见解，从以前的实验室和植物为基础的方法，与现场数据的微生物生活在海草根和叶，从最近恢复英国海草草甸（1至5岁）。我们将在海草恢复的早期阶段开发和测试有关上述四个组装过程相对重要性的新预测。重要的是，我们还将建立一个全球研究人员网络，以提供海草恢复后期阶段的进一步专业知识和数据。我们预测，生态位选择和生态漂移将是最重要的，以确定这些重要的，但受到威胁的生态系统的长期成功，恢复力和稳定性，考虑到这个系统的物理和时间的限制。我们的工作将是第一个直接评估在这个全球重要的生态系统中推动早期社区集会的机制。

项目成果

One hundred priority questions for advancing seagrass conservation in Europe

• DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10486
• 发表时间: 2024-02-08
• 期刊: PLANTS PEOPLE PLANET
• 影响因子: 5.1
• 作者: Nordlund，Lina Mtwana;Unsworth，Richard K. F.;Wilkes，Robert
• 通讯作者: Wilkes，Robert