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

基本信息

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

项目摘要

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化以前丢失的区域，以在保护方法恢复这些栖息地后组装新的生态群落，对于确保尽可能有效地使用我们的有限资源，最大程度地利用我们从自然生态系统中获得的好处。例如，海草草地提供沿海稳定，增强生物多样性，营养循环，是蓝碳捕获的全球来源，但由于疾病，污染和沿海发展，英国沿海地区已经大量损失了蓝色碳的捕获。我们正在开创英国和全球努力，以成功恢复有弹性的海草草地，以确保子孙后代将从他们提供的关键生态系统服务中受益。研究生态社区大会的研究工作已经确定了四个影响最终结果的主要过程：（i）每种物种的生物学与当地的生物学友好（Niche）（Niche niche Kelection）如何适应；（ii）个人很容易从一个地方转移到另一个地方（分散）；（iii）随机事件在促进或降低成功方面的重要重要事件（生态漂移）；（iv）物种基因的变化可以以有益于它们的方式积累的速度（遗传多样化）。通常，这项工作是使用微生物（如细菌或数学方程式和计算机）的简化实验室实验进行的，以预测重新殖民化的模式如何随着时间的推移而发展。其他方法依赖于通过使用社区的当前快照来推断社区集会涉及的历史机制，这可能会受到我们无法控制的因素的强烈影响。尽管这些方法是建立我们对不同生态装配过程重要性的理解的重要第一步，但在重新组装之旅开始时，我们缺乏来自更复杂，自然生态系统的数据和证据，无法正确测试现实世界中进步的现实应用理论中这种增强的自然复杂性可能会引入令人惊讶或出乎意料的新功能。我们的项目将结合以前基于实验室和数学的方法的见解，以及从最近恢复的英国海草草地（1至5年）的海草根和叶子上的微生物的现场数据。我们将开发和测试有关在海草恢复的早期阶段上面定义的四个组装过程相对重要性的新颖预测。重要的是，我们还将建立一个全球研究人员网络，以从海草修复的后期提供进一步的专业知识和数据。我们预测，鉴于该系统的物理和时间限制，利基选择和生态漂移对于确定这些重要但受到威胁的生态系统的长期成功，韧性和稳定性最重要。我们的工作将是第一个直接评估在这个全球重要生态系统中推动早期社区大会的机制。