Reconfiguring seascapes in the Anthropocene: Assessing how connectivity pathways maintain biodiversity

科学背景人类活动正在改变世界各地的生态系统--表现为大规模灭绝、生物多样性丧失和生态系统功能。这些影响的部分原因是用人造结构取代自然生境，导致生态网络失去/减少连贯性，因为景观变得越来越支离破碎和重新配置。一些国际政策(如《生物多样性公约》(CBD)；《联合国行动十年》)呼吁解决办法来扭转生物多样性的衰退和促进可持续发展，但我们对栖息地重新配置/碎片化如何破坏分散的网络的理解仍然是一个在很大程度上未被探索的话题和NERC的研究重点。方法本课程将探索海洋系统的生态连通性，并极大地促进对多物种扩散在维持生物多样性和跨海景发挥作用方面的作用的理解。预期成果包括更好地从理论上理解生物多样性和群落结构变化的驱动因素，进而为应用保护实践提供信息。为了应对这一挑战，学生将利用遥感数据进行栖息地建模，有机会进行实地调查来描述当代海洋群落的分布，并在生态/水动力学建模方面发展非常受欢迎的数值/分析技能，以预测欧洲沿海海域的扩散和建立生态网络。在普利茅斯大学生物和海洋科学学院(最近在可持续发展目标14‘水下生命’中排名全球第一；2021年泰晤士报更高的影响力排名)，你将加入一个由与导师相关的本科生和研究生组成的成熟而充满活力的研究小组，以及一个更广泛的欢迎教职员工和学生的社区。在项目期间，您将通过研究领导能力建立独立性和专业知识，包括项目管理和科学交流(即出版物、会议演示)，并从所有监督小组、东道主(UOP)和合作(Met Office)机构接受针对特定项目的现场采样、海洋分类学、数值方法、实验设计/统计、生态/水动力建模方面的培训，以及从白羊座DTP培训计划获得更广泛的培训。

Scientific Background Anthropogenic activities are changing ecosystems worldwide - manifested as mass extinctions, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. These impacts are driven, in part, by replacement of natural habitats with man-made structures, resulting in lost/reduced coherence of ecological networks as landscapes become increasingly fragmented and reconfigured. Several international policies (e.g. Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD); UN Decade of Action) call for solutions to reverse biodiversity decline and promote sustainable development, but our understanding of how habitat reconfiguration/fragmentation disrupts the dispersive networks that are fundamental to the maintenance and persistence of existing biodiversity/marine communities remains a largely unexplored topic and a NERC research priority. Methodology This studentship will explore ecological connectivity in marine systems and significantly advance understanding of the role of multi-species dispersal in biodiversity maintenance and functioning across seascapes. Expected outcomes include a better theoretical understanding of the drivers of change in biodiversity and community structure, in turn informing applied conservation practices. To address this challenge, the student will draw on remote-sensed data to undertake habitat modelling, have the opportunity to undertake field surveys to describe the distribution of contemporary marine communities, and develop highly sought-after numerical/analytical skills in ecological/hydrodynamic modelling to predict dispersal and construct ecological networks in European coastal seas. Training Based in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences at the University of Plymouth (recently ranked global #1 in Sustainable Development Goal 14 'Life Below Water'; Times Higher Impact Rankings 2021), you'll join an established and vibrant research group of undergraduate and postgraduate students associated with the supervisors, and a wider welcoming community of staff and students. During the project, you will build independence and expertise through research leadership including project management and scientific communication (i.e. publications, conference presentations) and receive project-specific bespoke training in field sampling, marine taxonomy, numerical methods, experimental design/statistics, ecological/hydrodynamic modelling from all of the supervisory team, the host (UoP) and collaborative (Met Office) institutions, and wider training from the ARIES DTP training schemes.