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

重新配置人类世的海景：评估连通路径如何维持生物多样性

• 批准号: 2883289
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Plymouth University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2883289
• 关键词: Reconfiguring; seascapes; Anthropocene; Assessing; how

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.

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，生物多样性和生态系统功能的丧失。造成这些影响的部分原因是，人为结构取代了自然生境，导致生态网络的连贯性丧失/降低，因为景观日益破碎和重新配置。一些国际政策（例如生物多样性公约（CBD）;联合国行动十年）呼吁解决方案，以扭转生物多样性下降和促进可持续发展，但我们对栖息地的重新配置/破碎化如何破坏分散网络的理解，这些网络对现有生物多样性/海洋群落的维持和持久性至关重要，这仍然是一个基本未探索的主题，也是NERC的研究重点。方法本奖学金将探索海洋系统中的生态连通性，并显着推进多物种扩散在生物多样性维护和跨海景功能的作用的理解。预期成果包括从理论上更好地理解生物多样性和群落结构变化的驱动因素，从而为实际的保护做法提供信息。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，以描述当代海洋群落的分布，并在生态/流体动力学建模方面发展备受追捧的数值/分析技能，以预测扩散并在欧洲沿海构建生态网络。在普利茅斯大学生物与海洋科学学院（最近在可持续发展目标14“水下生活”中排名全球第一; 2021年泰晤士报高等影响力排名），您将加入一个由与主管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员工和学生的社区。在项目期间，您将通过研究领导力（包括项目管理和科学交流）建立独立性和专业知识（即出版物，会议演讲），并接受所有监督团队，东道主（UoP）和合作伙伴的现场采样，海洋分类学，数值方法，实验设计/统计学，生态/流体动力学建模的特定项目定制培训（气象局）机构，并从ARIES DTP培训计划更广泛的培训。