A scientific basis for conservation of marine biodiversity

过去五年来，海洋生物多样性已成为生态学中的一个热门话题，部分原因是人们对生物多样性丧失和海洋功能退化的关切。尽管如此，目前在寒冷海洋环境中进行海洋养护的科学依据很少，关于优先次序的决定通常是根据静态措施而不是根据进程作出的。因此，人们往往更关心有魅力或有经济价值的物种和生境，而不是了解种群、群落和生境持续存在的过程，同时开发客观的预测工具，帮助科学家和管理人员保护和管理海洋生物多样性。我提议利用新技术-特别是海洋观测站和操作性实验室和实地实验-来增进我们对新补充物种的主要来源、某些物种繁衍所需生境的作用的了解，并制定办法，使我们能够从个别测量结果推断出有助于海底环境健康的各种因素。实地和实验室环境中的实验工作将研究幼虫的运输和定居过程，以及这些变量如何对种群结构和生物多样性模式作出贡献，为什么有些环境是生物多样性热点，而其他环境则不是，以及生物体如何与其环境相互作用，以维持海洋健康和生产。

Marine biodiversity has emerged as a hot topic in ecology over the last five years, in part because of concern over biodiversity loss and deterioration of ocean function. Nonetheless, there is currently little scientific basis for marine conservation in cold ocean environments and decisions regarding prioritization are typically made based on static measures rather than on processes. Thus, there is often greater concern for charismatic or economically valuable species and habitats rather then establishing an understanding of processes that underlie persistence of populations, communities, and habitats while developing objective predictive tools that can assist scientists and managers in protecting and managing marine biodiversity. I propose to utilize new technologies - specifically ocean observatories and manipulative laboratory and field experiments - to improve our understanding of key sources of new recruits, the role of habitats needed for some species to flourish, and to establish approaches that will allow us to extrapolate from individual measurements to broader understanding of factors that contribute to health of seafloor environments. Experimental work in field and laboratory settings will examine larval transport and settlement processes and how these variables contribute to population structure and patterns of biodiversity, why some environments are hotspots of biodiversity where others are not, and how living organisms interact with their environment to maintain ocean health and production.