A towed camera system for benthic research

拖曳相机系统将支持我的NSERC发现拨款中提出的研究。我正在进行的研究计划的主要目标是：1)调查生物和物理过程在调节加拿大东部浅水海洋生态系统结构和动态中的作用；2)确定生态系统状态从海藻床到海胆荒地的大规模变化对生态系统功能和服务(如食物生产、栖息地提供、营养循环)、浅潮下带和深海沉积生境的生态后果；3)开发数学模型来预测变化并确定重要的原因因素和后续影响，这将有助于评估生态系统健康和自然资源的管理。拟议的拖曳相机系统将使我们能够大大扩大我们以前以水肺为基础的观测的深度范围，并首次探索动态浅水系统和依赖于来自浅滩的时间可变食物输入(以海藻碎屑形式)的深水组合之间的连接模式和过程。具体地说，我们将研究海带和海胆荒地近海分布的模式，以及这些群落之间的界面变化，这些变化与收获和疾病造成的海胆丰度波动有关。我们将测量海藻碎屑从海藻床到更深沉积海底的转移速率(特别是在飓风等大型风暴事件之后)，并记录深水海胆在风暴干扰下的分布和觅食行为的变化。在更广泛的意义上，这些视频数据将使我们能够记录在海藻床界限以下的近岸生境中的生物多样性模式，为培训研究生和本科生在海洋生态学的基本和应用方面提供许多机会。

A towed-camera system will support research proposed in my NSERC Discovery Grant. The main goals of my ongoing research program are 1) to investigate the role of biological and physical processes in regulating the structure and dynamics of the shallow marine ecosystem in eastern Canada, 2) to determine the ecological consequences of large-scale shifts in ecosystem state, from kelp beds to sea urchin barrens, on ecosystem function and services (e.g. food production, habitat provision, nutrient cycling), within the shallow subtidal zone and in sedimentary habitats in deeper water; and 3) to develop mathematical models to predict change and identify important causal factors and follow-on effects, which will aid in the assessment of ecosystem health and management of natural resources. The proposed towed-camera system will enable us to greatly extend the depth range of our previous SCUBA-based observations and to explore, for the first time, patterns and processes of connectivity between the dynamic shallow-water system and deep-water assemblages that depend on temporally variable food inputs (in the form of seaweed detritus) from the shallows. Specifically, we will examine patterns in offshore distribution of kelp beds and urchin barrens, and shifts in the interface between these communities that are associated with fluctuations in urchin abundance caused by harvesting and disease. We will measure the transfer rate of algal detritus from kelp beds to deeper sedimentary bottoms (particularly after large storm events such as hurricanes), and record changes in distribution and foraging behaviour of deep-living urchins in response to storm disturbance. In a more general sense, this videographic data will enable us to document patterns of biodiversity in nearshore habitats below the limits of kelp beds, presenting many opportunities for training graduate and undergraduate students in the fundamental and applied aspects of marine ecology.