Aquatic Ecosystem Function in Developed Landscapes

人类对景观的开发是对水生生态系统完整性的全球性威胁。我们保护这些重要生态系统的能力受到对景观开发对水生条件的流域规模效应的有限理解的阻碍。我的实验室整合景观和水生科学来开发和应用新的环境评估方法。我们的目标是详细说明景观发展模式对水生生态系统条件的影响。这些知识不仅对水生生态系统科学作出了新的重大贡献，而且对高效和有效的流域监测和管理也很重要。本研究将景观尺度的观测研究与人工河流实验相结合，确定流域尺度上水生生态系统功能关键指标与景观发展格局之间的关系。利用现有的监测数据，我们将量化景观发展对河流营养状况的影响，并预测历史和未来景观格局的营养浓度。我们还将在广泛的当代景观发展模式中建立生态状况功能指标的剂量-反应关系。利用从前两个部分获得的知识，我们将在人工溪流中进行现实的实验，以检查对预测的营养条件的生态反应，这些营养条件超出了当代景观的上限和下限。结合起来，这项研究将提高对景观和水生生态系统相互联系的理解，同时也为改善加拿大和世界各地的流域管理提供知识和工具。拟开展的工作将涉及2名博士生、4名硕士生、5名本科生论文学生、1名研究技术员和多名本科生助理。这些学生将在水产科学研究的各个方面接受广泛的培训，为他们在学术、政府和私营部门的成功职业生涯提供沟通、领导和技术技能。

Human development of landscapes is a global threat to aquatic ecosystem integrity. Our ability to protect these important ecosystems is hindered by limited understanding of catchment scale effects of landscape development on aquatic conditions. My lab integrates landscape and aquatic sciences to develop and apply novel environmental assessment approaches. Our objective is to detail the effects of landscape development patterns on aquatic ecosystem conditions. Such knowledge is important not only as a new and very significant contribution to aquatic ecosystem sciences, but also for efficient and effective watershed monitoring and management. The proposed research will integrate landscape scale observational studies with artificial stream experiments to determine relationships between key indicators of aquatic ecosystem function and landscape development patterns at the catchment scale. Using existing monitoring data, we will quantify the influence of landscape development on stream nutrient conditions and predict nutrient concentrations for historical and future landscape patterns. We will also establish dose-response relationships for functional indicators of ecological condition across a broad range of contemporary landscape development patterns. Using the knowledge gained from the first two components we will generate realistic experiments in artificial streams to examine ecological responses to predicted nutrient conditions outside the bounds, both higher and lower, of contemporary landscapes. Combined, this research will improve understanding of the interconnectedness of landscapes and aquatic ecosystems while also providing the knowledge and tools for improved watershed management within Canada and around the world. The proposed work will engage collaboration with 2 PhD students, 4 MSc students, 5 undergraduate thesis students, 1 research technician and multiple undergraduate assistants. These students will receive extensive training in all aspects of research within aquatic sciences providing them with the communication, leadership and technical skills for successful careers in the academic, government and private sectors.