"Marine invasions: patterns, processes, and impacts"

“海洋入侵：模式、过程和影响”

• 批准号: 328224-2012
• 负责人: Côté, Isabelle
• 金额: $ 4.37万
• 依托单位: Simon Fraser University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=572141
• 关键词: Marine; invasions; patterns; processes; impacts

With globalisation proceeding apace, species are being introduced to areas out of their native range at an ever increasing rate. Some of these species become invaders which can cause extensive changes to recipient ecosystems and exact a heavy economic toll. In the marine realm, most invaders occupy the lower rungs of the food chain. They can compete with native species but generally do not cause extinctions. The dynamics and impacts of higher-levels marine invaders, such as predators, may be very different but are generally unknown because of the rarity of such invasions. I propose to use the invasion of shallow-water habitats by Indo-Pacific lionfish, which is currently unfolding across the Caribbean region, as a model system to elucidate the patterns, process and impacts of invasive marine predators. I will first compare the patterns of population growth across a number of invaded sites using publically available databases of lionfish sightings, in an effort to predict when lionfish populations are likely to 'explode' at any given location. I will then examine three processes, namely native species diversity, habitat variability and propagule pressure, that are known to influence the likelihood of terrestrial invasions and assess whether these are also important for invasions by marine predators. These studies will include observations of lionfish on natural reefs as well as experimental manipulations of native fish communities on small patch reefs to assess effects on lionfish movement, growth and survival. Finally, I will focus on the impacts of lionfish on native reef fishes, asking whether lionfish predation triggers cascades of indirect effects throughout the lower levels of a coral reef food chain and whether native fish can learn to identify lionfish as a predator. I will also examine whether lionfish removal strategies can be devised to mitigate these impacts. The lionfish invasion offers a unique opportunity to understand the effects of predator introductions in marine ecosystems. The knowledge generated will be applicable not only to human-mediated introductions but also to climate-mediated dispersal of species into new marine habitats, which may generate a suite of novel predator-prey interactions not unlike those involving lionfish in its new range.

随着全球化进程的加快，物种正以越来越快的速度被引入到其原生范围之外的地区。其中一些物种成为入侵者，可能会对接受者的生态系统造成广泛的变化，并造成严重的经济损失。在海洋领域，大多数入侵者占据着食物链的最低层。它们可以与本土物种竞争，但通常不会导致灭绝。更高级别的海洋入侵者，如捕食者，其动态和影响可能非常不同，但由于此类入侵的罕见，通常不为人所知。我提议以印度-太平洋狮子鱼入侵浅水栖息地为模型系统，阐明入侵海洋捕食者的模式、过程和影响，这一现象目前正在整个加勒比区域展开。我将首先使用可公开获得的狮子鱼目击数据库来比较多个入侵地点的种群增长模式，以努力预测狮子鱼种群何时可能在任何给定的地点‘爆炸’。然后，我将研究三个过程，即本地物种多样性、栖息地变异性和繁殖压力，已知这些过程影响陆地入侵的可能性，并评估这些过程是否对海洋捕食者的入侵也很重要。这些研究将包括在天然珊瑚礁上观察狮子鱼，以及在小块珊瑚礁上对本地鱼类群落进行实验性操作，以评估对狮子鱼运动、生长和生存的影响。最后，我将集中讨论狮子鱼对本地珊瑚鱼的影响，询问狮子鱼的捕食是否会引发整个珊瑚礁食物链较低层次的间接影响，以及本地鱼类是否可以学会将狮子鱼识别为捕食者。我还将研究是否可以设计出消除狮子鱼的策略来减轻这些影响。狮子鱼的入侵为了解捕食者引入海洋生态系统的影响提供了一个独特的机会。产生的知识将不仅适用于人类中介的引入，也适用于气候中介的物种向新海洋栖息地的扩散，这可能会产生一系列新的捕食者-猎物相互作用，与涉及新范围内的狮子鱼的作用相似。