Functional ecology of plankton: linking lake physical regimes, communities and ecosystem processes

现代生态学研究的一个主要目标是提高我们预测内在复杂系统对未来变化的反应的能力。在一个快速变化的时代，包括气候变暖，发展这种预测能力的紧迫性更加重要，以便我们能够利用当前和前瞻性的知识管理自然生态系统。在湖泊中，气候变暖的主要影响将是改变温度状况，可能对浮游生物群落产生影响，并可能对湖泊生态系统过程产生影响。鉴于大规模的环境变化，改善预测的生态结构和功能的响应是必不可少的维护和管理的湖泊在加拿大景观提供的生态系统服务。生态学中最近的一种方法是利用功能性状及其多样性来提高预测和联系群落与生态系统过程的能力。虽然近年来在社区结构的功能组成部分的理论和度量方面进行了大量工作，但与生态系统过程的定量联系以及社区所处的环境，特别是在实地自然发生的条件下，还不太清楚。加拿大领土包括世界上大部分的湖泊和淡水，为加拿大的研究界提供了一个独特的机会和责任，以发展其功能的预测生态。这将更好地使研究人员和政策制定者为湖泊管理提供建议，考虑到未来的气候变化，以及其他人为因素对这些重要的生态系统的影响，我提出的研究将提供湖泊结构和功能之间的定量联系，考虑到湖泊热状况的变化，改变物种的相互作用。我将专注于湖泊浮游生物群落，这是理想的实验，观察和性状的工作，因为他们的体积小，快速的世代时间，高度的多样性和基于实验室的生理实验的悠久历史。此外，许多生态系统进程，如初级生产力以及能量和物质在湖泊鱼类和其他脊椎动物食物网中的向上转移，都受到水生生物活动的高度影响。拟议的工作将把浮游生物群落结构（特征和分类组成、多样性）与生态系统进程（特定和总的初级和次级生产力、放牧压力）联系起来，重点是与湖泊的物理热状况及其时间动态有关的环境影响的作用。湖泊的热状态将首先受到气候变暖的影响，导致季节内和季节之间的静止期与动荡期的顺序发生变化。我们将使用时间和空间观测的组合，包括跨湖分析和实验性的中生态系统来处理研究问题，因为这些既提供了机械的见解，也提供了更大的全湖尺度的概念测试。该研究将导致3个新的博士和2个新的硕士的培训在水生生态学和湖沼学的学生在国家的最先进的领域，实验室，分析和统计方法的专业知识。与过去的人员一样，通过完成这项研究而接受培训的人员将继续在国家和国际两级为淡水资源的研究和管理作出贡献，随着全球水的质量和数量因人为和气候干扰而日益受到威胁，淡水资源日益宝贵。

A major goal of modern ecological research is to improve our ability to predict the response of inherently complex systems to future changes. In an era of rapid change, including climate warming, the urgency to develop such a predictive ability is even more critical so that we can manage natural ecosystems using current and forward-looking knowledge. In lakes, the major effect of climate warming will be to alter thermal regimes, with likely consequences for plankton communities and potentially for lake ecosystem processes as well. In light of the massive environmental changes expected, improving prediction of the responses in ecological structures and functions is essential to the maintenance and management of ecosystem services provided by lakes in the Canadian landscape. A recent approach in ecology for improving the capacity to predict and link communities with ecosystem processes is to use functional traits and their diversity. While there has been intensive work in recent years on the theory and metrics of functional components of community structure, quantitative links with ecosystem processes and critically, the environment in which communities are embedded, has been less clearly made especially under naturally occurring conditions in the field. The Canadian territory includes the majority of the world’s lakes and freshwater, providing a unique opportunity and responsibility for Canada’s research community to develop a predictive ecology of their functioning. This will better enable researchers and policy makers to advise for lake management given future climate changes, as well as other human-mediated effects on these vital ecosystems.The research I have proposed will provide quantitative links between lake structure and function, taking into account variation in lake thermal regimes, which alter species interactions. I will focus on lake plankton communities, which are ideal for experimental, observation and trait work because of their small size, fast generation times, high diversity and a long history of lab-based physiological experiments. Moreover, many ecosystem processes, such as primary productivity and transfer of energy and material up the food web in lakes for fish and other vertebrates are highly influenced by the activity of planktonic organisms. The proposed work will link plankton community structure (trait and taxonomic composition, diversity) with ecosystem processes (specific and gross primary and secondary productivity, grazing pressure) by focusing on the role of the environmental effects associated to the physical thermal regimes of lakes and its temporal dynamics. Lake thermal regimes will be among the first affected by climate warming, leading to altered sequences of quiescent versus turbulent periods within and between seasons. We will use a combination of temporal and spatial observation, including cross-lake analyses, and experimental mesocosms to approach the research questions as these provide both mechanistic insight as well as tests of concepts at larger, whole-lake scales. The research will result in the training of 3 new PhD and 2 new M.Sc. students in aquatic ecology and limnology with expertise in state-of-the art field, laboratory, analytical and statistical methods. As with past personnel, those trained through the completion of this research will go on to contribute nationally and internationally to the study and management of freshwater resources that are increasingly precious as global water quality and quantity become increasingly threatened through anthropogenic and climatic disturbances.