Ecosystem to macroecological tests of how disturbance alters marine food webs

从生态系统到宏观生态学测试干扰如何改变海洋食物网

• 批准号: 418484-2012
• 负责人: Baum, Julia
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: University of Victoria
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=631899
• 关键词: Ecosystem; macroecological; tests; how; disturbance

Oceans provide our society with important services including seafood, tourism, and climate regulation. Over the past decade, however, it has become clear that overfishing and climate change are serious threats. In the face of these mounting threats, the critical challenge for scientists is to determine how oceanic ecosystems work, and thus which components and processes are most essential for us to protect to ensure we have healthy oceans that can deliver ecosystem services over the long-term.To meet this challenge, my lab will carry out detailed in situ observations, experiments, and collections. Further, we will conduct state-of-the-art statistical analyses coupling newly available, high-resolution, satellite remote sensing data, including sea surface temperature and productivity, with species abundance and size data from ocean-wide monitoring programs. Our focus is coral reefs. These diverse economically important ecosystems are among the world's most threatened. We study coral reefs of the central-western Pacific Ocean because this region includes remote reefs that are the world's most pristine, with healthy corals and abundant predators. Previous research has shown that although biodiversity is important for ecosystem function, functional diversity (species that can perform all ecosystem 'tasks') and redundancy (multiple species per task) may be more important than the sheer number of species. Of these 'tasks', predation may be particularly important for stabilizing ecosystems, because predators can stabilize prey populations, preventing them from monopolizing space or energy. By studying intact coral reefs, and comparing them with ones experiencing greater human impacts, we will be able to discern which ecosystem components and processes are in fact most important. This research will inform coral reef conservation, and also provide general insights relevant to the management of Canada's oceanic ecosystems.

海洋为我们的社会提供了重要的服务，包括海鲜、旅游和气候调节。然而，在过去的十年里，过度捕捞和气候变化显然是严重的威胁。面对这些日益严重的威胁，科学家面临的关键挑战是确定海洋生态系统是如何工作的，从而确定哪些组成部分和过程对我们来说是最重要的，以确保我们拥有能够长期提供生态系统服务的健康海洋。为了应对这一挑战，我的实验室将进行详细的现场观察、实验和收集。此外，我们将进行最先进的统计分析，将最新获得的高分辨率卫星遥感数据（包括海面温度和生产力）与来自全海洋监测项目的物种丰度和大小数据相结合。我们的重点是珊瑚礁。这些具有重要经济意义的生态系统是世界上最受威胁的。我们研究太平洋中西部的珊瑚礁，因为这个地区包括世界上最原始的偏远珊瑚礁，有健康的珊瑚和丰富的捕食者。先前的研究表明，尽管生物多样性对生态系统功能很重要，但功能多样性（可以执行所有生态系统“任务”的物种）和冗余（每个任务的多个物种）可能比物种的绝对数量更重要。在这些“任务”中，捕食可能对稳定生态系统特别重要，因为捕食者可以稳定猎物种群，防止它们垄断空间或能量。通过研究完整的珊瑚礁，并将它们与受到更大人类影响的珊瑚礁进行比较，我们将能够辨别出哪些生态系统成分和过程实际上是最重要的。这项研究将为珊瑚礁保护提供信息，并为加拿大海洋生态系统的管理提供一般性见解。