The emergence of functions in meta-ecosystems

我的研究重点是研究物种丰度和集合中的强烈波动和结构，这些波动和结构来自个体和物质的相互作用和有限的空间流动。这些相互作用和流动可以解释干扰传播导致的生态系统健康的突然变化。之所以会出现这些变化，是因为有机物质和个体通过吸收/再循环(生物地球化学)和生态系统工程/干扰循环结合在一起，这些循环往往涉及非线性和正反馈，以及快慢动态。元生态系统理论和基于生态系统的管理仍然必须结合这些循环来预测观察到的自然系统的波动。 我的研究计划的目标将是发展元生态系统理论，预测(1)个体和环境随机性在物质吸收和循环中的作用，以及生态系统的稳定性和功能。然后，我将(2)将生态系统工程集成到元生态系统理论中，预测物质对空间动力学的物理和生物地球化学贡献。我将(3)将生态同步性理论扩展到多种形式的阶段(A)同步性，并将其应用于推断个人和物质的空间流动在预测观察到的群落结构和生态系统功能波动方面的作用，以及(4)预测其对海洋保护区网络采取基于生态系统的办法的意义。 营养素-生产者-消费者动力学的主方程将在个体层面上推导出来，以构建生态系统层面的模型和基于个体的模拟。他们的分析将预测物质和个体的随机吸收、循环和移动如何导致营养共同限制和生态系统功能出现区域差异。然后，我们将在物质和个体健康之间增加直接的耦合，从而将生态系统循环和生态系统工程理论结合在一起。我预测种群和生态系统性质的灾难性变化来自于个体和(在)当地生境之间的有机质流动之间的反馈和时间尺度的分离。为了从有限的生态数据中检测元生态系统动力学，我们将把生态同步理论扩展到元生态系统，将模型改写为相位-振幅方程。我们将利用现有的海洋、湖泊和森林生态系统的长期数据集，研究作为元生态系统动力学特征的相位和幅度异步性。 我的研究将有助于应用于大规模和远离平衡的系统的生态系统理论。我的研究方案的研究成果将直接有助于基于个人和物质的空间运动的海洋保护区网络的设计。

My research focuses on the study of strong fluctuations and structure in the abundance and assembly of species, emerging from the interactions and limited spatial flows of individuals and matter. These interactions and flows can explain sudden shifts in ecosystem health resulting from the propagation of disturbances. These shifts can emerge because (in)organic matter and individuals are coupled through both uptake/recycling (biogeochemical) and ecosystem engineering/disturbance cycles that often involve nonlinear and positive feedbacks, as well as fast-slow dynamics. Meta-ecosystem theories and ecosystem-based management still have to integrate these cycles to predict observed fluctuations in natural systems. The goal of my research program will be to develop meta-ecosystems theories predicting (1) the role of individual and environmental stochasticity in the uptake and recycling of matter, for ecosystem stability and functions. I will then (2) integrate ecosystem engineering into a meta-ecosystem theory predicting both physical and biogeochemical contributions of matter to spatial dynamics. I will (3) expand theories of ecological synchrony to multiple forms of phase (a)synchrony and apply them to infer the role of spatial flows of individuals and matter for predicting observed fluctuations in community structure and ecosystem functions and (4) predict their implication for an ecosystem-based approach to marine reserve networks. Master equations of nutrient-producer-consumer dynamics will be derived at the individual level to construct ecosystem-level models and individual-based simulations. Their analysis will predict how stochastic uptake, recycling and movement of matter and individuals can lead to the emergence of regional variations in nutrient co-limitation and in ecosystem functions. We will then add a direct coupling between matter and individual fitness, thus bringing together ecosystem cycling and ecosystem engineering theories. I predict catastrophic changes in population and ecosystem properties from feedbacks and separation of temporal scales between flows of individuals and (in)organic matter among local habitats. In order to detect meta-ecosystem dynamics from limited ecological data, we will expand theories of ecological synchrony to meta-ecosystems by rewriting models as phase-amplitude equations. We will study phase and amplitude asynchrony as a signature of meta-ecosystem dynamics using existing long-term datasets of marine, lake, and forest ecosystems. My research will contribute to ecosystem theories that apply to large scale and far-from-equilibrium systems. Research outputs from my research program will directly contribute to the design of marine reserve networks based on the spatial movement of both individuals and matter.