Benthic-pelagic coupling and intertidal community organization on Canada's Atlantic coast

物种分布和群落结构是关键的生态系统特性。 岩石潮间带系统对于了解影响这些特性的因素通常很重要，因为这些栖息地在低潮时很容易进入，并且拥有相对较小的生物，有利于实地研究。 多年来，潮间带群落被认为主要是由局部过程（例如扰动和种间相互作用）构成的。 然而，最近的研究发现，近岸中上层特征（例如海水温度、浮游食物供应）可以在更大范围内影响底栖潮间带特征（例如补充、生长和种间相互作用的强度），从而提出了底栖-中上层耦合（BPC）的概念。 底栖和中上层特征之间的共同关系已被确定，但大多数研究都是在以上升流为主的海岸（太平洋美洲和智利海岸）上进行的，这给其他海岸留下了知识空白。 我将利用加拿大的大西洋海岸来调查 BPC，该地区的上升流不太常见，而下降流则更为常见。 利用横跨新斯科舍省大西洋海岸 530 公里的永久潮间带位置，我将首先确定藻类和无脊椎动物丰度、藤壶和贻贝补充和生长以及群落结构的纬度和年际变化。 利用潮间带记录仪和卫星的数据，我还将确定近岸浮游植物丰度（叶绿素a浓度）和颗粒有机碳（两者都是藤壶和贻贝的食物）、空气（低潮时）和海水（高潮时）温度、冬季冰盖（北岸）以及上升流和下降流频率的纬度和年际变化。 然后，我将阐明这些远洋和海底特征之间的关系，以确定潜在的影响。 然后，我将通过现场和实验室实验来测试受远洋特征影响的可能重要的潮间带机制。 在我提出的五年研究计划结束时，我将制作一个关于中上层和底栖特征之间主要相互作用的概念模型，这些特征塑造了加拿大大西洋沿岸岩石潮间带物种的分布和群落结构。 通过这种方式，我的研究将有助于发展 BPC 生态理论，并将生成一个对于预测和理解该沿海系统未来变化有价值的基线数据集。

Species distribution and community structure are key ecosystem properties. Rocky intertidal systems have been often important to understand the factors influencing such properties, as these habitats are easily accessible at low tide and host relatively small organisms, facilitating field research. For years, intertidal communities were thought to be structured mainly by local processes such as disturbance and interspecific interactions. Recent research, however, has found that nearshore pelagic traits (e.g., seawater temperature, planktonic food supply) can influence benthic intertidal traits (e.g., recruitment, growth, and intensity of interspecific interactions) at larger scales, raising the concept of benthic-pelagic coupling (BPC). Common relationships have been identified between benthic and pelagic traits, but most research has been done on coasts dominated by upwelling (the Pacific American and Chilean coasts), leaving a knowledge gap for other coasts. I will use Canada's Atlantic coast to investigate BPC for a region where upwelling is much less prevalent and downwelling more common. Using permanent intertidal locations spanning the 530 km of Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast, I will first determine the latitudinal and interannual variation in algal and invertebrate abundance, barnacle and mussel recruitment and growth, and community structure. Using data from intertidal loggers and satellites, I will also determine the latitudinal and interannual variation in nearshore phytoplankton abundance (as chlorophyll-a concentration) and particulate organic carbon (both traits being food for barnacles and mussels), air (at low tide) and seawater (at high tide) temperature, winter ice cover (on northern shores), and the frequency of upwelling and downwelling. Then, I will unravel relationships among those pelagic and benthic traits to identify potential influences. I will then test possibly important intertidal mechanisms influenced by pelagic traits through field and laboratory experiments. At the end of my proposed 5-year research program, I will produce a conceptual model of the main interactions among pelagic and benthic traits that shape rocky intertidal species distribution and community structure along Canada's Atlantic coast. In this way, my research will contribute to develop BPC ecological theory and will generate a baseline dataset valuable to predict and understand future changes in this coastal system.