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

物种分布和群落结构是生态系统的重要特征。 岩石潮间带系统往往是重要的，以了解影响这些属性的因素，因为这些栖息地很容易在低潮和主机相对较小的生物，方便实地研究。 多年来，潮间带群落被认为主要是由局部过程，如干扰和种间相互作用。 然而，最近的研究发现，近岸中上层特征（例如，海水温度，营养食物供应）可以影响底栖潮间带特征（例如，补充，增长和种间相互作用的强度）在更大的尺度上，提出了底栖-中上层耦合（BPC）的概念。 已经确定了底栖和中上层特征之间的共同关系，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）进行的，对其他海岸留下了知识空白。 我将使用加拿大的大西洋海岸调查BPC的一个地区，上升流是不太普遍和下降流更常见。 使用永久性的潮间带位置跨越530公里的新斯科舍省的大西洋沿岸，我将首先确定的纬度和年际变化的藻类和无脊椎动物的丰度，藤壶和贻贝的招聘和增长，以及社区结构。 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（这两种特征都是藤壶和贻贝的食物）的纬度和年际变化，空气（低潮时）和海水（高潮时）温度，冬季冰盖（北方海岸），以及上升流和下降流的频率。 然后，我将解开这些中上层和底栖特征之间的关系，以确定潜在的影响。 然后，我将通过实地和实验室实验，测试可能重要的潮间带机制的中上层特性的影响。 在我提出的5年的研究计划结束时，我将产生一个概念模型的主要之间的相互作用的远洋和底栖性状，形状岩石潮间带物种分布和社区结构沿着加拿大的大西洋沿岸。 通过这种方式，我的研究将有助于发展BPC生态理论，并将产生一个基线数据集，对预测和了解这个沿海系统的未来变化有价值。

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.