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属性。岩质潮间带系统对于了解影响这些特性的因素往往很重要，因为这些栖息地在退潮时很容易到达，并拥有相对较小的生物，从而促进了实地研究。多年来，潮间带群落被认为主要是由干扰和种间相互作用等局部过程构成的。然而，最近的研究发现，近岸中上层特征(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(如补充、生长和种间相互作用的强度)，从而提出了底栖-中上层耦合的概念。已经确定了底栖和远洋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，这给其他海岸留下了一个知识空白。我将利用加拿大的大西洋海岸来调查英国石油公司，在那里上升流不太常见，而下流流更常见。使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、藤壶和贻贝的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(如叶绿素a浓度)和颗粒有机碳(这两个特征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(北部海岸)以及上涌和下流频率的纬度和年际变化。然后，我将解开这些远洋和海底特征之间的关系，以确定潜在的影响。然后，我将通过野外和实验室实验，测试受远洋特性影响的可能重要的潮间带机制。在我提出的为期5年的研究计划结束时，我将建立一个概念模型，说明上层和海底特征之间的主要相互作用，这些特征决定了加拿大大西洋海岸岩石潮间带物种的分布和群落结构。这样，我的研究将有助于发展BPC生态理论，并将产生一个有价值的基线数据集，以预测和了解该海岸系统未来的变化。

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.