Sustaining Biodiversity and Functioning in a Changing Ocean

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The accelerating impacts of human activities on ocean life challenge efforts to conserve the diverse biota and processes that drive the global ocean, Earth's largest ecosystem and life support system. Indeed, sustainability represents one of the great scientific and societal challenges of our time. Daunting spatial and temporal scales, cumulative impacts of multiple human activities (including those resulting in climate change), and many dynamic and complex oceanographic processes challenge our efforts to sustain ocean biodiversity as well as healthy, functioning, ecosystems. These challenges require application of leading edge technologies and new conservation ideas to unite the many facets of ecological research that can and should influence sustainable ocean efforts in Canada and beyond. The research proposed here will combine field and laboratory experiments with novel observational data to inform conservation strategies. In particular, this work emphasizes how functional roles, population and ecosystem connectivity among different environments, and changes in them could help to shape sustainable use strategies. The long-term objective of this proposal is to evaluate the capacity of natural environments to sustain critical ecosystem functions and services in the face of increasing human pressures, and help to develop strategies to support that natural capacity.