Integrating ecological responses to environmental variation across levels of biological organization

整合生物组织各个层面对环境变化的生态反应

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04683
• 负责人: Harley, Christopher
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=766124
• 关键词: Integrating; ecological; responses; environmental; variation

Understanding and anticipating ecological responses to environmental change is a central yet daunting challenge for ecologists. Major information gaps that limit our predictive ability include 1) the role of environmental variability (e.g., the magnitude, frequency, and timing of environmental fluctuations), 2) the impacts of multiple stressors experienced either simultaneously or asynchronously, and 3) the ways in which the sum of individual species' responses to environmental forcing translate to shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem function. My goal is to better understand ecological responses to climate change and other forms of environmental variation by bridging the gap between mechanistic ecophysiological studies and outcomes at the level of communities and ecosystems. At the organismal level, my students and I will test predictions regarding the costs and benefits of prior stress exposure by manipulating the frequency and magnitude of environmental variation. We will assess the importance of multiple stressors, including temperature, desiccation, and ocean acidification, on environmental tolerance limits, and how shifts in one driver may increase or decrease vulnerability to another. From these single species studies, we will scale up to test theory on how plant-herbivore interactions are influenced by complex changes in the environment. Specifically, we will test the prediction that shifts in one factor (temperature) can lead to runaway algal production or over-consumption, but that the tipping point in this relationship will shift depending on a second factor (ocean acidification). We will also scale up from repeat-stress laboratory work by experimentally imposing environmental stress events in the field. In so doing, we will study the ecological implications of events like the 2021 western heat dome, which had extensive detrimental effects on habitat-forming species, to better understand the ripple effects of these events at scales that range from short term recovery to longer term community vulnerability to subsequent thermal extremes. Finally, we will examine broad scale patterns of change that will be driven by the increasing frequency of extreme events. For example, we will test the hypothesis that non-indigenous marine species are more warm-adapted and have broader thermal niches than native marine species in British Columbia. Further, we will experimentally explore the consequences of species replacements as further warming favours exotic species like Pacific oysters over native species like blue mussels, a community shift which may have important consequences for water filtration, local diversity, and ecological resilience. The results of these inter-related projects will improve our ability to anticipate when "ecological surprises" might actually be expected, and allow us to better understand the role of key species in mediating changes in community structure and ecosystem function in a rapidly changing world.

理解和预测环境变化的生态响应是生态学家面临的一个核心而艰巨的挑战。限制我们预测能力的主要信息差距包括：1）环境变化的作用（例如，环境波动的幅度、频率和时间），2）同时或异步经历的多种压力源的影响，以及3）单个物种对环境强迫的反应总和转化为生物多样性和生态系统功能变化的方式。我的目标是更好地了解生态对气候变化和其他形式的环境变化的反应，通过弥合机制生态生理学研究与社区和生态系统水平的结果之间的差距。在生物体层面，我和我的学生将通过操纵环境变化的频率和幅度来测试关于先前压力暴露的成本和收益的预测。我们将评估多种压力因素的重要性，包括温度，干燥和海洋酸化，对环境的耐受极限，以及一个驱动因素的变化如何增加或减少对另一个驱动因素的脆弱性。从这些单一物种的研究中，我们将扩大规模，以测试关于植物-食草动物相互作用如何受到环境复杂变化影响的理论。具体来说，我们将测试一个因素（温度）的变化可能导致藻类生产失控或过度消费的预测，但这种关系的临界点将取决于第二个因素（海洋酸化）。我们还将通过在现场实验性地施加环境压力事件来扩大重复压力实验室工作的规模。在这样做的过程中，我们将研究像2021年西部热穹这样的事件的生态影响，这些事件对栖息地形成物种产生了广泛的不利影响，以更好地了解这些事件的涟漪反应，从短期恢复到长期社区脆弱性到随后的极端温度。最后，我们将研究由极端事件频率增加所驱动的大规模变化模式。例如，我们将测试的假设，即非本土的海洋物种更温暖的适应，并有更广泛的热生态位比本土海洋物种在不列颠哥伦比亚省。此外，我们将通过实验探索物种替换的后果，因为进一步变暖有利于外来物种，如太平洋牡蛎，而不是本地物种，如蓝贻贝，这可能对水过滤，当地多样性和生态恢复力产生重要影响的社区转变。这些相互关联的项目的结果将提高我们预测“生态惊喜”何时可能实际发生的能力，并使我们能够更好地了解关键物种在快速变化的世界中介导群落结构和生态系统功能变化的作用。