REU: Community Ecology of the Rocky Subtidal Zone: An Integrated Life-History Approach

温带海岸岩质潮下带地形复杂，海藻和无脊椎动物分布不均。对马萨诸塞州北部潮下岩壁的长期研究（1987-1988）已经产生并检验了关于这种基质上群落结构的长期稳定性和短期调节的假设。以往的研究主要集中在岩壁上物种之间的相互作用，少数优势物种的种群生物学，以及水分运动对个体、种群和群落过程的影响。目前，这项研究将扩展长期研究，包括对附近岩壁上分离种群和与竞争物种接触的种群的详细分析。建立了潮下岩壁群落的数学模型。在这个系统中，需要新的信息来了解幼虫的扩散和招募的作用，以及它对维持无脊椎动物种群的斑块性的影响。幼虫的扩散显然有三个层次（邻近、局部和区域），影响种群动态，从而影响群落结构。将结合实地研究、实验室调查和大规模流动模式建模来调查这些问题，并将结果纳入现实的社区模型。

The rocky subtidal zone of temperate coasts is characterized by complex topography and equally heterogeneous distributions of marine algae and invertebrates. Long-term studies of subtidal rock walls (1987-1988) in Northern Massachusetts have produced and tested hypotheses concerning the long-term stability and short-term regulation of community structure on such substrata. Previous studies have focused on the interactions between species on rock walls, on the population biology of a few dominant species, and on the effects of water movement on individual, population, and community processes. The present this research will extend the long-term studies including a detailed analysis of separated population on nearby rock walls, and populations in contact with competing species. A mathematical model of the subtidal rock wall community will be developed. New information is needed on the role of larval dispersal and recruitment in this system, and its influence on the maintenance of patchiness of invertebrated populations. There are clearly three levels of larval dispersal (adjacent, local, regional) that affect population dynamics and thus community structure. These will be investigated using a combination of field studies, laboratory investigations, and modelling of large scale flow patterns and to incorporate the results into a realistic community model.