Collaborative Research: Is Variable Retention of Larvae Nearshore a General Cause of Variable Recruitment?

小行星9409795 虽然人们普遍承认海洋学过程影响海底生物群落，但很少有人以综合的方式集中注意这一问题。PI之前的研究已经采取了预测和实验的方法来解释北方橡子藤壶，Semibalanus balanoides，在纳拉甘塞特湾招聘的空间和时间变化。在海湾中的藤壶招聘在过去的十年中，约80%的大型年际变化的海湾冲洗时间，这就决定了从海湾的保留和出口的幼虫的程度的年度变化的解释。 这个更新项目将测试的一般性和后果，以前的研究结果在其他河口，并检查额外的类群。只有通过跨海洋学领域和广泛的分类群进行研究，才能揭示海洋学过程与底栖生物组合的种群和群落动态之间的联系。 该项目将使用复制的海湾在新英格兰具有不同的冲洗特性，以检查海湾冲洗时间的空间和时间变化之间的关系和常见的海岸线物种的招聘。补充变异产生机制的一般性是一个尚未解决的问题，但它对海洋群落的动态有重要影响。该项目同时对西北大西洋五个重要的空间占有者进行研究，将开始对水动力过程与海底生物群落的种群和群落动态之间的联系有一个总体了解。 ***

9409795 Bertness Although it is widely acknowledged that oceanographic processes influence benthic communities, little effort has focused on this issue in a synthetic way. Prior research by the PI's had taken a predictive and experimental approach to explaining spatial and temporal variation in the recruitment of the northern acorn barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides, in Narragansett Bay. About 80% of the large interannual variation in barnacle recruitment in the bay over the last decade is explained by annual variation in bay flushing times, which set the extent of retention and export of larvae from the bay. This renewal project will test the generality and consequences of the previous findings in other estuaries and examine additional taxa. Only by undertaking studies across biogeographic areas and a wide range of taxa will the linkages between oceanographic processes and the population and community dynamics of benthic assemblages be unraveled. The project will use replicated bays in New England with differing flushing characteristics to examine the relationship between spatial and temporal variation in bay flushing time and the recruitment of common shoreline species. The generality of mechanisms generating recruitment variation is an unresolved issue, yet it has important implications to the dynamics of marine communities. With simultaneous studies on five important space occupiers of the NW Atlantic, this project will begin to develop a general understanding of linkages between hydrodynamic processes and the populations and community dynamics of benthic assemblages. ***