BIOCOMPLEXITY--INCUBATION ACTIVITY: Linking Ecology, Physiology and Climate Change: Influence of Environmental Stress on Community Structure in the Rocky Intertidal

其目标是建立一个合作的多研究者联盟，以解决环境压力如何通过生物体转导以影响其在时间和空间上的分布这一复杂问题。研究系统是东北太平洋的岩石潮间带栖息地，这是地球上最紧张和生理挑战的环境之一。在美国东北太平洋海岸的实地实验期间，将收集数据，以生成岩石潮间带生理压力、气候和群落结构相互作用的预测模型。该项目整合了四位科学家的努力：一位生态生理学家（Helmanni），一位综合和分子生理学家（Hofmann），一位计算/数学生态学家（Kinzig）和一位社区生态学家（Menge）。包括三项具体的孵化活动：（1）出差参加会议，以规划项目并整合项目的组成部分;（2）开发对完整提案的成功至关重要的技术;（3）为项目征聘一名气候学家，以协助模拟潮间带现场的小规模天气模式。该项目还包括一个培训部分。研究生将参与其中一个规划会议，并将协助开发完整提案所需的新技术。这些技术包括：优化红外摄像机的使用以记录单个动物的体温，开发应激蛋白的生化分析以允许高通量处理，并为该项目开发基于地理信息系统的模型。这一合作符合为生物复杂性主题制定的标准，将大大有助于科学地了解生物体与其环境的相互作用以及自然或人为力量引起的变化的生物后果。

The goal is to create a collaborative, multi-investigator consortium to address the complex question of how environmental stress is transduced through organisms to influence their distribution in both time and space. The study system is the rocky intertidal habitat of the northeast Pacific, an environment that is one of the most stressful and physiologically challenging on Earth. During field experiments on the U.S. coast of the northeast Pacific, data will be collected to generate a predictive model of the interaction of physiological stress, climate and community structure in the rocky intertidal zone. The project integrates the effort of four scientists: an ecological physiologist (Helmuth), an integrative and molecular physiologist (Hofmann), a computational/mathematical ecologist (Kinzig) and a community ecologist (Menge). Three specific incubation activities are included: (1) Travel to meetings to plan the project and integrate the components of the project, (2) development of techniques essential to the success of a full proposal and (3) the recruitment of a climatologist to the project to assist with modeling small-scale weather patterns at the intertidal field sites. The project also includes a training component. Graduate students will be involved in one of the planning meetings and will assist in developing the new techniques required for the full proposal. These techniques include: optimization of the use of an infrared camera to record body temperatures of individual animals, development of a biochemical analyses of stress proteins that will allow high through-put processing and the development of a GIS-based model for the project. This collaboration meets the criteria established for the Biocomplexity theme and stands to contribute greatly to scientific understanding of the interaction of organisms with their environment and the biological consequences of changes induced by natural or anthropogenic forces.