BIOCOMPLEXITY: Marine Benthic Population Dynamics

控制近岸底栖生物种群动态的过程？幼虫的生产和运输、幼虫的定居、局部干扰、捕食、空间竞争等？都是复合体。例如，幼虫的定居不仅取决于幼虫到达的速度，还取决于自由基质的可用性、幼虫的行为和小？流体动力学。这些过程都是非线性的，并分别进行了研究。主要研究人员已经成功地确定了其中的一些过程。但由于每一个都很复杂，并且在不同的时间和空间尺度上运作，因此在将它们结合在一起方面进展甚微。这个项目应该利用观察和数学技术的结合来增加对这些过程的理解。研究还包括：沿岸的幼虫招募、幼虫运输和幼虫散布的差异是否来自于局部分层的差异，以及幼虫与局部分层相互作用的行为是否导致了幼虫运输的差异。

The processes that govern the population dynamics of nearshore benthic species ? larval production and transport, larval settlement, local disturbance, predation, competition for space, etc ? are each complex. For example, larval settlement depends not only upon the rate of arrival of larvae but also the availability of free substrate, larval behavior, and small?scale hydrodynamics. Each of these processes is nonlinear and has been studied separately. The principle investigators have already been successful in identifying some of these processes. But because each one is complex and operates at a different temporal and spatial scale, little progress has been made in coupling them together. This project should increase understanding of these processes using, a combination of observational and mathematical techniques. The following will also be investigated: whether alongshore differences in recruitment, larval transport, and larval dispersal result from the differences in local stratification, and whether the behavior of the larvae interacting with the local stratification results in differences in larval transport.