Community Dynamics in a Polar Ecosystem: Benthic Recovery From A Large Scale Organic Enrichment in the Antarctic

南极海洋生态系统在个体、种群和群落层面上与其他极地、温带和热带系统不同。环境的特点是光照和食物供应的极端季节性，以及寒冷的低温条件。此外，人类对南极洲的影响比在人口稠密或被开发的地区更为有限。2003年将有一个独特的研究机会，在麦克默多站安装一个污水处理厂。这将允许进行大规模的实验，从有机富集和物理干扰中恢复群落。这项研究将检验在更容易接近的海洋群落中制定和证明的与群落结构和干扰恢复有关的主要假设是否适用于南极生态系统。这项研究将建立在一个十年时间序列的基础上，该序列跟踪了由于排污口的安置而导致的底栖生物群落退化。麦克默多当地生态系统的一个复杂因素是大量海洋哺乳动物和大型鱼类粪便的输入。采样将跨越污水处理的实施，数据将纳入各种生境中从有机干扰中恢复的社区荟萃分析，以测试恢复模式的普遍性。实验操作将比较埋藏和斑块大小在恢复动力学中的潜在复杂作用。从这项研究中获得的知识可以应用于极地生境中高有机负荷的其他例子。在高纬度地区，重要的人为输入包括纸浆厂和人类居住和访问的增加，以及自然来源，包括河流产出的木质碎片和来自以上生产性地表水的尸体，也向高纬度环境提供了重要的碳输入。本研究将通过综合的方法来评估持续十年以上的碳负荷扰动后，动物群落和动物群落的恢复情况，从而大大加深对极地环境中人为影响的理解。

Kim0126319Antarctic marine ecosystems differ from other polar, temperate and tropical systems at the level of individuals, populations and communities. The environment is characterized by extreme seasonality in light and food availability, along with cold stenothermal conditions. Additionally, human impacts are more limited in Antarctica than in highly populated or exploited areas. A unique research opportunity will occur in 2003 with the installation of a sewage treatment plant at McMurdo Station. This will allow for the conduct of a large-scale experiment on community recovery from organic enrichment and physical disturbance. This research will test whether major hypotheses related to community structure and disturbance recovery, which were formulated and demonstrated in more accessible marine communities, applies to Antarctic ecosystems. This research will build on a ten-year time-series that follows benthic community degradation resulting from emplacement of a sewage outfall. A complicating factor in the local McMurdo ecosystem is the input of fecal matter from the abundant populations of marine mammals and large fishes. Sampling will span the implementation of sewage treatment and the data will be incorporated in a meta-analysis of community recovery from organic disturbance in a variety of habitats, to test the generality of recovery patterns. Experimental manipulations will compare the potentially complex roles of burial and patch size in recovery dynamics. The knowledge gained from this research can be applied to other examples of high organic loading in polar habitats. Significant anthropogenic inputs in high latitudes include pulp mills and increases in human occupation and visitation as well as natural sources including woody debris in river outputs and carcass-falls from the productive surface waters above also present significant carbon inputs to high latitude environments. This study will significantly further the understanding of anthropogenic impacts in polar environments using an integrated approach to evaluate the recovery of the infaunal and epifaunal assemblages after a substantial carbon-loading perturbation sustained over ten years.