Mobile Link Organisms as Processors and Transporters of Materials within a Marsh-Estuarine Ecosystem

这个项目的目标是量化移动链接动物，主要是鱼类和十足甲壳类动物（统称为水母）在处理和运输沼泽-河口系统和子系统内部和之间的物质方面的作用。在短时间尺度上，以前的工作表明，移动生物可能是溶解营养物质、铵和磷酸盐的主要来源。在更长的时间尺度上，它们积累有机生物量。同时观察盐沼、泥滩、牡蛎礁和潮汐通道之间的物质和流动生物的通量，可以估计出这些组成部分在边界内和边界间加工和运输物质时的相对重要性。一个重复的前-后控制-影响（BACI）方法将确定这些通量的统计意义。在被淹没的潮间带溪流盆地中排除流动链接动物后，特别是在黑暗条件下，无机通量的假设减少，将提供这些动物在物质加工中的作用的经验测量。这个项目有更广泛的影响。这项研究将在南卡罗来纳州的北入口河口进行，这是一个近乎原始的生态系统，是国家河口研究保护区系统的一部分。许多流动动物在经济上也是沿海渔业的重要组成部分。此外，这些研究将提供一个有吸引力的机制和机会，以教育学生，教师和外行人在海洋和湿地科学。

The goal of this project is to quantify the roles of mobile link animals, mainly fishes and decapod crustaceans (collectively called nekton), in processing and transporting materials within and between marsh-estuarine systems and subsystems. At short time scales, previous work indicates that mobile organisms are probably a major source of dissolved nutrients, ammonium and phosphate. On longer time scales, they accumulate organic biomass. Simultaneous observations of the fluxes of materials and mobile organisms between salt marshes, mud flats, oyster reefs and tidal channels will furnish estimates of the relative importance of each of these components in processing and transporting materials within and across boundaries. A replicated Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) approach will determine the statistical significance of these fluxes. Hypothesized decreases in inorganic fluxes following the exclusion of mobile link animals from flooded intertidal creek basins, particularly under dark conditions, will provide an empirical measure of the role of these animals in material processing.This project has broader impacts. The research will take place in North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina, which is a nearly pristine ecosystem, that is part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. Many of the mobile animals are also economically important components of coastal fisheries. Furthermore, these studies will provide an attractive mechanism and opportunity for educating students, teachers and laypersons in marine and wetland science.