Kelp forest ecosystems near and far: Putting a new theory explaining dynamic ecological systems to the test

很少(如果有的话)生态模型考虑到生物多样性和观察到的生态系统的脆弱性，从分子尺度到海洋尺度。该项目旨在以综合以往不同的生态系统研究方法的方式调查海藻森林，以证明一个新的框架的价值，以了解大范围和局部现象如何相互关联，以维持生态系统的多样性和功能，或引起生态系统的衰退、过渡或崩溃。对生态系统过程的这种新的概念化将有助于预测其管理的后果以及外部刺激对通常稳健的系统的影响。

Few, if any, ecological models account for the biological diversity and observed vulnerability of ecosystems, from the molecular to the oceanic scale. This project aims to investigate kelp forests in ways that integrate previously disparate approaches to the study of ecosystems in order to prove the value of a novel framework for understanding how broad-scale and local phenomena interrelate to maintain the diversity and function of ecosystems or to provoke their decline, transition or collapse. This new conceptualisation of ecosystem processes will assist in forecasting the consequences of their management and the effects of external stimuli on normally robust systems.