LTREB Renewal: Ecosystem response to climate change - role of ecological subsidies and species interactions

简单的“气候变化”一词涵盖了一系列事件，包括异常严重的风暴、意想不到的冰冻或热浪、疾病流行、外来物种的入侵以及气温的长期上升、降水的变化或海平面的上升。该项目将收集居住在岩石潮间带海岸线上的生物体的长期数据，以了解关键物种如何单独和集体地对这种高度多样化的扰动做出反应。人类依赖沿海生态系统来获取食物、娱乐和美观，这放大了了解这些生态系统未来将如何变化的重要性。这项研究将吸引高中生、本科生和研究生进行实地研究，向他们介绍丰富的自然历史世界。结果将与当地管理机构，如西斯瓦夫流域委员会，以及俄勒冈州鱼类和野生动物部门分享，以帮助管理俄勒冈州S海洋保护区系统。公众参与包括最近西海岸研究人员和当地企业之间的合作，以提高公众对沿海栖息地发生的变化的认识。俄勒冈州岩石潮间带栖息地的长期数据表明，贻贝、海带和藤壶等关键物种正在对气候变化的多个方面做出反应。该项目将继续跟踪这些物种和相关生物，以确定物种对变暖加剧、更强烈的风暴、海平面上升和这些因素更大变化的反应的持续趋势。俄勒冈沿海一套六个研究地点长达26年的研究将被延长，并对长期数据进行分析，以确定物种丰度如何在空间上随着气候驱动的变化而变化：a)营养物质(例如藻类)、颗粒食物(例如贻贝)和幼体(例如贻贝、海星、藤壶)的输入；b)严重风暴造成的损失；以及c)应对物种之间不断变化的相互作用(例如促进或捕食)。新的焦点将放在赭石海星上，这是一种标志性的拱心石捕食者，由于疾病流行，其数量在2014年急剧下降。实地研究将确定相关物种(猎物、竞争者)将如何应对这种减少，海星是否会反弹到以前的水平，以及恢复或未能恢复将对整个社区产生什么后果。通过综合30多年的数据，最终结果将是详细了解一个重要的生态群落，它可能如何变化，以及它的弹性，或从环境扰动中恢复的能力。

The simple phrase 'climate change' encompasses a wide range of events, including unusually severe storms, unexpected freezes or heat waves, disease epidemics, and invasions of exotic species along with chronically increasing temperature, changes in precipitation, or rising sea levels. This project will assemble long-term data for organisms inhabiting a rocky intertidal coastline to understand how key species respond individually and collectively to this highly diverse suite of perturbations. Humans depend on coastal ecosystems for food, recreation, and aesthetics, amplifying the importance of understanding how these ecosystems will change in the future. The research will engage high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in field research, introducing them to the rich world of natural history. Results will be shared with local management agencies, such as the Siuslaw Watershed Council, as well as with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to help manage Oregon?s marine reserve system. Public engagement includes a recent partnership between West Coast researchers and local businesses to elevate public awareness of changes occurring in coastal habitats. Long-term data gathered for Oregon rocky intertidal habitats indicate that key species such as mussels, kelps, and barnacles are responding to multiple aspects of climate change. This project will continue to follow these species and associated organisms to determine sustained trends of species responses to increased warming, more intense storms, rising sea level, and greater variation in these factors. Research extending back as far as 26 years at a set of six study sites along the Oregon coast will be extended and the long-term data analyzed to determine how species abundances vary in space in response to climate-driven variation a) in inputs of nutrients (e.g., algae), particulate food (e.g., mussels), and larvae (e.g., mussels, sea stars, barnacles); b) in losses driven by severe storms; and c) in response to changing interactions among species (e.g., positive and negative effects such as facilitation or predation). A new focus will be on the ochre sea star, an iconic keystone predator that experienced a dramatic decline in abundance in 2014 due to a disease epidemic. Field research will determine how associated species (prey, competitors) will respond to this reduction, whether or not the sea star will rebound to previous levels, and what the consequences of recovery or failure to recover will be for the entire community. With synthesis of over 30 years of data, the final outcome will be a detailed understanding of an important ecological community, how it is likely to change, and its resilience, or ability to rebound from environmental perturbations.