Temperature Regulation of Top-Down Control in a Pacific Upwelling System

几乎所有生活在海洋中的动物都是冷血动物或温热动物，这意味着它们的体温与周围海洋的温度相匹配。这对它们的生理以及更广泛地说对海洋生态系统的运作方式都有重要的影响。当体温变暖时，它们的新陈代谢加快；这意味着它们呼吸更快，为了生存而吃得更多。这对猎物来说是个坏消息，因为温暖的捕食者是饥饿的捕食者。但气候变暖也使猎物物种在被猎杀时能够更快地爬行或游走。因此，在温水中，一切都会加速。能量更快地从太阳流向海藻(通过光合作用)，流向食草动物，然后流向食物链顶端的大型捕食者。研究小组正在加拉帕戈斯群岛测试这些想法，以确定温度如何影响海洋生态系统。这个标志性的自然实验室正在进行的工作正在帮助海洋生态学家了解温度的作用，以及随着气候变化使海洋变暖，这个生态系统和其他生态系统在未来如何发挥作用。该项目的其他更广泛影响包括对游客和当地社区的学生培训和现场宣传，内容涉及海洋变暖和一些生活在加拉帕戈斯的鲜为人知的物种。这个项目的主要目标是了解温度对上升流系统中的模式和过程的影响。具体地说，该团队正在测量加拉帕戈斯潮下岩石栖息地中食草动物和肉食性动物的温度依赖性。他们正在进行实地实验，以测量温度、草食和营养通量对底栖大型藻类生产力和现存量的相对和交互影响。此外，他们正在使用跨越时空温度梯度的现场捕食分析和中游实验来确定海洋温度与捕食者-猎物对(包括青春虫-藤壶、海星-海胆和鱼-鱿鱼)的捕食强度之间的关系。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nearly all the animals that inhabit the ocean are "cold-blooded" or ectothermic, meaning their body temperatures match the temperature of the ocean around them. This has important consequences for their physiology and more broadly for the way marine ecosystems function. When ectotherms warm up, their metabolism increases; meaning they breathe more rapidly, and eat more just to stay alive. This is bad news for prey since a warm predator is a hungry predator. But warming also enables prey species to crawl or swim away more quickly when being hunted. Thus, everything speeds up in warm water. Energy flows more quickly from the sun to seaweeds (via photosynthesis), to the herbivores, then on up to the large predators at the top of the food chain. The research team is testing these ideas in the Galápagos Islands to determine how temperature influences marine ecosystems. Ongoing work in this iconic natural laboratory is helping marine ecologists understand the role of temperature and how this and other ecosystems could function in the future as climate change warms the ocean. Other broader impacts of the project include student training and on-site outreach to tourists and the local community about ocean warming and some of the lesser-known species that inhabit the Galápagos. The broad goal of this project is to understand the effect that temperature has on patterns and processes in upwelling systems. Specifically, the team is measuring the temperature-dependence of herbivory and carnivory in rocky subtidal habitats of the Galápagos. They are performing field experiments to measure the relative and interactive effects of temperature, herbivory, and nutrient flux on the productivity and standing biomass of benthic macroalgae. Additionally, they are using in situ predation assays across spatial and temporal temperature gradients and mesocosm experiments to determine the relationship between ocean temperature and predation intensity for predator-prey pairings including whelk–barnacle, sea star–urchin, and fish–squid.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.