The contribution of human/marine herbivore interactions to reef degradation

该项目旨在确定人类社会与食草动物之间的相互作用如何影响海洋生态系统的结构和功能。它将分析最近全球珊瑚礁群落系统采样的地理模式，并研究鱼类、大型无脊椎动物和中食草食草动物，以确定食草动物在珊瑚礁生态系统崩溃和恢复中的作用。该项目将研究关键生态系统功能和群落结构在地方到全球尺度上的匹配，包括识别非线性和涉及人类对这一过程影响的相互作用。这项研究有望保护海洋生态系统免于崩溃。

This project aims to define how interactions between human society and herbivores influence marine ecosystem structure and function. It will analyse geographic patterns from recent systematic sampling of reef communities worldwide and study fish, macro-invertebrate and meso-grazer herbivory to identify herbivores’ role in the collapse and recovery of reef ecosystems. This project will examine the match between a critical ecosystem function and community structure across local to global scales, including the identification of non-linearities and interactions involving human effects on this process. This research is expected to safeguard marine ecosystems from collapse.