Deep connections: How do changes in deep sea faunal communities relate to surface physics and biology?

预测变化对海洋生物的影响和影响是海洋科学家日益关注的问题。海洋变暖以及与之相关的海水化学变化预计将导致海洋生物的丰度、多样性和分布发生重大变化，并可能对自然资本和海洋吸收二氧化碳和人类产生的其他废物的能力造成影响。目前尚不清楚未来PP的变化将如何影响深海生物群落结构。考虑到深海环境对全球生物丰度、生物多样性和生态系统功能的重要性，预测深海群落对气候驱动的PP变化的响应是必要的。该项目将使用从20世纪70年代中期到2016年收集的样本（2016年以后没有收集样本）来检查底栖动物群落在物种和功能多样性水平上发生了什么变化。总体目标：量化深海底栖生物群落在40年期间的变化程度——这是全球可获得的最长的底栖生物深海时间序列，并确定观测到的变化是否与生物（如PP）和非生物（如温度）变量的变化有关。这里提出的工作是在这些深度的第一次，考虑到生产力和水温的已知变化以及这些变化可能对底栖生态系统的影响，这一点很重要。

Predicting the impact and effects of changes on life in the oceans is of growing concern to marine scientists. Warming of the oceans and associated changes in the chemistry of sea water are expected to cause major shifts in abundance, diversity, and distribution of marine organisms, with possible consequences for natural capital and the capacity of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide and other waste materials produced by humans. Presently it is unclear how future changes in PP may affect deep-sea community structure. Predicting the response of deep-sea communities to climate-driven shifts in PP is imperative given the importance of this environment to global bioabundance, biodiversity and ecosystem function. This project will use samples collected from the mid-1970s through to 2016 (no samples collected post 2016) to examine what changes have occurred in the benthic faunal community at species and functional diversity levels. Overarching aim: to quantify the extent of change in a deep-sea benthic community over a period spanning four decades - the longest benthic bathyal time series available globally, and to determine whether observed changes are linked with shifts in biotic (e.g., PP) and abiotic (e.g., temperature) variables. The work proposed here is the first of its kind at these depths and is important given known changes in productivity and water temperature and the impact these may have on the benthic ecosystem.