Reconfiguring seascapes in the Anthropocene: Assessing how connectivity pathways maintain biodiversity

科学背景人为活动正在改变世界范围内的生态系统，表现为物种大灭绝、生物多样性丧失和生态系统功能丧失。这些影响在一定程度上是由人造结构取代自然栖息地造成的，随着景观日益破碎和重新配置，生态网络的一致性丧失或降低。若干国际政策(如《生物多样性公约》；联合国行动十年（UN Decade of Action）呼吁为扭转生物多样性下降和促进可持续发展提供解决方案，但我们对栖息地重构/破碎化如何破坏对现有生物多样性/海洋群落维持和持久至关重要的分散网络的理解，在很大程度上仍然是一个未被探索的主题，也是NERC的研究重点。本研究将探索海洋系统的生态连通性，并显著促进对多物种扩散在海洋生物多样性维持和功能中的作用的理解。预期的结果包括对生物多样性和群落结构变化的驱动因素有更好的理论理解，进而为应用保护实践提供信息。为了应对这一挑战，学生将利用遥感数据进行栖息地建模，有机会进行实地调查以描述当代海洋群落的分布，并在生态/水动力学建模中发展高度抢手的数值/分析技能，以预测欧洲沿海海域的扩散和构建生态网络。普利茅斯大学生物与海洋科学学院（最近在可持续发展目标14“水下生活”中排名全球第一；Times Higher Impact Rankings 2021），您将加入一个由本科生和研究生组成的成熟且充满活力的研究小组，该小组与主管以及更广泛的员工和学生欢迎社区有关。在项目期间，您将通过研究领导，包括项目管理和科学交流（即出版物，会议演讲）建立独立性和专业知识，并接受项目特定的定制培训，包括现场采样，海洋分类学，数值方法，实验设计/统计，生态/水动力建模，来自所有监督团队，主机（UoP）和合作（Met Office）机构。以及ARIES DTP培训计划的更广泛培训。

Scientific Background Anthropogenic activities are changing ecosystems worldwide - manifested as mass extinctions, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. These impacts are driven, in part, by replacement of natural habitats with man-made structures, resulting in lost/reduced coherence of ecological networks as landscapes become increasingly fragmented and reconfigured. Several international policies (e.g. Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD); UN Decade of Action) call for solutions to reverse biodiversity decline and promote sustainable development, but our understanding of how habitat reconfiguration/fragmentation disrupts the dispersive networks that are fundamental to the maintenance and persistence of existing biodiversity/marine communities remains a largely unexplored topic and a NERC research priority. Methodology This studentship will explore ecological connectivity in marine systems and significantly advance understanding of the role of multi-species dispersal in biodiversity maintenance and functioning across seascapes. Expected outcomes include a better theoretical understanding of the drivers of change in biodiversity and community structure, in turn informing applied conservation practices. To address this challenge, the student will draw on remote-sensed data to undertake habitat modelling, have the opportunity to undertake field surveys to describe the distribution of contemporary marine communities, and develop highly sought-after numerical/analytical skills in ecological/hydrodynamic modelling to predict dispersal and construct ecological networks in European coastal seas. Training Based in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences at the University of Plymouth (recently ranked global #1 in Sustainable Development Goal 14 'Life Below Water'; Times Higher Impact Rankings 2021), you'll join an established and vibrant research group of undergraduate and postgraduate students associated with the supervisors, and a wider welcoming community of staff and students. During the project, you will build independence and expertise through research leadership including project management and scientific communication (i.e. publications, conference presentations) and receive project-specific bespoke training in field sampling, marine taxonomy, numerical methods, experimental design/statistics, ecological/hydrodynamic modelling from all of the supervisory team, the host (UoP) and collaborative (Met Office) institutions, and wider training from the ARIES DTP training schemes.