Towards a predictive theory of seaweed population dynamics: ecology of biomass-density relationships

海藻是世界上大多数海洋岩石海岸食物网的基础，因此了解它们的生态越来越有必要。然而，迄今为止，大多数关于海藻种群生态学的科学研究都没有寻找适用于不同分类群体的潜在统一原则。因此，这些研究的结论大多适用于相似的物种，而不适用于广泛的群体。我的研究项目将寻找统一的原则，使海藻种群生态学更具预测性。特别是，我将在海藻林的发展过程中发展生物量密度动态的生态学理论。生物量密度模型是预测未来种群趋势、估计生物之间竞争相互作用强度以及在由于保护问题或逻辑限制而无法直接测量林分生物量时估计林分生物量的简单而强大的工具。因此，我的研究将为海藻种群动态产生一个全面的框架，这将对海藻生态学的基础研究和这些资源管理的应用研究产生积极影响。

Seaweeds are the basis of food webs in most marine rocky shores worldwide, so understanding their ecology is increasingly necessary. To date, however, most scientific studies of seaweed population ecology have been done without searching for potentially unifying principles that would apply across different taxonomic groups. As a result, the conclusions of such studies are mostly applicable to similar species, but not to broad groups. My research program will search for unifying principles that will make seaweed population ecology more predictive. In particular, I will develop ecological theory on biomass-density dynamics during the development of seaweed stands. Biomass-density models are simple, yet powerful, tools to predict future population trends, to estimate the intensity of competitive interactions among organisms, and to estimate stand biomass when this cannot be measured directly due to conservation concerns or logistic constraints. My research will, therefore, generate a comprehensive framework for seaweed population dynamics that will positively impact fundamental studies on seaweed ecology and applied studies on the management of these resources.