Balance of power in a changing world: shifting urchin-kelp dynamics in a boreal marine ecosystem

沿海生态系统提供资源和生态系统服务，但尽管生产力很高，却极其脆弱。沿着温带岩石海岸，大型棕色海藻在为各种生物提供食物和栖息地（“海带床”）方面发挥着关键作用，包括海胆，这一系统中的主要食草动物。 在北方纬度，海胆可以破坏性地吃海藻，创造低生产力和多样性的“贫瘠地带”，除非被捕食者或疾病控制。在北方圣劳伦斯生态系统（nSLe）的北方沃茨，这种控制不再存在-海胆占主导地位，因此海带床很少。幸运的是，如果喂养得当，海胆可以销售，他们的开发提供了一种潜在的手段，以减少放牧压力，使海带床可以扩大，提供更健康的生态系统和更好的双重好处。

Coastal ecosystems provide both resources and ecosystem services, but although highly productive, they are exceedingly fragile. Along temperate rocky coasts, large brown seaweeds play a key role in providing food and habitat ("kelp beds") to a diverse array of organisms, including sea urchins, the main herbivore in this system. In northern latitudes, urchins can destructively graze kelp, creating "barren zones" of low productivity and diversity unless controlled by predators or disease. In the boreal waters of the northern St. Lawrence ecosystem (nSLe), such controls no longer exist - urchins dominate and kelp beds are consequently rare. Fortunately, when well fed, urchins can be marketed, and their exploitation offers a potential means to reduce grazing pressure to a point that kelp beds can expand, offering the dual benefits of a healthier ecosystem and better