A towed camera system for benthic research

牵引摄像机系统将支持我在国家科学研究委员会发现基金中提出的研究。我正在进行的研究项目的主要目标是：1)调查生物和物理过程在调节加拿大东部浅海生态系统结构和动态中的作用；2)确定生态系统状态大规模转变的生态后果，从海带床到海胆贫瘠地，对生态系统功能和服务（如食物生产、栖息地提供、营养循环）。浅层潮下带和较深水域的沉积生境；3)建立预测变化的数学模型，识别重要的因果关系和后续影响，为生态系统健康评价和自然资源管理提供依据。拟议的拖曳相机系统将使我们能够极大地扩展我们以前基于水肺的观察的深度范围，并首次探索动态浅水系统和深水组合之间的连接模式和过程，这些组合依赖于来自浅水的临时可变食物输入（以海藻碎屑的形式）。具体来说，我们将研究海带床和海胆贫瘠地的近海分布模式，以及这些群落之间的界面变化，这些变化与收获和疾病引起的海胆丰度波动有关。我们将测量海藻碎屑从海带床到更深的沉积底部的转移速率（特别是在飓风等大型风暴事件之后），并记录深海海胆在风暴干扰下分布和觅食行为的变化。从更广泛的意义上说，这些录像数据将使我们能够记录海带床限制下近岸栖息地的生物多样性模式，为培养海洋生态学基础和应用方面的研究生和本科生提供了许多机会。

A towed-camera system will support research proposed in my NSERC Discovery Grant. The main goals of my ongoing research program are 1) to investigate the role of biological and physical processes in regulating the structure and dynamics of the shallow marine ecosystem in eastern Canada, 2) to determine the ecological consequences of large-scale shifts in ecosystem state, from kelp beds to sea urchin barrens, on ecosystem function and services (e.g. food production, habitat provision, nutrient cycling), within the shallow subtidal zone and in sedimentary habitats in deeper water; and 3) to develop mathematical models to predict change and identify important causal factors and follow-on effects, which will aid in the assessment of ecosystem health and management of natural resources. The proposed towed-camera system will enable us to greatly extend the depth range of our previous SCUBA-based observations and to explore, for the first time, patterns and processes of connectivity between the dynamic shallow-water system and deep-water assemblages that depend on temporally variable food inputs (in the form of seaweed detritus) from the shallows. Specifically, we will examine patterns in offshore distribution of kelp beds and urchin barrens, and shifts in the interface between these communities that are associated with fluctuations in urchin abundance caused by harvesting and disease. We will measure the transfer rate of algal detritus from kelp beds to deeper sedimentary bottoms (particularly after large storm events such as hurricanes), and record changes in distribution and foraging behaviour of deep-living urchins in response to storm disturbance. In a more general sense, this videographic data will enable us to document patterns of biodiversity in nearshore habitats below the limits of kelp beds, presenting many opportunities for training graduate and undergraduate students in the fundamental and applied aspects of marine ecology.