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

沿海生态系统既提供资源，又提供生态系统服务，但它们虽然生产力很高，但极其脆弱。在温带岩石海岸，大型棕色海藻在为包括海胆在内的各种生物提供食物和栖息地(“海带床”)方面发挥着关键作用，海胆是该系统中的主要食草动物。在北纬地区，海胆可以破坏性地捕食海带，除非受到捕食者或疾病的控制，否则就会形成生产力和多样性低的“贫瘠地带”。在圣劳伦斯北部生态系统的北部水域，这种控制已不复存在--海胆占主导地位，因此海带床很少见。幸运的是，如果喂养得当，海胆可以被出售，它们的开发提供了一种潜在的手段，可以将放牧压力降低到海藻床可以扩大的程度，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