Extreme environments in a changing ocean

海洋正在经历迅速的变化，这对海洋生态系统产生了巨大的影响。这项提议的工作考察了极端情况下海底群落的破坏：火山爆发、排气和缺氧（无氧）水侵蚀造成的栖息地破坏。我们将研究动物，种群和社区对极端压力的反应，以了解反应和适应。由于富营养化和气候变暖，许多沿海地区正在失去氧气。在低氧环境下工作-西海岸峡湾和热喷口-我们将确定野外几种物种的限制条件。新的海底观测站（VENUS和NEPTUNE Canada）允许直接使用仪器和照相机，获得精细尺度变化的长期记录。我们将研究可变性如何影响对缺氧影响的耐受性海底栖息物种。随着缺氧（低氧）的扩大，它压缩了可用的海底栖息地，因此我们可以研究物种如何相互作用。随着缺氧水平的变化，遥控车辆将绘制物种分布图；同样，我们可以用相机和传感器记录在热喷口的移动动物的变化，记录最极端的变异性、反应和迁移条件。

The oceans are undergoing rapid change that have dramatic consequences for ocean ecosystems. This proposed work examines the disruption of seafloor communities in extreme circumstances: volcanic eruptions, venting and habitat destruction from encroachment of anoxic (no oxygen) water. We will study disrupted in which to examine animal, population and community responses to extreme stress to understand responses and adaptations. Many coastal areas are losing oxygen because of eutrophication and warming. Working in low oxygen settings - a west coast fjord and at hot vents - we will determine the limiting conditions for several species in the field. New seafloor observatories (VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada) allow direct access to instruments and cameras yielding long-term records of fine-scale variability. We will examine how variability affects tolerance to anoxic influences for bottom dwelling species. As hypoxia (low oxygen) expands, it compresses available seafloor habitat thus we can study how species will interact. Remotely operated vehicles will map species distributions as hypoxic levels change; similarly, we can document changes in mobile animals at hot vents using cameras and sensors to document the most extreme conditions of variability, response and migration. We will also look at population adaptations to stress by examining morphological, reproductive and recruitment strategies on an erupting volcano, in turbulence venting and in coastal waters. We will exploit long-term records and new monitoring techniques to examine warming and oxygen depletion on the BC coast and examine changes in animal distributions over 30 years. Our goal is to predict responses and adaptations to stressors such as habitat degradation and provide field-validated models of community changes. This effort will interface with researchers in other disciplines to understand linkages to physical, geological, chemical and microbial processes.