Benthic-pelagic coupling and intertidal community organization on Canada's Atlantic coast

物种分布和群落结构是生态系统的重要特征。岩石潮间带系统通常对了解影响这些特性的因素很重要，因为这些栖息地在退潮时很容易到达，并且是相对较小的生物的栖息地，有利于实地研究。多年来，潮间带群落被认为主要是由干扰和种间相互作用等局部过程构成的。然而，最近的研究发现，近岸中上层生物特征（如海水温度、浮游生物食物供应）可以在更大的尺度上影响底栖潮间带特征（如补充、生长和种间相互作用的强度），从而提出了底栖-上层生物耦合（BPC）的概念。底栖生物和远洋生物特征之间的共同关系已经被确定，但大多数研究都是在由上升流主导的海岸（太平洋美洲和智利海岸）进行的，这给其他海岸留下了知识空白。我将使用加拿大的大西洋海岸来调查BPC在一个地区，上升流不那么普遍，下升流更常见。利用横跨新斯科舍省大西洋沿岸530公里的永久潮间带位置，我将首先确定藻类和无脊椎动物丰度、藤条和贻贝的补充和生长以及群落结构的纬度和年际变化。利用潮间带记录器和卫星的数据，我还将确定近岸浮游植物丰度（如叶绿素-）的纬度和年际变化

Species distribution and community structure are key ecosystem properties. Rocky intertidal systems have been often important to understand the factors influencing such properties, as these habitats are easily accessible at low tide and host relatively small organisms, facilitating field research. For years, intertidal communities were thought to be structured mainly by local processes such as disturbance and interspecific interactions. Recent research, however, has found that nearshore pelagic traits (e.g., seawater temperature, planktonic food supply) can influence benthic intertidal traits (e.g., recruitment, growth, and intensity of interspecific interactions) at larger scales, raising the concept of benthic-pelagic coupling (BPC). Common relationships have been identified between benthic and pelagic traits, but most research has been done on coasts dominated by upwelling (the Pacific American and Chilean coasts), leaving a knowledge gap for other coasts. I will use Canada's Atlantic coast to investigate BPC for a region where upwelling is much less prevalent and downwelling more common. Using permanent intertidal locations spanning the 530 km of Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast, I will first determine the latitudinal and interannual variation in algal and invertebrate abundance, barnacle and mussel recruitment and growth, and community structure. Using data from intertidal loggers and satellites, I will also determine the latitudinal and interannual variation in nearshore phytoplankton abundance (as chlorophyll-