Long-term changes in coastal oceans: cumulative effects and ecosystem consequences

沿海海洋的长期变化：累积效应和生态系统后果

• 批准号: 341219-2008
• 负责人: Lotze, Heike
• 金额: $ 1.79万
• 依托单位: Dalhousie University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=527222
• 关键词: Long; term; changes; coastal; oceans

The depleted state of many marine resources and their supporting ocean ecosystems are of profound ecological, economical, and ethical concern for our society today. Throughout history, human activities have influenced marine species and coastal ecosystems, but the rate and scale of human impacts and resulting ecological changes have accelerated over time. One fundamental question to science, management, and conservation is: How much have human impacts changed species abundance and ecosystem structure in the past and how will this influence species survival and the functioning of ecosystems today and in the future? In order to judge the current state of depletion or recovery of any system it is essential to establish a historical baseline for comparison. Moreover, future predictions rely on understanding long-term trends and the underlying causes and consequences of change. Our current understanding of the cumulative effects of multiple human activities is weak, particularly over large temporal and spatial scales. The proposed research program addresses these issues by focusing on two major objectives: (1) to assess the ecosystem consequences of long-term changes in coastal ecosystems, and (2) to analyze the cumulative effects of multiple drivers of change. We will use a combination of historical time series analysis to assess long-term trends, multi-factorial field surveys to assess large-scale changes across gradients of human impacts, and laboratory experiments to analyze interactions between current drivers and future climate change. Ecosystem models will be applied to evaluate the structural and functional consequences of observed temporal and spatial changes. Overall, the proposed research program will enhance scientific knowledge and capacity in the developing fields of historical ecology, ecological forecasting, and the cumulative effects of multiple ecological controls. The scientific and applied importance makes this research program ideal for the training of highly qualified personnel for science, management, and conservation.

许多海洋资源及其支持的海洋生态系统的枯竭状态对当今社会具有深远的生态，经济和道德关注。在整个历史上，人类活动都影响了海洋物种和沿海生态系统，但是随着时间的推移，人类影响的速度和规模和结果变化加速了。科学，管理和保护的一个基本问题是：过去的人类影响改变了物种的丰度和生态系统结构，这将如何影响物种的生存以及当今和未来的生态系统的运作？为了判断任何系统的耗尽或恢复的现状，必须建立历史基准进行比较。此外，未来的预测取决于理解长期趋势以及变化的根本原因和后果。我们目前对多种人类活动累积影响的理解很弱，尤其是在大型的时间和空间尺度上。拟议的研究计划通过关注两个主要目标来解决这些问题：（1）评估沿海生态系统长期变化的生态系统后果，以及（2）分析多个变化驱动因素的累积影响。我们将使用历史时间序列分析的组合来评估长期趋势，多因素现场调查，以评估人类影响梯度之间的大规模变化以及实验室实验，以分析当前驱动因素与未来气候变化之间的相互作用。生态系统模型将用于评估观察到的时间和空间变化的结构和功能后果。总体而言，拟议的研究计划将增强历史生态学，生态预测以及多种生态控制的累积影响的发展领域的科学知识和能力。科学和应用的重要性使该研究计划非常适合培训高素质的科学，管理和保护。