Global patterns and processes of organismal niche in the marine environment

海洋环境中生物生态位的全球模式和过程

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-04922
• 负责人: Hussey, Nigel
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of Windsor
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=682404
• 关键词: Global; patterns; processes; organismal; niche

The WHY of the WHERE and WHEN species are distributed on Earth is a central question in ecology. While multiple factors such as available habitat and evolutionary origin are considered to drive species distributions in our oceans, environment is considered a primary force. Environment not only regulates the occurrence of animals in habitats/at latitudes, but it also drives species interactions that structure food webs from micro- to macro-scales. The interaction of a species with abiotic (environment = habitat) and biotic (prey = diet) factors is termed the niche. In an era of rapid climatic shift - the Anthropocene - understanding how environmental variation moulds the niche of species will help to predict its effects on the stability and resilience of global food webs. While spatial distribution patterns of species are well known, such as increasing species biodiversity from high to low latitudes (the Latitudinal Diversity Gradient; LDG), the underlying causes of these patterns have received little attention in our oceans. The Latitudinal Niche Breadth Hypothesis (LNB), a famous theory proposed to account for LDG, states that smaller niches and greater species diversity will occur at the equator as compared to the poles because of increased environmental stability. I will examine the influence of environmental context on species niche at the poles, equator and along the polar-equatorial latitudinal gradient through testing the LNB hypothesis in our oceans. I will do this through: i) Establishing the relationship between niche size of species from known feeding groups (Trophic Levels; TL) at latitudinal extremes (pole and equator); ii) Testing causal links between established patterns of niche size and environmental variation at the pole and equator; iii) Adopting a macroecological approach to examine niche size patterns and environmental causal links across a continuous polar-to-equator latitudinal gradient; and iv) Testing if the trends fit expectations of the LNB hypotheses in the marine environment. My aim is to advance understanding of the impact of ongoing climate shifts on global ecosystems for sustainable resource management.

物种在地球上何时何地分布的原因是生态学的一个核心问题。虽然可用栖息地和进化起源等多种因素被认为是驱动海洋物种分布的因素，但环境被认为是主要力量。环境不仅调节栖息地/纬度地区动物的出现，而且还驱动物种相互作用，从而构建从微观到宏观尺度的食物网。物种与非生物（环境=栖息地）和生物（猎物=饮食）因素的相互作用被称为生态位。在气候快速变化的时代——人类世——了解环境变化如何塑造物种的生态位将有助于预测其对全球食物网稳定性和恢复力的影响。虽然物种的空间分布模式众所周知，例如从高纬度到低纬度物种多样性不断增加（纬度多样性梯度；LDG），但这些模式的根本原因在我们的海洋中很少受到关注。纬度生态位宽度假说 (LNB) 是一种为解释 LDG 而提出的著名理论，该理论指出，由于环境稳定性增强，与两极相比，赤道将出现更小的生态位和更大的物种多样性。我将通过在海洋中检验 LNB 假说来研究环境背景对两极、赤道以及极地-赤道纬度梯度沿线物种生态位的影响。我将通过以下方式做到这一点： i) 建立纬度极端（极地和赤道）已知摄食群体（营养水平；TL）的物种生态位大小之间的关系； ii) 测试已建立的生态位大小模式与极地和赤道环境变化之间的因果关系； iii) 采用宏观生态学方法来研究生态位大小模式和跨越连续的极地到赤道纬度梯度的环境因果关系； iv) 测试趋势是否符合海洋环境中 LNB 假设的预期。我的目标是加深对持续气候变化对全球生态系统影响的了解，以实现可持续资源管理。