Ecology of coastal benthic communities in a changing ocean

海洋变化中沿海底栖群落的生态学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04123
• 负责人: Hunt, Heather
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of New Brunswick
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=716803
• 关键词: Ecology; coastal; benthic; communities; changing

Human impacts including climate change are negatively affecting marine ecosystems in Canada and around the world. The long-term objective of my research program is to increase our understanding of the patterns of distribution and abundance of bottom-dwelling invertebrates in coastal marine ecosystems and the processes underlying them, including human impacts. This research program builds on my previous research on the ecology and biodiversity of coastal ecosystems. The short-term objectives over the next 5 years focus on increasing our understanding of the influence of ocean acidification and warming in these ecosystems. Anthropogenic emissions of CO2 have resulted in increased ocean temperature and ocean acidification (increased CO2 and decreased pH and carbonate saturation), and these impacts are projected to increase in the future. Understanding the effects of climate change in coastal waters is complicated by the large amount of natural variability in seawater pH and temperature in coastal systems. In addition, organisms living within sediment are exposed to more acidic conditions due to microbial decomposition, resulting in present-day carbonate saturation states in sediment low enough to dissolve bivalve shells. The proposed research will use a combination of lab and field experiments to test the effects of increased CO2 and decreased pH in seawater and in the sediment on communities of sediment-dwelling invertebrates, including commercially harvested clams. We will also examine whether marine species in the Maritimes are shifting the latitude at which they live and moving northwards in response to increasing seawater temperature. Finally, we will use pH and temperature data to develop models of habitat suitability for two commercially and ecologically important species, the soft shell clam and the American lobster, which will aid in assessing their vulnerability to the effects of climate change. The Canadian Maritimes are an important region to address these questions since the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy is a hotspot for ocean warming. This research will be carried out by graduate and undergraduate students, providing training for PhD, MSc, and honours students at UNB. The proposed research will enhance our understanding of the effects of climate change on shallow coastal marine ecosystems, which are extremely productive and important to the coastal economy in Canada. This research will provide information valuable for management of coastal ecosystems in Canada in terms of conservation of ecosystems and assessment of vulnerability of commercially harvested species to climate change.

包括气候变化在内的人类影响对加拿大和世界各地的海洋生态系统产生负面影响。我的研究计划的长期目标是提高我们对沿海海洋生态系统中底部无脊椎动物的分布模式以及包括人类影响（人类影响）的过程的理解。该研究计划以我先前关于沿海生态系统的生态学和生物多样性的研究为基础。未来5年的短期目标集中在增加我们对这些生态系统中海洋酸化和变暖影响的理解。 二氧化碳的人为排放导致海洋温度和海洋酸化升高（二氧化碳和pH和碳酸盐饱和度降低），这些影响预计将来会增加。了解沿海水域气候变化的影响使海水pH和沿海系统温度的大量自然变异变得复杂。此外，由于微生物分解，生活在沉积物中的生物会暴露于更酸性的条件下，导致当今的碳酸盐饱和态在低水平的沉积物中，以溶解双壳壳。拟议的研究将使用实验室和现场实验的组合来测试海水和沉积物中pH值增加和pH值降低对沉积物无脊椎动物（包括商业收获的蛤）的影响。我们还将研究海洋中的海洋物种是否在响应海水温度升高的情况下移动其寿命和向北移动的纬度。最后，我们将使用pH和温度数据来开发针对两个商业和生态重要的物种，即软壳蛤和美国龙虾的栖息地模型，这将有助于评估它们对气候变化影响的脆弱性。 加拿大海事是解决这些问题的重要区域，因为缅因州/芬迪湾的海湾是一个用于海洋变暖的热点。这项研究将由研究生和本科生进行，为UNB的博士学位，MSC和荣誉学生提供培训。拟议的研究将增强我们对气候变化对浅沿岸海洋生态系统的影响的理解，这对加拿大的沿海经济非常重要且重要。这项研究将提供有关加拿大沿海生态系统的重要信息，以保护生态系统以及评估商业收获物种对气候变化的脆弱性。