Project: Intertidal community assembly and dynamics: Integrating broad-scale regional variation in environmental forcing and benthic-pelagic coupling

Acronym/Short Name:GOMEPRO
Project Duration:2015-02 - 2019-01
Geolocation:Rocky intertidal shores and nearshore coastal waters throughout the Gulf of Maine

Description

Rocky intertidal habitats in the Gulf of Maine (GoM) provide a model system to examine the structure and dynamics of natural communities. Throughout the Gulf of Maine, the same species are often found in these habitats but community structure, dynamics and productivity differ markedly among 3 distinct regions (southern, central and northern GoM). Past influential work, conducted primarily in the southern and central GoM, focused on the local processes driving intertidal community structure but produced very different conceptual models of how these communities are structured. This project examines whether regional differences in rocky shore community processes are driven by differences in recruitment that are shaped by regional variation in temperature and food availability and nearshore coastal oceanography. This project will improve the understanding of how large-scale environmental forces interact with local processes to control the distribution of species and the structure and dynamics of these communities. Understanding the interaction between processes operating at different scales is fundamentally important to developing more reliable models that can be used to predict community dynamics. In addition, data resulting from this project will have important implications for regional dynamics in commercially important species and for ecosystem and fisheries management within the GoM.

The overarching hypothesis of this project is that regional differences in community-level processes are driven by very different patterns of population connectivity and recruitment in a few key species, and that these differences are ultimately caused by regional variation in temperature and food availability and mediated by physical larval transport processes. Hence, the project will test the following hypotheses with manipulative field experiments, field sampling, connectivity estimates, and integrative modeling:
1) Locally-dispersing species dominate dynamics in regions with a net export of planktonic larvae (Northern GoM), while species with planktonic larvae dominate the dynamics in regions with high settlement and extensive connectivity among populations (Southern GoM).
2) Settlement density of species with planktonic larvae increases from northern to southern regions in accord with regional variation in food availability.
3) Population connectivity varies greatly among regions, with regions differing in the degree to which they are self-seeded or serve as larval sources vs. sinks; self-seeding leads to relatively localized population dynamics in the middle portion of the GoM.
4) Patterns of population connectivity are driven by physical transport processes and can be represented by coupling basic larval behavior models with circulation models.

At 18 different sites in the GoM across ~ 600 km, surveys will evaluate variation in recruitment, food availability and secondary productivity and experiments will assess community processes in wave-exposed and sheltered habitats. We will use hydrographic, current profile, and larval vertical distribution surveys to collect data for coupled larval/circulation models. Population connectivity will be both modeled and empirically evaluated (for one species) using elemental fingerprinting. A spatially explicit metacommunity model will integrate across all project components and test the relative importance of regional and local processes in controlling community organization and dynamics.


DatasetLatest Version DateCurrent State
Passive particle runs, larval movement, sea surface temperature, and velocity videos from Gulf of Maine coastal models from May to September of 20142021-10-06Preliminary and in progress
CTD data from casts before and after larval vertical distribution sampling from R/V C-Hawk day cruises in the Eastern Gulf of Maine from 2012 to 20142019-12-30Final no updates expected
Depth distribution of mussel larvae in eastern Gulf of Maine from R/V C-Hawk day cruises in the Eastern Gulf of Maine from 2012 to 20142019-12-20Final no updates expected
CTD cast log from casts before and after larval vertical distribution sampling from R/V C-Hawk day cruises in the Eastern Gulf of Maine from 2012 to 20142019-12-16Final no updates expected
Elemental fingerprints of larval, juvenile, and settler Mytilus collected in the Gulf of Maine between 2015 and 20172019-12-09Final no updates expected
ADCP transects oriented either across-shelf or along-shelf, from multiple day trips in the coastal waters, Gulf of Maine from 2015-2016 (GOMEPRO project)2017-12-01Final no updates expected
CTD profiles located along transects oriented either across-shelf or along-shelf, from multiple day trips in the coastal waters, Gulf of Maine from 2015-2016 (GOMEPRO project)2017-09-06Final no updates expected
CTD station list from R/V C-HAWK in the coastal waters, Gulf of Maine from 2015-2016 (GOMEPRO project)2017-09-06Final no updates expected
CTD/ADCP transect log from multiple day trips in the coastal waters, Gulf of Maine from 2015-2016 (GOMEPRO project)2017-07-25Final no updates expected
Coordinates and description of rocky intertidal sites in the Rocky intertidal shores and nearshore coastal waters throughout the Gulf of Maine (GOMEPRO project)2016-03-11Final no updates expected

People

Lead Principal Investigator: Geoffrey C. Trussell
Northeastern University

Principal Investigator: Ron J. Etter
University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston)

Principal Investigator: Huijie Xue
University of Maine

Principal Investigator: Philip O. Yund
Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education (DEI)

Co-Principal Investigator: Tarik C. Gouhier
Northeastern University

Co-Principal Investigator: Robyn E. Hannigan
University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB-EEOS)

Contact: Geoffrey C. Trussell
Northeastern University


Data Management Plan

DMP_Trussell_et_al_OCE-1458150_1458188_1458239_1458154.pdf (63.98 KB)
02/09/2025