Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos
Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2022 This dissertation explored multiple facets of functional diversity for epibenthic invertebrate communities of Alaskan Arctic shelves. Functional diversity is the range of organismal traits within a community that determines ecosystem function...
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ftunivalaska:oai:scholarworks.alaska.edu:11122/13131 2023-05-15T14:55:53+02:00 Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos Sutton, Lauren Iken, Katrin Bluhm, Bodil Hauri, Claudine Konar, Brenda Mueter, Franz 2022-12 http://hdl.handle.net/11122/13131 en_US eng http://hdl.handle.net/11122/13131 Department of Marine Biology Benthic ecology Bering Sea Chukchi Sea Beaufort Sea Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Biology Dissertation phd 2022 ftunivalaska 2023-02-23T21:38:03Z Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2022 This dissertation explored multiple facets of functional diversity for epibenthic invertebrate communities of Alaskan Arctic shelves. Functional diversity is the range of organismal traits within a community that determines ecosystem functioning. As a complement to taxonomic diversity, functional diversity reflects what species "do" as opposed to "who" they are, providing information on community-level ecosystem resilience and vulnerability. The Alaskan Arctic marine system is presently changing at an unprecedented rate, which impacts the biomass-rich benthos that is of great importance to upper trophic level fishes, birds, and marine mammals as a food source. In my first chapter, I tested the Biodiversity-Ecosystem-Functioning hypothesis that states ecosystem functioning increases with increasing diversity, using the functional composition of epibenthic communities on the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea shelves as case studies. Functional diversity generally followed taxonomic diversity patterns on both shelves; however, functional composition was more similar between the two shelf systems compared to taxonomic composition. Higher functional diversity on the Beaufort Sea shelf resulted from a more even distribution of functional traits, pointing to stronger resource partitioning and niche complementarity. This, in turn, suggests stronger maintenance of ecosystem function through more efficient nutrient cycling, energy turnover, and recovery from disturbances. In chapter 2, I applied the Community Assembly Theory that assumes species assemble in a non-random way due to a series of biotic and environmental filters using the same Chukchi and Beaufort seas epibenthic communities. Environmental conditions in the Chukchi Sea exerted a stronger environmental filter (i.e., stronger influence of cumulative environmental drivers) on epibenthic functional diversity, especially through gradients in temperature, depth, and mud, compared to weaker depth- and ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Arctic Beaufort Sea Bering Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Alaska University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA Arctic Bering Sea Chukchi Sea Fairbanks |
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University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalaska |
language |
English |
topic |
Benthic ecology Bering Sea Chukchi Sea Beaufort Sea Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Biology |
spellingShingle |
Benthic ecology Bering Sea Chukchi Sea Beaufort Sea Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Biology Sutton, Lauren Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos |
topic_facet |
Benthic ecology Bering Sea Chukchi Sea Beaufort Sea Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Biology |
description |
Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2022 This dissertation explored multiple facets of functional diversity for epibenthic invertebrate communities of Alaskan Arctic shelves. Functional diversity is the range of organismal traits within a community that determines ecosystem functioning. As a complement to taxonomic diversity, functional diversity reflects what species "do" as opposed to "who" they are, providing information on community-level ecosystem resilience and vulnerability. The Alaskan Arctic marine system is presently changing at an unprecedented rate, which impacts the biomass-rich benthos that is of great importance to upper trophic level fishes, birds, and marine mammals as a food source. In my first chapter, I tested the Biodiversity-Ecosystem-Functioning hypothesis that states ecosystem functioning increases with increasing diversity, using the functional composition of epibenthic communities on the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea shelves as case studies. Functional diversity generally followed taxonomic diversity patterns on both shelves; however, functional composition was more similar between the two shelf systems compared to taxonomic composition. Higher functional diversity on the Beaufort Sea shelf resulted from a more even distribution of functional traits, pointing to stronger resource partitioning and niche complementarity. This, in turn, suggests stronger maintenance of ecosystem function through more efficient nutrient cycling, energy turnover, and recovery from disturbances. In chapter 2, I applied the Community Assembly Theory that assumes species assemble in a non-random way due to a series of biotic and environmental filters using the same Chukchi and Beaufort seas epibenthic communities. Environmental conditions in the Chukchi Sea exerted a stronger environmental filter (i.e., stronger influence of cumulative environmental drivers) on epibenthic functional diversity, especially through gradients in temperature, depth, and mud, compared to weaker depth- and ... |
author2 |
Iken, Katrin Bluhm, Bodil Hauri, Claudine Konar, Brenda Mueter, Franz |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Sutton, Lauren |
author_facet |
Sutton, Lauren |
author_sort |
Sutton, Lauren |
title |
Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos |
title_short |
Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos |
title_full |
Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos |
title_fullStr |
Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drivers of functional ecology of the Alaskan Arctic epibenthos |
title_sort |
drivers of functional ecology of the alaskan arctic epibenthos |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/13131 |
geographic |
Arctic Bering Sea Chukchi Sea Fairbanks |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bering Sea Chukchi Sea Fairbanks |
genre |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Bering Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Bering Sea Chukchi Chukchi Sea Alaska |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/13131 Department of Marine Biology |
_version_ |
1766327889812258816 |