Collaborative Research: Terrestrial Linkages to Microbial and Metazoan Communities in Coastal Ecosystems of the Beaufort Sea

合作研究：波弗特海沿海生态系统中微生物和后生动物群落的陆地联系

• 批准号: 1023465
• 负责人: Byron Crump
• 金额: $ 27.62万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1023465&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Terrestrial; Linkages; Microbial

Coastal ecosystems of the Arctic receive extraordinarily large quantities of terrestrial organic matter through river discharge and shoreline erosion. The fate of this organic matter is of local interest as it relates to biological production in the coastal ocean. It is also of broader interest with respect to global biogeochemical cycling. The prevailing paradigm is that terrestrial organic matter inputs to the Arctic Ocean are highly recalcitrant. However, most studies supporting this paradigm have been conducted during mid- to late- summer. This effort is based on the premise that terrestrial organic matter, in both dissolved and particulate form, provides an important carbon and energy subsidy that supports and maintains heterotrophic activity and food webs in coastal waters during much of the year. The work will focus on a set of 12 field sites along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast, in the vicinity of Barter Island and the Inupiaq village of Kaktovik. Comparisons among sites ranging from lagoons to open coastal systems that receive differing amounts of freshwater runoff and also differ markedly in their exchange characteristics with shelf waters will be used to examine linkages between biological communities and organic matter inputs from land. Examining these linkages will help determine how seasonally distinct terrestrial inputs of water and organic matter influence microbial and metazoan communities in coastal waters of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Researchers will address this question thorough a seasonally explicit sampling program that includes field trips during the 9-month ice covered period as well as summer. Measurements of water and sediment chemistry, benthic and water column community characteristics, and natural abundance isotopic tracers will be used to evaluate the importance of terrestrial inputs under different hydrologic/hydrographic conditions. Understanding the fate of terrestrial carbon in arctic coastal waters is especially important now, as the arctic system enters a period of rapid climatic change. Changes in terrestrial organic matter export could influence total production as well as the relative roles of autotrophy and heterotrophy in arctic coastal waters. Such shifts have consequences for local human populations that use coastal food webs for subsistence and for the broad scientific community interested in land-sea coupling. This work focuses on fundamental questions about the fate of terrestrial organic matter in arctic coastal waters that must be answered before we can effectively consider future changes in land-sea coupling in the Arctic. This collaborative project will support the dissertation research of two graduate students and two post-doctoral associates and also continue a very successful K-12 outreach program, entitled ?Climate Change in the Arctic: An Interactive Program Linking Scientists with K-12 Students? that includes the establishment of a summer field science program for native Kaktovik K-12 students. The Village Council has expressed keen enthusiasm to involve middle school students in hands-on science activities that can be provided in conjunction with teachers from the Kaktovik school district.

北极沿海生态系统通过河流排放和海岸线侵蚀接收了大量的陆地有机物。这种有机物的命运关系到当地的利益，因为它与沿海海洋的生物生产有关。全球生物地球化学循环也引起了更广泛的兴趣。普遍的范式是，陆地有机物输入北冰洋的行为是高度顽固的。然而，大多数支持这一范式的研究都是在夏中至夏末进行的。这项工作的前提是，溶解和颗粒形式的陆地有机物提供了重要的碳和能源补贴，在一年中的大部分时间里支持和维持沿海水域的异养活动和食物网。这项工作将重点关注阿拉斯加波弗特海沿岸的 12 个现场，位于巴特岛和卡克托维克因努皮克村附近。从泻湖到开放的沿海系统等不同地点的比较，这些系统接收不同数量的淡水径流，并且与陆架水域的交换特性也显着不同，将用于研究生物群落与陆地有机物质输入之间的联系。检查这些联系将有助于确定季节性不同的陆地水和有机物输入如何影响阿拉斯加波弗特海沿海水域的微生物和后生动物群落。研究人员将通过一个季节性明确的采样计划来解决这个问题，其中包括在 9 个月的冰雪覆盖期间以及夏季进行实地考察。水和沉积物化学、底栖和水柱群落特征以及自然丰度同位素示踪剂的测量将用于评估不同水文/水文条件下陆地输入的重要性。随着北极系统进入气候快速变化的时期，了解北极沿海水域陆地碳的命运尤其重要。陆地有机质输出的变化可能会影响北极沿海水域的总产量以及自养和异养的相对作用。这种转变对利用沿海食物网维持生计的当地人口以及对陆海耦合感兴趣的广大科学界产生了影响。这项工作的重点是有关北极沿海水域陆地有机物命运的基本问题，在我们有效考虑北极陆海耦合的未来变化之前必须回答这些问题。该合作项目将支持两名研究生和两名博士后的论文研究，并继续一项非常成功的 K-12 外展计划，题为“北极气候变化：将科学家与 K-12 学生联系起来的互动计划”。其中包括为 Kaktovik 本地 K-12 学生建立夏季实地科学项目。村委会表示热衷于让中学生参与可与卡克托维克学区的教师一起提供的实践科学活动。