Plum Island Ecosystems LTER

普拉姆岛生态系统 LTER

• 批准号: 1058747
• 负责人: Anne Giblin
• 金额: $ 188万
• 依托单位: Marine Biological Laboratory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1058747&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Plum; Island; Ecosystems; LTER

Intellectual Merit: The Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE) LTER is an integrated research, education and outreach program whose goal is to develop a predictive understanding of the long-term response of watershed and estuarine ecosystems at the land-sea interface to changes in climate, land use, and sea level. The principal study site is the Plum Island Sound estuary located in the Acadian biogeographic province in eastern New England. The study sites include the coupled Parker, Rowley, and Ipswich River watersheds, their tidal marshes, and the surrounding ocean of the Gulf of Maine. Land use change and urbanization of coastal watersheds are altering both the magnitude and timing of the flow of materials and water to coastal ecosystems. These changes in flows from land, coupled with climate change and sea level rise, will have important, but still poorly understood consequences for the ways in which materials and energy are transformed in the coastal zone. It will also have important consequences for the people who value these ecosystems for food, recreation, and storm protection. The overarching question of this project addresses the ecological consequences of global change in the coastal zone: How do external drivers, ecosystem dynamics, and human activities interact to shape organic matter and nutrient transformations in linked watershed and coastal ecosystems? This project follows from prior LTER studies of biogeochemistry, food webs, and population biology in the Plum Island watersheds, estuary, and intertidal marshes. In this next phase of PIE LTER research there will be more emphasis on linkages and feedbacks between the component ecosystems, including the human dimension. LTER Researchers will also place a greater emphasis on the role of geomorphology and geomorphic change in ecosystem dynamics. To organize this research the investigators have divided the study into four programmatic areas, each of which addresses an issue critical to answering our overarching question: Q1 Watersheds - How do human alterations of inter-basin material transfers, within-basin ecosystem connectivity, and geomorphology interact with climate to impact ecosystem regulation of water, organic matter, and nutrient fluxes through the watershed to the estuary, and how do these changes feed back to human behaviors that further alter watershed function? Q2 Marsh - Are the relative elevations of salt marshes at PIE in equilibrium with sea level, and if not, what are the consequences for primary production, biogeochemical cycling, and material exchanges between the marsh and estuary? Q3 Estuary - How do human activities and variations in climate that affect the coupling with watersheds, intertidal marshes, and the ocean shape organic matter and nutrient transformations in estuarine tidal creeks and bays? Q4 Higher Trophic Levels - What are the consequences of changes in ecosystem spatial configuration and dynamics for the structure and transfer of productivity in food webs, and for the function of higher trophic levels in estuarine ecosystems? To address these questions LTER Researchers will use a combination of approaches: 1) the collection of long-term data on key ecosystem drivers and ecosystem responses, 2) short and long-term experiments, 3) comparative ecosystems studies, and 4) modeling. All data collected by the PIE LTER will be centralized and easily accessible to PIE-LTER scientists, local, regional and state partners, and the broader scientific community. Broader Impacts: The educational and outreach program at PIE LTER is greatly strengthened through partnerships with local educators and NGOs. LTER personnel will continue to collaborate with Massachusetts Audubon and the Governor's Academy for the LTER schoolyard program, which has brought hands-on science training to students in grades 5-12. "Salt marsh Science" currently serves more than 1000 students and 50 teachers a year. Over the next six years the LTER plans to expand teacher training, and include a focus on environmental stewardship. Undergraduates will be served by intensive research experiences focusing on individual projects under the mentorship of PIE scientists. Both undergraduate and graduate student involvement will increase with the addition of new PIs. PIE will maintain an active outreach program through collaboration with many local and regional NGOs including the Gulf of Maine Institute, Essex County Greenbelt, the Ipswich River Association, and the Parker Clean Water Association. PIE scientists help bring scientific information into policy by serving as advisors to policy makers at the local, state, and national level, a role that continues to grow.

知识分子的优点：梅花岛生态系统（PIE）是一项综合研究，教育和外展计划，其目标是对土地海界面对气候，土地使用和海平面变化的分水岭和河口生态系统的长期反应进行预测理解。主要研究地点是位于新英格兰东部阿卡迪亚生物地理省的梅花岛河口。研究地点包括帕克（Parker），罗利（Rowley）和伊普斯维奇河流域，他们的潮汐沼泽以及缅因州湾周围的海洋。沿海流域的土地使用变化和城市化正在改变材料和水流向沿海生态系统的规模和时机。从陆地流动的这些变化，再加上气候变化和海平面上升，对沿海地区的材料和能源的转化方式仍然很重要，但仍然对后果知之甚少。这也将对这些生态系统珍视食物，娱乐和风暴保护的人们产生重要的影响。该项目的总体问题解决了沿海地区全球变化的生态后果：外部驱动因素，生态系统动态和人类活动如何相互作用，以塑造有机物和沿海生态系统的有机物和营养转化？该项目遵循了先前对梅岛流域，河口和潮间带的生物地球化学，食物网和人口生物学的研究。 在下一阶段的pie lter研究中，将更多地强调组件生态系统（包括人类维度）之间的联系和反馈。研究人员还将更加重视生态系统动力学中的地貌和地貌变化的作用。为了组织这项研究，研究人员将研究分为四个程序化领域，每个区域都解决了回答我们总体问题至关重要的问题：Q1分水岭 - 如何对巴丁蛋白间材料的人类变化，basin Interfors转移，Basin生态系统内部的连接性，以及与气候相互作用的景点，以及对生态系统的效果的影响。变化反馈到进一步改变分水岭功能的人类行为？ Q2沼泽 - 在馅饼平衡与海平面平衡的盐沼泽相对升高，如果没有，对初级生产，生物地球化学循环以及沼泽和河口之间的材料交换的后果是什么？ Q3河口 - 人类活动和气候的变化如何影响与流域，潮间带沼泽以及海洋形状的有机物和养分转化的气候变化？ Q4较高的营养水平 - 生态系统空间配置和动态变化的后果是什么，食物网中生产力的结构和转移以及河口生态系统中较高营养水平的功能有什么影响？为了解决这些问题，研究人员将使用方法的组合：1）收集有关关键生态系统驱动因素和生态系统响应的长期数据，2）短期和长期实验，3）比较生态系统研究以及4）建模。 PIE批量收集的所有数据将是集中的，并且易于使用Pie-ter的科学家，地方，地区和州伙伴以及更广泛的科学界访问。更广泛的影响：通过与当地教育者和非政府组织的伙伴关系，PIE LTER的教育和外展计划得到了极大的增强。 LTER人员将继续与马萨诸塞州奥杜邦（Audubon）和州长学院的LTER Schoolyard计划合作，该计划为5 - 12年级的学生带来了动手科学培训。 “盐沼科”目前每年为1000多名学生和50名教师提供服务。在接下来的六年中，LTER计划扩大教师培训，并关注环境管理。本科生将通过重点研究经验来为派派科学家的指导下的各个项目提供服务。新本科和研究生的参与将随着新PI的增加而增加。 PIE将通过与许多当地和地区非政府组织的合作来维护一项积极的外展计划，包括缅因州湾研究所，埃塞克斯郡格林贝尔特，伊普斯维奇河协会和帕克清洁水协会。 PIE科学家通过担任当地，州和国家一级的政策制定者的顾问来帮助将科学信息纳入政策，这一角色持续不断发展。