International Research Experience for Students (IRES): Climate Change and Threatened Salmonid Fishes in Northern Mongolia

学生国际研究经验（IRES）：气候变化和蒙古北部受威胁的鲑鱼

• 批准号: 1064843
• 负责人: Olaf Jensen
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Rutgers University New Brunswick
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-04-01 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1064843&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: International; Research; Experience; Students; IRES

Understanding the impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems requires disentangling the web of direct and indirect climate effects from other anthropogenic changes. There are very few undisturbed lakes and rivers in the world in which this might be possible. The Lake Hovsgol - Eg River system is one of them. This project team will bring a small group of U.S. graduate and undergraduate students to Lake Hovsgol (the 17th largest lake in the world by volume) and the Eg River (Lake Hovsgol's only outflow) to conduct ecological research with a focus on effects of climate change on threatened salmonid fishes. Specific projects include: (1) using tagging and genetics to understand spawning site fidelity and population structure; (2) diet and stable isotope studies to characterize the current food web compared to historical conditions; (3) developing a novel non-invasive photo markrecapture technique for estimating growth of taimen; (4) bioenergetic studies of threatened salmonids to understand their physiological responses to warming; (5) developing water and nutrient budgets to understand the effects of changing inputs from tributary streams into Lake Hovsgol; and (6) a variety of limnological and fish community sampling to understand long-term change and inter-annual variability. Students will be paired with a mentor from among the 13 U.S. project collaborators, most of whom have already conducted research in the Lake Hovsgol - Eg River ecosystem. Students' prepartion will include plans for sample processing, data analysis, and manuscript writing to be completed upon their return from the field. Two U.S. mentors (rotating) and a Mongolian mentor will accompany students and supervise the field research.Broader Impacts of this project include: (1) improving the knowledge base for management of aquatic ecosystems and threatened fishes in Mongolia and in other high latitude temperate environments; (2) providing an international research experience early in the academic careers of the student participants and extending their professional networks by working with project collaborators (11 institutions in 10 states in addition to our Mongolian collaborator); (3) engaging students in independent research projects (the majority of which should be publishable on their own) that also contribute to the broader goal of understanding how salmonid fishes respond to climate change in an otherwise nearly undisturbed system.

了解气候变化对水生生态系统的影响需要将直接和间接的气候影响与其他人为变化联系起来。世界上很少有未受干扰的湖泊和河流可以实现这一点。霍夫苏古尔湖-埃格河水系就是其中之一。 该项目团队将带领一小群美国研究生和本科生前往霍夫苏古尔湖（按体积计算，世界第 17 大湖泊）和埃格河（霍夫苏古尔湖唯一的出水口）进行生态研究，重点关注气候变化的影响受威胁的鲑鱼。具体项目包括：（1）利用标记和遗传学来了解产卵地保真度和种群结构； (2) 饮食和稳定同位素研究，以与历史条件相比描述当前食物网的特征； (3) 开发一种新颖的非侵入性照片标记重新捕获技术来估计哲罗鱼的生长； (4) 对受威胁的鲑鱼进行生物能研究，以了解它们对变暖的生理反应； (5) 制定水和养分预算，以了解流入霍夫苏古尔湖支流的投入变化的影响； (6) 各种湖泊学和鱼类群落采样，以了解长期变化和年际变化。学生将与来自 13 个美国项目合作者的导师配对，其中大多数人已经在 Hovsgol 湖 - Eg 河生态系统中进行过研究。学生的准备工作将包括样品处理、数据分析和从现场返回后完成的手稿撰写计划。两名美国导师（轮流）和一名蒙古导师将陪同学生并监督实地研究。该项目的更广泛影响包括：（1）改善蒙古和其他高纬度温带环境的水生生态系统和受威胁鱼类管理的知识库; (2) 在学生参与者的学术生涯早期提供国际研究经验，并通过与项目合作者（除我们的蒙古合作者外，10 个州的 11 个机构）合作扩展他们的专业网络； (3) 让学生参与独立研究项目（其中大部分应该可以自己发表），这些项目也有助于实现更广泛的目标，即了解鲑鱼如何在几乎不受干扰的系统中应对气候变化。