RAPID collaborative research: Historic freshwater input and hypoxia effects on zooplankton populations of the northern Gulf of Mexico

RAPID 合作研究：历史淡水输入和缺氧对墨西哥湾北部浮游动物种群的影响

• 批准号: 1144670
• 负责人: James Pierson
• 金额: $ 8.93万
• 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: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-01 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1144670&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; collaborative; research; Historic; freshwater

Since 2003 the PIs have conducted 5 summer cruises in the northern Gulf of Mexico using high-resolution sampling to define the spatially-explicit relationships between physical structure, hypoxia and pelagic zooplankton distributions. After the Deepwater Horizon spill, the PIs received a NSF Rapid Response grant to measure zooplankton community composition and abundance in the same spatial domain as the previous 5 cruises. They now have one of the most comprehensive, synoptic data sets on temperature, salinity, oxygen, phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Synthetic products from these efforts include biomass size spectrum models which have been used to assess anthropogenic effects on planktonic and fish food-webs; the species composition of phytoplankton, microzooplankton, mesozooplankton, and fish; fish diet data; and fish growth potential models to quantitatively assess fish habitat requirements based on food availability and physical conditions. For the past several months and continuing into summer 2011, the amount of freshwater delivery to the Gulf has been of historic proportions, creating the largest stratified and hypoxic water column seen in a century (http://www.cop.noaa.gov/gulf_hypoxia_forecast/). Earlier studies by the PIs in Chesapeake Bay suggest that vertical extent of hypoxia (% water column) may be the main factor causing shifts in both location and size distribution of zooplankton. Change in the vertical structure of zooplankton populations directly impacts trophic transfer to fish, since they are more tolerant of low oxygen than their zooplanktivorous predators. The PIs propose to take advantage of a planned survey cruise to collect and analyze zooplankton in the study area (LA-TX shelf) from 25 July to 2 August. Intellectual Merit: The impact of hypoxia on benthic organisms has been well-studied and the impacts are largely understood. Pelagic organisms, such as zooplankton, present a more difficult problem as they are able to use behavior to avoid hypoxic waters and this behavior is tightly related to the hypoxia tolerance of individual species. Hypoxia results in water columns that are biologically stratified, causing as yet unquantified impacts on trophic transfer. The PIs' prior work provides a high-resolution, spatially explicit database to compare with the anticipated hypoxia of 2011 and address specific hypotheses about these effects. Broader Impacts : Given the economic importance of the Gulf of Mexico commercial fisheries (about 20% of the U.S. total landings representing about $991 million) and recreational fishing (generating ~30% of the nation?s saltwater fishing expenditures and supporting nearly 25% of the nation?s recreational saltwater jobs). The Horn Point Laboratory is part of the National Science Foundation's Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (NSF-COSEE) and Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. Where possible in this NSF RAPID response grant, the PIs will involve REU undergraduate students and teachers in their research. All data will be submitted to the BCO-DMO database in a timely manner so they will be available to the larger scientific community.

自2003年以来，PIS在墨西哥北部进行了5次夏季巡游，使用高分辨率抽样来定义物理结构，缺氧和Pelagic Zooplankton分布之间的空间解释关系。在深水地平线泄漏之后，PI获得了NSF快速响应赠款，以测量与前5个巡游相同的空间域中的浮游动物社区组成和丰度。现在，他们拥有墨西哥北部海湾的温度，盐度，氧气，浮游植物，浮游植物，浮游植物，浮游植物，浮游植物，浮游植物，氧气，氧气，浮游植物的最全面数据之一。这些努力的合成产品包括用于评估浮游生物和鱼类食品量的人为作用的生物量尺寸谱模型；浮游植物，Microzooplankton，Mesozooplankton和Fish的物种组成；鱼饮食数据；和鱼生长潜在模型，以基于食物的可用性和物理状况来定量评估鱼类栖息地的需求。在过去的几个月中，一直持续到2011年夏季，向海湾的淡水提供的数量是历史性的，创造了一个世纪以来最大的分层和低氧水柱（http://wwwwww.cop.noaa.gov/gulf_hypoxia_forecast/）。 PIS在切萨皮克湾的早期研究表明，缺氧的垂直程度（％水柱）可能是导致浮游动物位置和尺寸分布的转移的主要因素。 浮游动物种群的垂直结构的变化直接影响了对鱼的营养转移，因为它们比浮游动物较低的氧气更耐用。 PIS提议利用计划的调查巡游，从7月25日至8月2日在研究区（LA-TX货架）收集和分析浮游动物。智力优点：缺氧对底栖生物的影响得到了充分研究，并且在很大程度上了解了影响。浮游生物（例如浮游生物）提出了一个更困难的问题，因为它们能够使用行为避免过度的水，并且这种行为与单个物种的低氧耐受性密切相关。缺氧导致水柱在生物学上分层，从而导致对营养转移的影响尚未产生影响。 PIS的先前工作提供了一个高分辨率，显式的数据库，可与2011年预期的缺氧相比，并解决有关这些影响的特定假设。更广泛的影响：鉴于墨西哥湾商业渔业的经济重要性（约20％的美国总降落约为9.91亿美元）和休闲捕鱼（造成了全国约30％的盐水捕鱼支出，并支持全国近25％的娱乐盐水工作）。 Horn Point实验室是国家科学基金会海洋科学教育卓越中心（NSF-Cosee）的一部分，也是本科生（REU）计划的经验。在NSF快速响应赠款中，PIS将涉及REU本科生和老师的研究。所有数据将及时提交给BCO-DMO数据库，以便它们可以向更大的科学界使用。