Collaborative Research: The Ecological Drill Hypothesis: Biotic Control on Carbonate Dissolution in a Low Relief Patterned Landscape

合作研究：生态钻假说：低地势图案景观中碳酸盐溶解的生物控制

• 批准号: 1354783
• 负责人: Matthew Cohen
• 金额: $ 59.91万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-05-15 至 2019-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1354783&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Ecological; Drill; Hypothesis

Biological processes play an important but under-appreciated role in shaping the land. Indeed, in some places, plants and animals are the most important factors controlling variation in topography and thus patterns of habitats and hydrology on the land surface. This work explores the role of biology in shaping the land surface in Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY), a complex and beautiful mosaic of cypress wetlands, pine uplands and deep water sloughs in southwest Florida. BICY is a karst landscape, where limestone bedrock is present at the land surface. While the landscape is almost perfectly flat, small wetland depressions carved into the limestone rock are crucially important for storing water and thus providing habitat for a wide array of plants and animals. The origin of these wetland depressions is unknown. This research will determine if these depressions, and their remarkably regular spacing on the landscape, are created by biological processes that naturally occur in wetlands that accelerate the rate at which limestone dissolves. This creates the tantalizing possibility that the organisms populating these wetlands are slowly creating their own habitat by initiating and expanding topographic depressions. The research team consists of scientists across a variety of disciplines, including hydrologists, geologists, biologists and modelers, creating the type of collaborative integration required to answer these types of research questions. Combining satellite and airborne data with detailed field measurements will allow the team to address how and how fast these depressions form, what that means for regional water flow and water quality, and how the topography and resulting patterns of habitats on the land surface were created.This work contributes to an understanding of how ecological and geological processes work together to shape the land surface. The central idea that patterns on the earth's surface arise spontaneously from interactions between plants and animals, on one hand, and rocks and water on the other, is a reminder of the strong and sometimes surprising links that exist in ecosystems. In this case, wetland ecosystems are thought to change the shape of the land over thousands of years by dissolving rock. This type of insight will contribute to understanding the origins of this landscape, which supports a remarkable array of organisms and habitats. It will also improve understanding of hydrologic characteristics, and the impact of water movements on the greater South Florida system, including important elements of the Everglades. Moreover, this work will help predict how ecosystem and biological processes may change as this very low altitude landscape is altered by sea-level rise. Finally, the impacts of this work extend beyond south Florida because the project will contribute to an understanding of how karst landscapes form (20% of the earth's land surface) and how small geographically-isolated wetlands interact with their surroundings, a topic relevant to federal wetland protections. A partnership with scientists within the National Park Service has been established to help communicate the results of the work, and the researchers will lead tours that allow the public to appreciate the subtleties of this captivating landscape. The student participants will be exposed to a wide variety of disciplines and approaches, which is integral to training to address the complex questions and challenges society faces.

生物过程在塑造土地中起着重要但被低估的作用。 确实，在某些地方，动植物是控制地形变化的最重要因素，因此是陆地表面上栖息地和水文学的模式。 这项工作探讨了生物学在大柏树国家保护区（Big Cypress National Preserve）（骑自行车）中的作用，这是柏树湿地的复杂而美丽的马赛克，在佛罗里达州西南部的柏树湿地，松树高地和深水道。 骑自行车是喀斯特的景观，在地面上存在石灰石基岩。 虽然景观几乎完全平坦，但雕刻到石灰石岩石中的小湿地凹陷对于存储水至关重要，从而为各种植物和动物提供了栖息地。 这些湿地凹陷的起源尚不清楚。 这项研究将确定这些凹陷及其在景观上的固定间距是否是由自然发生在湿地中的生物过程创建的，这些过程会加速湿地加速石灰岩溶解的速度。 这创造了诱人的可能性，即填充这些湿地的生物正在通过启动和扩大地形凹陷来慢慢创造自己的栖息地。 研究团队由各个学科的科学家组成，包括水文学家，地质学家，生物学家和建模者，创建了回答这些类型的研究问题所需的协作整合类型。将卫星和机载数据与详细的现场测量结合在一起，将使团队能够解决这些凹陷的形成速度，对区域水流和水质的速度以及如何创建地形和所产生的栖息地模式的含义。这项工作有助于了解生态和地质过程如何共同塑造土地表面。 地球表面上的模式是由动植物在动植物之间自发产生的，另一方面是岩石和水的相互作用，这使人们想起了生态系统中存在的牢固，有时令人惊讶的联系。 在这种情况下，湿地生态系统被认为可以通过溶解岩石来改变数千年来的土地形状。 这种洞察力将有助于理解这种景观的起源，从而支持一系列有机体和栖息地。 它还将提高人们对水文特征的理解，以及水运动对大南佛罗里达系统的影响，包括大沼泽地的重要元素。 此外，这项工作将有助于预测生态系统和生物过程如何变化，因为这种非常低的海拔景观会因海平面上升而改变。 最后，这项工作的影响范围超出了佛罗里达州南部，因为该项目将有助于理解喀斯特景观的形成方式（占地球地面的20％），以及小地理上分离的湿地如何与周围环境相互作用，这是与联邦湿地保护相关的话题。 已经建立了与国家公园管理局内部的科学家建立合作伙伴关系，以帮助传达工作结果，研究人员将领导游览，使公众能够欣赏这一迷人景观的微妙之处。 学生参与者将接触到各种各样的学科和方法，这对于解决社会面临的复杂问题和挑战而言是不可或缺的。