Collaborative Research: Ecosystems on the Edge - Tidal wetland-estuary margins as buffers, reactors, and transformers of organic carbon and nitrogen

合作研究：边缘生态系统 - 潮汐湿地-河口边缘作为有机碳和氮的缓冲区、反应器和转换器

• 批准号: 1556556
• 负责人: Maria Tzortziou
• 金额: $ 54.42万
• 依托单位: CUNY City College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-04-01 至 2022-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1556556&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Ecosystems; Edge; Tidal

Tidal wetlands are among the most productive, diverse and economically important ecosystems on Earth. They are also especially vulnerable to human pressures and environmental change. Wetlands contain large reservoirs of soil organic matter, an important source of carbon and nitrogen to estuaries and coastal oceans, but very little is known about the processes involved in the translocation of these nutrients. This project will advance understanding of tidal marsh-estuarine interactions by linking processes between tidal wetland soils and estuaries, and assessing where, when, and how dissolved organic compounds are retained, released and transformed within the marsh soil-estuarine system. Results from this study will be integrated into enhanced monitoring and management efforts through partnerships with the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. The project will improve models that predict the influence of wetlands on estuarine and coastal biology, geochemistry and pollution response. In collaboration with the Smithsonian Citizen Science program and teachers from middle schools serving minority students, the team will develop K-12 educational materials. Specialized training will be extended to undergraduate students, as well as graduate and postdoctoral researchers, with a particular focus on underrepresented groups in science. This study will test three key research hypotheses that are critical for understanding the role of marsh soils and tidal wetland-estuary margins as buffers, reactors, and transformers of dissolved organic C and N, and that could transform our ability to predict the influence of wetland ecosystems on estuarine biology, biogeochemistry, and ecology. An integrative approach will be used to test hypotheses that combines rich datasets, process-focused experiments, and a novel coupled hydrodynamic-photo-biogeochemical model to investigate three understudied aspects of marsh export that likely control the seasonality and fate of dissolved organic matter in estuaries: (i) soil and porewater organic matter composition, (ii) adsorption-desorption on soil surfaces, and iii) photo- and bio- degradation in estuarine waters. Proposed activities incorporate a system perspective and cover a broad range of marsh environments (i.e., different marsh vegetation characteristics, soil type, surface area and salinity regimes) providing the ability to scale up and assess tidal marsh biogeochemical fluxes and processes across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Results from this research will increase understanding of the contributions of wetlands and estuarine systems to coastal carbon and nitrogen budgets, and improve predictions of the influences of natural and man-made stresses on ecosystem processes, biogeochemical cycles and exchanges along the continuum of wetlands, estuaries and the coastal zone. This information is highly valuable to managing the coastal zone in the face of accelerated environmental change and continued human pressures and, in particular, to evaluating the potential for managed restoration of wetlands to mitigate climate change impacts.

潮汐湿地是地球上生产力最高，多样性和经济上重要的生态系统之一。 它们也尤其容易受到人类压力和环境变化的影响。湿地中包含大量土壤有机物的水库，这是河口和沿海海洋的碳和氮的重要来源，但对于这些营养素易位的过程知之甚少。该项目将通过将潮汐湿地土壤和河口之间的过程联系起来，并评估如何在沼泽土壤中的沼泽土壤中保留，释放和转化如何保留，何时以及如何在何处，何时以及如何在何处，何时何地，何时以及如何在何处，何时以及如何评估潮汐沼泽 - 休息区的相互作用。这项研究的结果将通过与环境保护署，国家海洋和大气管理局以及国家河口研究储备系统的合作伙伴关系纳入增强的监测和管理工作。该项目将改善预测湿地对河口和沿海生物学，地球化学和污染反应的影响的模型。 与Smithsonian Citizen Science计划和为少数民族学生提供服务的老师合作，​​该团队将开发K-12教育材料。 专业培训将扩展到本科生以及研究生和博士后研究人员，特别关注科学中代表性不足的群体。这项研究将检验三个关键的研究假设，这些假设对于理解沼泽土壤和潮汐湿地边缘的作用至关重要，作为溶解有机C和N的缓冲，反应堆和变压器，这可能会改变我们预测湿地影响的能力。河口生物学，生物地球化学和生态学生态系统。一种综合方法将用于测试结合丰富数据集，以过程为中心的实验以及一种新型耦合的流体动力学生物地球化学模型的假设：（i）土壤和孔隙水有机物组成，（ii）土壤表面上的吸附解析以及iii）河口水中的光 - 和生物降解。拟议的活动包含了系统的视角，并涵盖了广泛的沼泽环境（即不同的沼泽植被特征，土壤类型，表面积和盐度制度），可提供扩展和评估潮汐沼泽生物地球化学的范围和跨空间的过程的能力和时间尺度。 这项研究的结果将增加对湿地和河口系统对沿海碳和氮预算的贡献的了解，并改善对自然和人造压力对生态系统过程的影响的预测和沿海地区。这些信息对于面对加速的环境变化并持续的人类压力，尤其是评估管理湿地恢复湿地以减轻气候变化影响的潜力，这些信息对于管理沿海地区非常有价值。