NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research – P2P: Predators to Plankton — Biophysical Controls in Antarctic Polynyas

NSFGEO-NERC：合作研究 – P2P：浮游生物的捕食者 – 南极冰间湖的生物物理控制

• 批准号: 2040571
• 负责人: Walker Smith
• 金额: $ 34.44万
• 依托单位: College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2040571&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSFGEO; NERC; Collaborative; Research; P2P; NSFGEO; NERC; Collaborative; Research; P2P

NSFGEO-NERC Collaborative Research: P2P: Predators to Plankton – Biophysical controls in Antarctic polynyasPart I: Non-technical description: The Ross Sea, a globally important ecological hotspot, hosts 25% to 45% of the world populations of Adélie and Emperor penguins, South Polar skuas, Antarctic petrels, and Weddell seals. It is also one of the few marine protected areas within the Southern Ocean, designed to protect the workings of its ecosystem. To achieve conservation requires participation in an international research and monitoring program, and more importantly integration of what is known about penguin as predators and the biological oceanography of their habitat. The project will acquire data on these species’ role within the local food web through assessing of Adélie penguin feeding grounds and food choices, while multi-sensor ocean gliders autonomously quantify prey abundance and distribution as well as ocean properties, including phytoplankton, at the base of the food web. Additionally, satellite imagery will quantify sea ice and whales, known penguin competitors, within the penguins’ foraging area. Experienced and young researchers will be involved in this project, as will a public outreach program that reaches more than 200 school groups per field season, and with an excess of one million visits to a website on penguin ecology. Lessons about ecosystem change, and how it is measured, i.e. the STEM fields, will be emphasized. Results will be distributed to the world scientific and management communities. Part II: Technical description: This project, in collaboration with the United Kingdom (UK) National Environmental Research Council (NERC), assesses food web structure in the southwestern Ross Sea, a major portion of the recently established Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area that has been designed to protect the region’s food web structure, dynamics and function. The in-depth, integrated ecological information collected in this study will contribute to the management of this system. The southwestern Ross Sea, especially the marginal ice zone of the Ross Sea Polynya (RSP), supports global populations of iconic and indicator species: 25% of Emperor penguins, 30% of Adélie penguins, 50% of South Polar skuas, and 45% of Weddell seals. However, while individually well researched, the role of these members as predators has been poorly integrated into understanding of Ross Sea food web dynamics and biogeochemistry. Information from multi-sensor ocean gliders, high-resolution satellite imagery, diet analysis and biologging of penguins, when integrated, will facilitate understanding of the ‘preyscape’ within the intensively investigated biogeochemistry of the RSP. UK collaborators will provide state-of-the-art glider technology, glider programming, ballasting, and operation and expertise to evaluate the oceanographic conditions of the study area. Several young scientists will be involved, as well as an existing outreach program already developed that reaches annually more than 200 K-12 school groups and has more than one million website visits per month.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSFGEO-NERC Collaborative Research: P2P: Predators to Plankton – Biophysical controls in Antarctic polynyasPart I: Non-technical description: The Ross Sea, a globally important ecological hotspot, hosts 25% to 45% of the world populations of Adélie and Emperor penguins, South Polar skuas, Antarctic petrels, and Weddell seals.它也是南大洋内为数不多的海洋保护区之一，旨在保护其生态系统的运作。为了实现保护，需要参与国际研究和监测计划，更重要的是将有关企鹅作为捕食者和栖息地的生物海洋学的整合。该项目将通过评估Adélie企鹅饲养场和食物选择，以获取有关这些物种在当地食品网络中的作用的数据，而多传感器的海洋滑翔机则自主量化了食品网的基础上自主量化猎物丰度和分布以及包括植物学的海洋特性。此外，卫星图像将在企鹅觅食区内量化企鹅竞争对手内的海冰和鲸鱼，即已知的企鹅竞争对手。经验丰富的年轻研究人员将参与该项目，每个实地赛季将达到200多个学校组的公共宣传计划，并且访问了企鹅生态的一百万次访问。将强调有关生态系统变化及其测量方式的经验教训，即茎场。结果将分发给世界科学和管理社区。第二部分：技术说明：该项目与英国（英国）国家环境研究委员会（NERC）合作评估了西南罗斯海的食品网络结构，罗斯海是最近建立的罗斯海地区海洋保护区的主要部分，该地区旨在保护该地区的食品网络结构，动力学，动态和功能。本研究中收集的深入，综合的生态信息将有助于该系统的管理。西南罗斯海，尤其是罗斯海Polynya（RSP）的边际冰区，支持了标志性和指标物种的全球人群：占皇帝企鹅的25％，30％的阿德利企鹅，南极skuas的50％和45％的韦德尔密封件。但是，尽管对个人进行了良好的研究，但这些成员作为掠食者的作用已经很少融合到对罗斯海食品网络动力学和生物地球化学的理解中。来自多传感器海洋滑翔机，高分辨率卫星图像，企鹅的饮食分析和生物生物的信息，将在整合时，将有助于在RSP的深入研究的生物地球化学中了解“捕食”。英国合作者将提供最先进的滑翔机技术，滑翔机编程，压载，运营和专业知识，以评估研究区域的海洋状况。几位年轻的科学家将参与其中，以及已经开发的现有外展计划，该计划每年都能达到超过200 k-12的学校小组，并且每月有超过一百万个网站访问。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来评估的。