NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Developing Blue Economy from Micro to Macro-Scale in Kelp Aquaculture

NSF 融合加速器轨道 E：海带水产养殖从微观到宏观发展蓝色经济

• 批准号: 2137903
• 负责人: Matthew Edwards
• 金额: $ 55.76万
• 依托单位: San Diego State University Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2137903&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Convergence; Accelerator; Track; Developing

The need for aquaculture expansion in the United States is well recognized as a means of stimulatingcoastal economies, securing seafood supplies, restoring damaged ecosystems, and generating innovativesolutions to our global climate issues. Seaweed aquaculture is experiencing a global boom and is nowconsidered one of the fastest growing marine industries in the Northeastern US. The combination of thesefarming economies has the potential to bolster economic growth and play a key role in our climatesolution. This project will bring together a wide-ranging team of scientific investigators, tribal groups, and kelp farmers to explore ways to enhance seaweed farming along the west coast of the USA. The project team will explore the role of microbial communities and their gene functions in promoting seaweed health, and nutritional and industrial quality, The ultimate goal is to determine whether these microbiomes can play a crucial role in expanding seaweed aquaculture. The role of seaweed genetics is being increasingly appreciated in the field of seaweed farming and restoration efforts, especially as the oceans warm. The team will convene several in-person and on-line meetings with team members in California and Alaska, travel to seaweed farms to train farmers in microbial sampling techniques, and ultimately build a “Guide for best Practices” for seaweed farming that can be used by this expanding sector. The overarching goal is to provide a framework to enhance Blue Economy and habitat restoration efforts along the west coast. This collaborative project focuses on the understudied, yet critically important microbial communities associated with seaweed farms throughout the west coast of North America, the microbiome. The project goal is to elucidate which species are present and what their functions in kelp farming are. Specifically, the project team seeks to answer the following questions: what the role of each microbial species is; what interactions occur among species and with their host in the microbial environment; and how do microbes change in the environment. This project will improve understanding of spatial and temporal variation in seaweed microbial communities at taxonomic and functional metabolism levels throughout the west coast, correlating this knowledge with kelp health and chemical composition. This will provide better information for the kelp aquaculture industry concerning best practices for farm management and ecosystem restoration, optimal farm designs and site locations, and approaches for increasing desirable attributes associated with seaweed aquaculture (polysaccharide and alginate production, carbohydrate and lipid production, heat shock resistance and overall biomass production yields). Educational outreach activities will train and inform students and the public. Project results will be incorporated with existing K-12 outreach activities at the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory and San Diego State University. Social media will be used to highlight research discoveries, including a dedicated project web page and corresponding blog posts, which will allow this research to reach a diverse range of people differing in age, class, race, etc. Ultimately, a Guide to Best Practices will be generated to teach seaweed farmers how to sample microbiomes, and how to incorporate this knowledge into their farm designs to enhance Blue Economy activities and habitat restoration from Alaska to California.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.

美国对水产养殖扩张的需求被广泛认为是刺激沿海经济，确保海鲜供应，恢复受损的生态系统并为我们的全球气候问题带来创新解决方案的一种手段。海藻水产养殖正在经历全球繁荣，现在是美国东北部发展最快的海洋工业之一。这些企业经济的结合有潜力加强经济增长并在我们的气候下发挥关键作用。该项目将汇集一个由科学研究人员，部落团体和海带农民组成的大型团队，以探索加强美国西海岸的海藻耕种的方法。该项目团队将探讨微生物群落及其基因功能在促进海藻健康以及营养和工业质量中的作用，最终目标是确定这些微生物组是否在扩大海藻水产养殖方面是否起着至关重要的作用。海藻遗传学的作用在海藻种植和恢复工作领域受到人们的赞赏，尤其是在海洋温暖的情况下。该团队将与加利福尼亚州和阿拉斯加的团队成员进行几次面对面和在线会议，前往海藻农场培训农民采用微生物抽样技术，并最终建立“最佳实践指南”，以用于海藻耕作，该养殖行业可以使用该领域。总体目标是提供一个框架，以增强西海岸沿线的蓝色经济和栖息地恢复工作。这个合作项目的重点是与北美西海岸微生物组的知识但至关重要的微生物群落。项目目标是阐明存在哪些物种以及它们在海带耕作中的功能是什么。具体而言，项目团队试图回答以下问题：每个微生物物种的作用是什么？物种之间及其宿主在微生物环境中发生了什么相互作用；微生物如何改变环境。该项目将提高对西海岸分类学和功能代谢水平的海藻微生物群落的空间和临时变化的了解，从而将这些知识与海带健康和化学成分相关。这将为海带水产养殖行业提供更好的信息，涉及农场管理和生态系统修复，最佳农场设计和现场位置，以及增加与海藻水产养殖相关的理想属性（多糖和藻酸盐生产，碳氢化，碳氢化和脂质产量，脂质产生，热抗震动性和总生产产量））。教育外展活动将培训并告知学生和公众。项目结果将与Kasitsna湾实验室和圣地亚哥州立大学的现有K-12外展活动一起纳入。社交媒体将用于强调研究发现，包括专门的项目网页和相应的博客文章，这将使这项研究能够达到各种不同年龄，阶级，种族等不同的人范围。最终，将生成一份最佳实践指南，以教导海藻农民如何教授海藻农民如何采样微生物组，以及如何将这种知识纳入他们的农场蓝色的蓝色经济上的熟悉型蓝色的蓝色疗法。法定使命，并通过评估诚实地认为，使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。