MCA: Environmental Drivers of Snow Algae Bloom Dynamics, Physiology, and Life-Cycles

MCA：雪藻大量繁殖的环境驱动因素、生理学和生命周期

• 批准号: 2222220
• 负责人: Robin Kodner
• 金额: $ 24.84万
• 依托单位: Western Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222220&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MCA; Environmental; Drivers; Snow; Algae

Snow algae, a group of photosynthetic microorganisms that are adapted to live in frozen habitats, are the major group of primary producers in alpine and polar snow ecosystems. These organisms have complex life cycles intimately connected to environmental conditions and seasonal habitat transformations. When snow algae bloom on the top of snow, their high biomass darkens snowfields due to red-colored protective pigments produced inside the algal cells. Snow algae blooms increase melting of snow and glaciers, promoting more growth due to the availability of liquid water, and resulting in a positive feedback loop. Despite their ecological importance, we still do not know how blooms form. This project is studying the dynamics of snow algae blooms by addressing the relationships between snow algae physiology, growth and reproduction, and their environment using field and laboratory-based experiments. This research is also providing a primarily undergraduate institution with a new, powerful instrument for simultaneously measuring photosynthesis and carbon fixation in algae that can be used in the field and facilitate field-based experiments. The results of this study build capacity for further studies that will help predict snow algal environment-biology interactions into the future.The connection between snow algal bloom dynamics, life cycle, and environmental conditions represents an opportunity to study ecosystem responses to climate warming in a tractable system. This project lays the foundation for characterizing the fundamentals of carbon fixation and primary productivity in snow algal blooms. It also increases our understanding of the fundamental role that snow algae physiology plays in the growth and reproduction of snow algae across life stages adapted to different habitats. The proposed field and laboratory methods will allow the development of an experimental design to simultaneously measure habitat conditions, primary productivity, and carbon fixation in natural populations and serves as a launch point for future studies and continued collaboration. The snow algal system presents an opportunity to study the evolution of climate-ecosystem feedbacks in environments threatened by significant habitat loss over the next century.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.

雪藻是一组适合居住在冷冻栖息地的光合微生物，是高山和极性雪生态系统中主要生产者的主要生产者。这些生物具有复杂的生命周期，与环境条件和季节性栖息地转化密切相关。当雪藻在雪的顶部开花时，由于藻类细胞内部产生的红色保护性色素，它们的高生物质会使雪地变暗。雪藻花增加了雪和冰川的融化，由于液态水的可用性而促进了更多的生长，并导致了积极的反馈回路。尽管它们的生态重要性，但我们仍然不知道开花的形式。该项目正在通过使用基于现场和实验室的实验来解决雪藻类开花的动力学盛开的动力。 这项研究还提供了一个主要的本科机构，并提供了一种新的，有力的工具，用于同时测量藻类的光合作用和碳固定，可用于现场并促进基于现场的实验。这项研究的结果为进一步的研究增强了能力，这将有助于预测雪地藻环境生物生物学与未来的相互作用。雪藻花朵动态，生命周期和环境条件之间的联系代表了研究生态系统对气候变暖的生态系统反应的机会。该项目奠定了表征降雪藻类开花中碳固定基础和主要生产力的基础。这也增加了我们对雪藻生理学在跨生活阶段的雪藻生长和繁殖中发挥的基本作用的理解。拟议的现场和实验室方法将允许开发实验设计，以同时测量自然人群中的栖息地条件，主要生产力和碳固定，并作为未来研究和持续协作的发射点。雪藻系统提供了一个机会，可以在下一个世纪中研究气候生态系统反馈的演变。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的评估标准来评估的。