Collaborative Research: THE BENTHIC MICROALGAL SUBSIDY IN ESTUARINE ECOSYSTEMS

合作研究：河口生态系统中的底栖微藻补贴

• 批准号: 2241831
• 负责人: Craig Plante
• 金额: $ 15.92万
• 依托单位: College of Charleston
• 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: 2023-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241831&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; BENTHIC; MICROALGAL; SUBSIDY

Estuaries are nurseries that are critical habitat for many commercially and recreationally important species. The base of the food web in these systems is supplied by microalgal primary production in both the water column (phytoplankton) and the sediments (benthic microalgae). This project focuses on quantifying the contribution of benthic microalgae to total ecosystem primary production in the North Inlet Estuary, SC. Benthic microalgal production estimates along an elevational gradient (low to high tide region) are then used to assess responses to the impending sea level rise. The results have implications for wetlands valuation, carbon credits, trophodynamics, and carbon storage in estuarine ecosystems. This research is transformative in that it provides the first ever comprehensive measures of intertidal, ecosystem-level benthic microalgal contributions to total net primary production to evaluate the ecological importance of BMA for estuarine ecosystem processes and functions. The research results will likely restructure our understanding and current paradigms of energy flow and cycling processes in estuaries. In addition to the research activities, the project involves the mentorship of graduate students and undergraduates, with efforts to recruit students from historically underrepresented groups; incorporation of findings into educational materials for teachers and K-12 students; and a community science program in collaboration with the National Estuarine Research Reserve.Our current understanding of ecosystem net primary production in southeastern estuaries is missing a fundamental component that may, in fact, provide as much as a third of the fixed C fueling the high biomass of upper trophic levels. The concept of a major benthic microalgal-based subsidy contradicts the traditional views that phytoplankton and detritus-based food webs are the only energy sources for most southeastern estuaries. This project quantitatively determines the relative BMA contribution by characterizing the spatiotemporal variability in BMA NPP to estimate the annual ecosystem-level contribution to total system NPP. The primary objective is the measurement of estuarine intertidal BMA NPP, biomass, community composition, and relevant environmental variables (nutrients, grain size, porosity, etc.) along fixed transects that span the intertidal elevational gradient from mean low water to mean high water and incorporate these results in a GIS DEM to calculate ecosystem-level BMA NPP. Furthermore, the GIS model predicts shifts in the magnitude and spatial distribution of BMA NPP resulting from various sea-level rise scenarios.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.

河口是许多商业和娱乐性物种的关键栖息地。这些系统中的食物网的基础是由水柱（浮游植物）和沉积物（底栖微藻）的微藻原生产提供的。该项目的重点是量化底栖微藻对北部Intlet河口总生态系统初级生产的贡献。然后使用沿高度梯度（低潮汐区域）沿底栖微藻产量估计值来评估对即将来临的海平面上升的反应。结果对河口生态系统中的湿地评估，碳信用，滋养动力学和碳存储具有影响。这项研究具有变革性，因为它提供了潮间带，生态系统级的底栖微藻对总净初级生产的贡献，以评估BMA对河口生态系统过程和功能的生态重要性。研究结果可能会重组我们对河口中能量流和循环过程的当前范式。除研究活动外，该项目还涉及研究生和本科生的指导，并努力招募历史上代表性不足的群体的学生；将发现纳入教师和K-12学生的教育材料中；以及与国家河口研究保护区合作的社区科学计划。我们对东南河口生态系统净初级生产的当前理解缺失了一个基本组成部分，实际上，它可能会提供固定C的三分之一，从而助长了高营养水平的高生物量。基于底栖微藻的主要补贴的概念与传统观点相矛盾，即浮游植物和基于碎屑的食物网是大多数东南河口的唯一能源。该项目通过表征BMA NPP中的时空变异性来定量确定相对BMA的贡献，以估计对总系统NPP的年生态系统级别的贡献。主要目的是沿固定样带的遗传潮间带BMA NPP，生物量，社区组成和相关的环境变量（营养，粒度，孔隙率等）的测量，这些变量跨越了跨越平均水的潮间升级梯度，从平均水到平均水到高水量，并将这些结果纳入GIS，并将这些结果纳入GIS dememe dempel ecosystemplestemystemplestemystemple bma npple bma npp npp。此外，GIS模型预测了由各种海平面上升方案引起的BMA NPP的大小和空间分布的变化。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审查标准通过评估来进行评估的。