RUI: Collaborative Research: Assessing the causes of the pyrosome invasion and persistence in the California Current Ecosystem

RUI：合作研究：评估加州当前生态系统中火体入侵和持续存在的原因

• 批准号: 2329561
• 负责人: Jennifer Prairie
• 金额: $ 8.18万
• 依托单位: University of San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-07-01 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2329561&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Collaborative; Research; Assessing; causes

A key component of the ocean food web is comprised of floating animals, or zooplankton, that transfer energy from phytoplankton to fish, whales, and birds. Zooplankton include many different types of organisms that can be broadly categorized as crustacean or gelatinous, with most fish and whales preferring crustaceans as a fat-rich food source over gelatinous animals, which are higher in water content. Historically, the California Current ecosystem off the U.S. West Coast has been dominated by crustacean zooplankton, such as krill and copepods, but in 2014 there were huge abundances of a type of colonial, gelatinous zooplankton known as pyrosomes, which caused widespread damage to fisheries by fouling fishing gear and dominating catch. Although the arrival of pyrosomes coincided with an extensive marine heatwave, lower abundances have since persisted despite a return to cooler ocean temperatures. Analysis of time series data from the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) indicate that pyrosomes were also observed in the California Current many decades ago when the ocean was not particularly warm. This study combines analysis of past samples from CalCOFI, ocean circulation models, and biological models to understand the causes of these quickly growing pyrosome populations in the California Current. It supports training for undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, the project is reaching K-12 students through a unique partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education that is developing Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned resources for middle and high school science teachers in California. The educational resources are being disseminated through the California Science Project and California Environmental Literacy Initiative. Public outreach in San Diego (CA) is through the Enhancing Your Horizons San Diego conference and the San Diego Regional Competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, and in Santa Cruz (CA) through the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.Predicting how ecosystems respond to accelerating climate change is a major challenge. The recent appearance of the pyrosome Pyrosoma atlanticum in the California Current is a major perturbation to the ecosystem, and the cause remains unknown. Both ocean physics and plankton food-web dynamics are key determinants of variability in pelagic community composition in this ecosystem, yet unraveling the degree to which variability in physics (through warming and advection) combines with shifting biological interactions (through nutrient cycling and altered food-web dynamics) to determine composition and function is complicated. This project combines the analysis of past historical samples from seven decades of the CalCOFI time series, data-assimilative and non-data assimilative ocean circulation models, and biological population models to determine the role ocean physics and biological interactions have played in shaping pyrosome abundance, trophic dynamics, and population growth and mortality in the California Current. This novel framework is providing mechanistic understanding that is required to predict how plankton communities respond to climate change.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.

海洋食品网的一个关键组成部分由浮动动物或浮游动物组成，这些动物将能量从浮游植物转移到鱼，鲸鱼和鸟类。浮游动物包含许多不同类型的生物，可以将其广泛归类为甲壳类或凝胶状，大多数鱼类和鲸鱼都偏爱甲壳类动物作为一种肥胖的食物来源而不是凝胶状动物，而水中含量较高。从历史上看，美国西海岸附近的加利福尼亚当前的生态系统一直由甲壳类动物（例如磷虾和pepods）主导，但是在2014年，有一种巨大的殖民地，凝胶状浮游动物体被称为prosys，被称为浮游物体，造成了广泛的造成渔业的损害，造成了渔具的损害。尽管焦油的到来与广泛的海洋热浪相吻合，但尽管恢复了较冷的海洋温度，但自此较低的丰度仍然存在。来自加利福尼亚合作海洋渔业调查（Carcofi）的时间序列数据的分析表明，在数十年前海洋不是特别温暖时，在加利福尼亚州目前也观察到了焦油。这项研究结合了对Calcofi，海洋循环模型和生物学模型的过去样品的分析，以了解加利福尼亚电流中这些快速增长的拟热体种群的原因。 它支持本科和研究生的培训。此外，该项目通过与圣地亚哥县教育办公室建立独特的合作伙伴关系，该项目正在开发下一代科学标准（NGSS）为加利福尼亚州的中学和高中科学教师一致的资源。加利福尼亚科学项目和加利福尼亚环境素养计划正在传播教育资源。圣地亚哥（CA）的公共宣传是通过增强您的地平线圣地亚哥会议和圣地亚哥国家海洋科学碗的地区竞赛，以及通过西摩海洋发现中心在圣克鲁斯（CA）的。加利福尼亚州电流中的焦油酸虫大西洋的最近出现是对生态系统的主要扰动，原因尚不清楚。海洋物理学和浮游生物食品 - 网络动力学都是该生态系统中浮力社区组成可变性的关键决定因素，但可以阐明物理学（通过变暖和对流）与改变生物学相互作用（通过营养循环和改变的食物 - web动力学）结合的程度，以确定组成和功能是复杂的。该项目结合了对Calcofi时间序列七十年来的过去历史样本的分析，数据鉴别和非DATA同化海洋循环模型以及生物种群模型，以确定海洋物理学和生物学相互作用在塑造热气群丰度，营养动力学以及加利福尼亚州的人口增长和死亡率中所扮演的角色。这个新颖的框架提供了机械理解，这些理解是预测浮游生物社区如何应对气候变化的方式所必需的。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审查标准来通过评估来支持的。