The influence of biophysical coupling and cross-scale interactions on ecosystems of the Plum Island LTER

生物物理耦合和跨尺度相互作用对普拉姆岛LTER生态系统的影响

• 批准号: 2308605
• 负责人: David Kimbro
• 金额: $ 99.59万
• 依托单位: Northeastern 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: 2023-05-01 至 2027-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308605&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: influence; biophysical; coupling; cross; scale

Identifying the biological and environmental factors that govern the geographical distribution of organisms is critical for understanding the functioning of natural ecosystems and the myriad benefits that they provide to society. For example, salt marsh ecosystems serve as critical transition zones at the land-sea interface and provide key ecosystem services such as improving water quality via removal of excess nutrients from terrestrial run-off and mitigating coastal erosion via shoreline buffering. This project leverages a combination of field surveys, lab experiments, and mathematical models to predict how the geographical distribution of organisms responsible for these critical ecosystem services is influenced by biological interactions (e.g., competition and predation) as well as environmental factors (e.g., temperature and physical disturbance) that vary with oceanographic currents across a range of New England salt marsh locations. The broader impacts of the project include cross-training of graduate students in biology, statistics, mathematical modeling, and computer programming. In addition, the results of this project will be shared with the Plum Island Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network and will be integrated into undergraduate courses in biostatistics, mathematical modeling, and experimental design in order to demonstrate the importance of quantitative and interdisciplinary STEM training for addressing important questions in community and ecosystem ecology. Finally, multiple interactive web modules will be created to enhance the dissemination of the results of this research beyond traditional academic circles, including Northeastern University’s K-12 outreach programs.The overall aim of this project is to determine whether understanding and predicting the dynamics of multi-trophic salt marsh ecosystems across multiple scales hinges upon the integration of physical oceanographic processes and their influence on the supply of allochthonous inputs. This project will be conducted at NSF’s Plum Island LTER and consists of four objectives: (1) repeated surveys of permanently established study plots across three nested spatial scales to quantify the magnitude of allochthonous inputs and the community structure of both marine and terrestrial food webs, allowing an assessment of whether the spatiotemporal distributions of allochthonous inputs and food web architectures are consistent with their putative physical oceanographic drivers; (2) a field experiment that manipulates a gradient in the magnitude of detrital input as well as top-down control by marine fish across three nested spatial scales, enabling an assessment of whether observed survey patterns are driven by bottom-up vs. top-down processes; (3) a fully factorial lab experiment to further disentangle the role of the top-down control by marine fish vs. terrestrial spiders on key ecosystem processes such as primary production, decomposition, herbivory, and predation across a gradient of detrital inputs; and (4) development of a field-parameterized, spatially-explicit mathematical model to determine the independent and joint influences of bottom-up forcing and top-down control on the salt marsh community structure across scales. By combining models and field experiments in a biophysical-allochthonous input framework, this project will leverage the mechanistic insights traditionally associated with community ecology to reveal the joint influence of local and broad-scale processes on the hierarchically organized dynamics of open ecological systems. This project will help inform resource management for New England salt marshes and promote public education by highlighting the importance of quantitative and interdisciplinary STEM training for addressing important questions in biology.This project is jointly funded by Biological Oceanography and the Ecosystems Science Cluster.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.

确定控制生物体地理分布的生物和环境因素对于了解自然生态系统的功能及其为社会提供的众多好处至关重要，例如，盐沼生态系统是陆地与海洋交界处的关键过渡区。提供关键的生态系统服务，例如通过去除陆地径流中的多余养分来改善水质，以及通过海岸线缓冲减轻海岸侵蚀。该项目结合了实地调查、实验室实验和数学模型来预测生物的地理分布。负责这些关键的生态系统服务受到生物相互作用（例如竞争和捕食）以及环境因素（例如温度和物理干扰）的影响，这些因素随着新英格兰盐沼地区一系列洋流的变化而变化。该项目的更广泛影响包括交叉影响。 -对研究生进行生物学、统计学、数学建模和计算机编程方面的培训此外，该项目的成果将与普拉姆岛生态系统长期生态研究（LTER）网络共享，并将整合到本科生课程中。生物统计学、数学建模和实验设计，以证明定量和跨学科 STEM 培训对于解决社区和生态系统生态学中的重要问题的重要性。最后，将创建多个交互式网络模块，以加强这项研究成果的传播。传统学术界，包括东北大学的 K-12 外展项目。该项目的总体目标是确定在多个尺度上理解和预测多营养盐沼生态系统的动态是否取决于物理海洋学过程的整合及其对这该项目将在 NSF 的普拉姆岛 LTER 进行，包括四个目标：（1）在三个嵌套空间尺度上对永久建立的研究地块进行重复调查，以量化异地输入的数量和海洋的群落结构。和陆地食物网，可以评估异地输入和食物网结构的时空分布是否与其假定的物理海洋驱动因素一致；一项现场实验，操纵碎屑输入量的梯度以及海洋鱼类在三个嵌套空间尺度上的自上而下的控制，从而能够评估观察到的调查模式是否是由自下而上与自上而下的过程驱动的； （3）一项完全析因的实验室实验，以进一步阐明海洋鱼类与陆地蜘蛛自上而下控制对关键生态系统过程（例如初级生产、分解、食草和跨碎屑梯度的捕食）的作用输入；（4）开发现场参数化、空间明确的数学模型，通过结合模型和现场实验来确定自下而上的强迫和自上而下的控制对盐沼群落结构的独立和联合影响。在生物物理异地输入框架中，该项目将利用传统上与群落生态学相关的机制见解来揭示局部和大规模过程对开放生态系统的分层组织动态的共同影响。该项目将有助于为资源管理提供信息。新英格兰盐通过强调定量和跨学科 STEM 培训对于解决生物学中的重要问题的重要性，促进公共教育。该项目由生物海洋学和生态系统科学集群共同资助。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式支持：使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。