Collaborative Research: NSFDEB-NERC: Warming's silver lining? Thermal compensation at multiple levels of organization may promote stream ecosystem stability in response to drought

合作研究：NSFDEB-NERC：变暖的一线希望？

• 批准号: 2312706
• 负责人: Wyatt Cross
• 金额: $ 92.94万
• 依托单位: Montana State University
• 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: 2024-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2312706&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; NSFDEB; NERC; Warming

Human activities and associated greenhouse gas emissions are causing a rise in global temperatures and an increase in extreme climatic events such as droughts. This collaborative USA-UK project is focused on understanding how continued warming and increasing drought will combine to influence the composition and activity of stream and river organisms (i.e., bacteria, algae, and animals). At present, the prevailing view is that warming temperatures and drought will together produce more extreme ecological consequences than would result from either of these stressors alone. However, this project examines a contrary hypothesis that organisms and communities may ‘adjust’ to warming over long periods of time, making them much less susceptible to extreme drought events in the future. In essence, this project tests the hypothesis that stream communities compensate for continued warming and thus will be better able to persist and function in the face of increasing future drought. This research is critical for predicting and mitigating how warming and drought will influence freshwater biodiversity, as well the many important ecological processes in streams, such as nutrient removal and food production, that benefit humanity. This project will provide training, education and professional development opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students.This project takes advantage of two unique research settings: (1) a natural stream thermal gradient in Iceland; and (2) a state-of-the-art experimental stream facility at the University of Birmingham, UK to test the degree to which long-term warming enhances stream ecosystem stability (both resistance and resilience) in response to drought events. The first objective, focused at the individual level, investigates whether physiological adaptations to warming can compensate for reduced invertebrate carbon use efficiencies at high temperatures, thus accelerating growth and energy transfer (i.e., resilience) following drought. The second objective quantifies resistance and resilience of entire invertebrate communities and their biomass production to drought across natural and experimental thermal gradients. The final objective explores the potential for ecosystem-level compensatory responses by examining how warming-induced shifts in primary producer communities and nutrient supply influence stability of ecosystem metabolism and nitrogen uptake in response to drought. Together, these objectives will provide a broader understanding of compensatory responses to warming across multiple levels of biological organization (i.e., individuals to ecosystems), and will help to inform management of freshwater ecosystems. This project is jointly funded by the Population and Community Ecology Cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The UK collaborators on this project will be funded through the UK-NERC program.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.

人类活动和相关的温室气体排放正在导致全球气温上升和干旱等极端气候事件的增加。这个美国-英国合作项目的重点是了解持续变暖和日益严重的干旱将如何共同影响气候的组成和活动。在农产品方面，普遍的观点是气温升高和干旱会比单独使用这两种压力源造成更极端的生态后果。假设生物体和群落可能会在很长一段时间内“适应”变暖，从而使它们在未来更不易受到极端干旱事件的影响。本质上，该项目检验了河流群落补偿持续变暖的假设，从而能够更好地持续存在和发挥作用。面对未来日益严重的干旱，这项研究对于预测和减轻变暖和干旱将如何影响淡水生物多样性以及溪流中的许多重要生态过程（例如造福人类的养分去除和粮食生产）至关重要。为研究生和本科生提供培训、教育和专业发展机会该项目利用了两个独特的研究环境：（1）冰岛的自然流热梯度；（2）英国伯明翰大学最先进的实验流设施，以测试学位长期变暖增强了溪流生态系统的稳定性（抵抗力和恢复力）以应对干旱事件。第一个目标侧重于个体水平，研究对变暖的生理适应是否可以补偿高温下无脊椎动物碳利用效率的降低。加速增长和能量转移第二个目标量化了整个无脊椎动物群落及其生物量生产对自然和实验温度梯度的干旱的抵抗力和恢复力，最终目标通过研究变暖如何引起的来探索生态系统水平补偿反应的潜力。初级生产者群落和养分供应的变化会影响生态系统代谢的稳定性和应对干旱的氮吸收，这些目标将为跨多个生物组织（即个体）对变暖的补偿反应提供更广泛的理解。生态系统），并将有助于为淡水生态系统的管理提供信息，该项目由环境生物学部门的人口和社区生态集群和刺激竞争性研究既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。通过 UK-NERC 计划提供资助。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过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，被认为值得支持。