Collaborative Research: Whole Ecosystem Test of Restoring Resilience in Lakes

合作研究：恢复湖泊恢复能力的全生态系统测试

• 批准号: 2318567
• 负责人: Grace Wilkinson
• 金额: $ 61.14万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 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: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318567&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Whole; Ecosystem; Test

Ecosystems are at widespread risk of losing resilience due to environmental changes from climate and other human actions. Resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to maintain its current state in the face of variability. The loss of resilience harms human well-being because it can lead to the loss of land and water resources. Being able to measure and manage resilience is essential for adapting to these large changes. The researchers will perform an ecosystem experiment aimed at increasing resilience to algal blooms in lakes. Algal blooms threaten drinking water, reduce tourism, and harm wildlife. The primary goal of the experiment is to test if resilience can be enhanced and assess the performance of three resilience metrics. This experiment will advance our understanding of ecosystem resilience, evaluate methods for tracking environmental change critical for policymaking, and provide management insight. The results and the evaluation of the resilience metrics will be shared with lake managers through workshops hosted by the research team.The research is not only applicable to lakes but could be applied to manage other ecosystems such as grasslands and forests.To test if light availability changes resilience to nutrient loading, the researchers will experimentally add nitrogen and phosphorus to two lakes to encourage an algal bloom. One of the lakes is highly stained and therefore has low light availability. The other is relatively clear with higher light availability. A third lake that will not receive nutrient additions will serve as a reference ecosystem. The researchers will measure algal pigments, dissolved oxygen, and pH at a high frequency to monitor algal blooms. Resilience will be evaluated with ecosystem models, dynamic statistical indicators, and mean exit time. These three methods for quantifying resilience provide a new approach to evaluating ecosystem change. The expectation is that resilience of algal blooms to nutrient additions will be higher in the stained lake compared to the clear lake due to lower light availability. To test this hypothesis, in the second year of the experiment the researchers will add a commercial dye to the clear lake, designed to absorb light. The expectation is that this will make the clear lake more resilient algal blooms from nutrient additions, similar to the stained lake. The results of this experiment and the evaluation of the resilience metrics will be shared with lake managers through workshops hosted by the research team.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.

由于气候和其他人类活动造成的环境变化，生态系统普遍面临失去恢复能力的风险。复原力是生态系统在面对变化时维持其当前状态的能力。复原力的丧失会损害人类福祉，因为它可能导致土地和水资源的丧失。能够衡量和管理弹性对于适应这些巨大变化至关重要。研究人员将进行一项生态系统实验，旨在提高湖泊藻华的恢复能力。藻华威胁饮用水、减少旅游业并危害野生动物。该实验的主要目标是测试是否可以增强弹性并评估三个弹性指标的性能。该实验将增进我们对生态系统复原力的理解，评估对政策制定至关重要的跟踪环境变化的方法，并提供管理见解。恢复力指标的结果和评估将通过研究团队主办的研讨会与湖泊管理者分享。该研究不仅适用于湖泊，还可以应用于管理草地和森林等其他生态系统。为了改变对养分负荷的适应能力，研究人员将实验性地向两个湖泊添加氮和磷，以促进藻类大量繁殖。其中一个湖泊污染严重，因此光照度较低。另一种是相对透明，光利用率较高。第三个不添加养分的湖泊将作为参考生态系统。研究人员将高频度测量藻类色素、溶解氧和 pH 值，以监测藻华。将通过生态系统模型、动态统计指标和平均退出时间来评估复原力。这三种量化弹性的方法提供了评估生态系统变化的新方法。预计由于光利用率较低，与清澈的湖泊相比，污染湖中藻华对养分添加的恢复能力会更高。为了验证这一假设，在实验的第二年，研究人员将在清澈的湖水中添加一种商业染料，旨在吸收光线。预计这将使清澈的湖泊通过添加营养物质而更有弹性地生长藻类，类似于染色的湖泊。该实验的结果和恢复力指标的评估将通过研究团队主办的研讨会与湖泊管理者分享。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持标准。