RUI: Documenting, Understanding and Conserving the Biodiversity of Freshwater Siliceous Algae in Coastal Ponds Along Eastern North America

RUI：记录、理解和保护北美东部沿海池塘淡水硅质藻类的生物多样性

• 批准号: 0343355
• 负责人: Peter Siver
• 金额: $ 31万
• 依托单位: Connecticut College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-05-01 至 2008-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0343355&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Documenting; Understanding; Conserving; Biodiversity

Project AbstractThe primary focus of this project is to provide detailed surveys of two biologically diverse and ecologically important groups of algae in freshwater lakes and ponds along the east coast of North America. The scaled chrysophytes and diatoms are integral components of all aquatic habitats and are among the best known organisms used by scientists to detect changes in our nations water resources. Despite the importance of scaled chrysophytes and diatoms, the fact remains that large geographic regions along the margin of North America remain largely unexplored for both groups of organisms. Our goals will include describing the floras of these algal organisms for specific regions along the coast, describing new species to science, evaluating the relative importance of chemical variables vs. climate-related factors in shaping and controlling the distributions of these organisms along a subtropical to arctic gradient, and to train a group of highly motivated undergraduates in taxonomy and ecology issues. As part of this project, we will survey waterbodies along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador and the Canadian Arctic, and add this information to our existing databases in order to accomplish our goals. We will use high resolution light and scanning electron microscopy to document all species, and archive our samples in national museums making them available to other scientists.According to an in-depth study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), numerous regions along the eastern coast of North America were ranked "high", "continentally outstanding" or "globally outstanding" for their aquatic biological distinctiveness. Many of these same regions had future (next 20 years) habitat threat assessment projections of "high", and were rated by the WWF as "endangered" or "vulnerable" areas in North America. Based on this thorough study, all regions to be sampled as part of our project warrant immediate biodiversity protection efforts. When combined with our previous results, our work will include detailed analyses of both algal groups in ponds from all seven freshwater ecoregions defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that span the east coast of the North American continent from subtropical Florida to the Arctic. A primary goal of our study will be to provide detailed biodiversity evaluations of two ecologically important algal groups for all seven coastal ecoregions that will complement existing databases for aquatic animals and enhance conservation efforts, including those of the National Park Service, the Forest Service and Parks Canada. A goal of NSF is to increase taxonomic expertise among the scientific work force, especially for poorly known microscopic organisms. Our program will help meet this challenge by yielding confident students with a high degree of taxonomic skill eager to pursue careers in biodiversity-related fields.

项目摘要本项目的主要重点是对北美东海岸沿着的淡水湖泊和池塘中两种生物多样性和生态重要性的藻类群体进行详细调查。 有鳞的金藻和硅藻是所有水生生境的组成部分，也是科学家用来检测我国水资源变化的最著名的生物之一。 尽管有鳞的金藻和硅藻的重要性，事实仍然是，大地理区域沿着北美边缘仍然在很大程度上未开发的两组生物。 我们的目标将包括描述这些藻类生物体的植物区系为特定区域沿着海岸，描述新物种的科学，评估相对重要性的化学变量与气候相关的因素在塑造和控制这些生物体的分布沿着亚热带到北极梯度，并培养一批高度积极的本科生在分类学和生态学问题。 作为该项目的一部分，我们将调查沿着大西洋沿岸平原、新斯科舍省、纽芬兰、拉布拉多和加拿大北极地区的水体，并将这一信息添加到我们现有的数据库中，以实现我们的目标。 我们将使用高分辨率光学和扫描电子显微镜记录所有物种，并将我们的样本保存在国家博物馆，供其他科学家使用。根据世界野生动物基金会（WWF）进行的一项深入研究，北美东海岸沿着的许多地区因其水生生物独特性而被评为“高”、“大陆杰出”或“全球杰出”。 这些地区中的许多地区在未来（未来20年）的栖息地威胁评估预测为“高”，并被世界自然基金会评为北美“濒危”或“脆弱”地区。 根据这项全面的研究，作为我们项目一部分的所有采样区域都需要立即采取生物多样性保护措施。 结合我们以前的研究结果，我们的工作将包括详细分析两个藻类群体的池塘从所有七个淡水生态区定义的世界野生动物基金会（WWF），横跨北美大陆的东海岸从亚热带佛罗里达到北极。 我们的研究的主要目标将是提供详细的生物多样性评估的两个生态重要的藻类群体的所有七个沿海生态区，将补充现有的水生动物数据库，并加强保护工作，包括那些国家公园服务，森林服务和公园加拿大。 NSF的一个目标是增加科学工作者的分类学专业知识，特别是对鲜为人知的微生物。 我们的计划将有助于通过产生具有高度分类技能的自信学生来应对这一挑战，这些学生渴望在生物多样性相关领域从事职业。