Plum Island Ecosystems LTER

Plum Island Ecosystems（PIE）LTER是一个综合研究，教育和推广计划，其目标是对陆地-海洋界面流域和河口生态系统对气候，土地利用和海平面变化的长期反应进行预测性理解。主要研究地点是普拉姆岛湾河口，其耦合帕克，罗利和伊普斯维奇河流域和邻近的沿海海洋，缅因州湾。人类正在以前所未有的速度改变世界生态系统。理解和预测多重压力如何影响生态系统的可持续性是环境生物学中最关键的挑战之一。PIE LTER侧重于全球变化的几个方面如何影响有机物和无机营养物的生态地球化学和河口食物网。来自陆地、海洋和沼泽的有机物和营养物的输入与外部驱动因素（气候、土地利用、河流流量、海平面）相互作用，决定了营养物和有机物处理的范围和程度，并决定了河口生产力和营养结构的空间格局。首要问题是：河口的营养结构和初级和次级生产力将如何受到土地利用、气候和海平面变化引起的有机物和营养物负荷以及水动力变化的影响？该项目采用多种方法来解决研究问题和假设：1）短期和长期核心测量; 2）短期和长期实验; 3）比较生态系统研究; 4）建模。该研究将河口生态地球化学与食物网和所有营养级的种群生物学研究相结合。PIE LTER数据和信息系统提供了一个与普拉姆岛湾河口生态系统及其流域有关的信息和数据集中网络。该网络为与PIE-LTER相关的研究人员提供了对公共信息和数据的访问，以及集中的长期存储。PIE-LTER的科学家、地方、区域、州伙伴和更广泛的科学界都很容易获得数据和信息。与PIE-LTER相关的研究人员致力于研究所产生的信息和数据库的完整性。更广泛的影响：PIE-LTER与当地教师和学生、公民、保护组织以及地方、州和联邦机构建立了联系。什么开始作为一个极简主义的计划已经发展成为一个广泛的，全面的活动套件。随着其他联邦机构、马萨诸塞州联邦和私人基金会提供更多的支持，预计教育/外联方案将在下一个awqard期间进一步扩大。长期目标是在PIE-LTER研究地点建立一个沿海外联办公室，以整合和促进与整个新英格兰有关各方的互动。在此赠款期间，PIE-LTER将扩大其校园计划，为教师提供持续的专业发展;支持该项目扩展到附近的城市地区，包括塞勒姆，波士顿和里维尔;并促进该计划通过缅因州研究所海湾转移到新罕布什尔州和缅因州。将有更多的参与与本科和研究生教育与PI马瑟和本丢斯从马萨诸塞州和克拉克大学，分别增加。PIE-LTER有一个非常积极的推广计划，其目标是向个人传达研究结果，

The Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE) LTER is an integrated research, education and outreach program whose goal is to develop a predictive understanding of the long-term response of watershed and estuarine ecosystems at the land-sea interface to changes in climate, land use and sea level. The principal study site is the Plum Island Sound estuary, its coupled Parker, Rowley and Ipswich River watersheds and the adjacent coastal ocean, the Gulf of Maine. Humans are altering the ecosystems of the world at rates not previously experienced. Understanding and predicting how multiple stresses affect the sustainability of ecosystems is one of the most crucial challenges in environmental biology. The PIE LTER focuses on how several aspects of global change influence organic matter and inorganic nutrient biogeochemistry and estuarine food-webs. The inputs of organic matter and nutrients from land, ocean and marshes interact with the external drivers (climate, land use, river discharge, sea level) to dictate the extent and degree of nutrient and organic matter processing and determine the spatial patterns of estuarine productivity and trophic structure. The overarching question is: How will trophic structure and primary and secondary productivity in estuaries be affected by changes in organic matter and nutrient loading and hydrodynamics caused by changing land use, climate and sea level? The project uses a combination of approaches to address research questions and hypotheses: 1) short- and long-term core measurements; 2) short and long-term experiments; 3) comparative ecosystem studies; and 4) modeling. The research integrates estuarine biogeochemistry with studies of food webs and population biology of all trophic levels. The PIE LTER data and information system provides a centralized network of information and data related to the Plum Island Sound Estuarine Ecosystem and its watersheds. This network provides researchers associated with PIE-LTER access to common information and data in addition to centralized long-term storage. Data and information are easily accessible to PIE-LTER scientists, local, regional, state partners and the broader scientific community. Researchers associated with PIE-LTER are committed to the integrity of the information and databases resulting from the research. Broader Impacts: PIE-LTER has developed links with local teachers and students, citizens, conservation organizations, and local, state and federal agencies. What started out as a minimalist program has grown to be a broad, well-rounded suite of activities. The education/outreach program is expected to further expand during this next awqard period, as additional support is obtained from other federal agencies, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and private foundations. The long-term goal is to establish a Coastal Outreach office at the PIE-LTER study site that will serve to integrate and promote interactions with interested parties throughout New England. During this grant period, the PIE-LTER will expand its schoolyard program to provide on-going professional development for teachers; support the expansion of this project into nearby urban areas including Salem, Boston, and Revere; and facilitate the transfer of this program to New Hampshire and Maine via the Gulf of Maine Institute. There will be greater involvement with undergraduate and graduate education with the addition of PIs Mather and Pontius from UMass and Clark University, respectively. PIE-LTER has a very active outreach program in which the goal is to communicate research findings to individuals,