A Graduate Training Program in Antarctica: Integrative Biology and Adaptation of Antarctic Marine Organisms

臭氧层空洞的生物影响、关于全球变暖和温度适应的辩论以及寒冷生物圈中生物多样性的演变是南极洲科学调查的一些重要主题。然而，很少有学生有机会在南极洲实地学习科学，因为这块大陆的偏远造成了明显的限制。该项目将支持一系列高级研究生培训课程，这些课程将在南极洲现场组织和教授。这些课程将向对研究南极海洋生物的生物适应感兴趣的博士后和博士后水平的科学家开放。三个南极洲夏季课程中的每一个都将在2006年1月、2008年1月和2010年1月在南极洲为期五年的时间里为大约20名学生提供。这些课程将在麦克默多站举行，麦克默多站是美国南极计划在南极的主要基地。这个由国家科学基金会支持的研究站拥有设备齐全的实验室，可以开展拟议课程中的各种教育和学生研究活动。这些课程的主要目标是通过研究南极海洋生物的生命形式多样性和生物适应机制，向学生和新的博士后水平的研究人员介绍南极科学。这些课程将向一群国际学生介绍广泛的南极生物，包括脊椎动物、无脊椎动物、藻类和微生物。过去在南极洲组织和教授这种高级教育计划的首席讲师将参加该计划。拟议课程的另一个目标是培训所有参与者综合生物学的方法，让他们学习寒冷生物圈中跨越几个不同生物组织水平的独特生物过程。例如，有关南极生物生物学的进化(如冷适应)和生态学方面的长期问题将通过1)整个生物的生理学研究；2)分离的细胞和组织的研究；3)蛋白质结构和功能的实验；以及4)遗传系统的分子分析来审查。这些南极课程将具有类似于美国海洋实验室过去提供的暑期课程的密集教育形式，这种方法在向新学生介绍重要的生物学领域方面非常成功。南极课程的一般形式将包括实地收集和实验室实验，以及课程教员和特邀演讲者关于极地科学的许多讲座。在南极洲的课程将涉及的一些具体主题包括：生物多样性；生化适应；冷适应；能量代谢；分子系统学；紫外线光生物学。这些主题将在课程期间与独立的、学生发起的研究项目交织在一起。南极洲是一个很难进行科学研究的地方。对于第一次开始他们职业生涯的新调查人员来说，情况尤其如此。拟议中的课程将向学生介绍科学在现实的南极条件下的亲身实践。在南极洲提供这些培训课程的主要期望是向新的研究人员介绍该极端环境中的生物过程，并培训这些学生使用现代研究方法，以了解南极洲生物学特有的机制。

Biological impacts of the ozone hole, debates about global warming and temperature adaptations, and the evolution of biological diversity in the cold biosphere are some of the important themes that are central to scientific investigations in Antarctica. Yet few students ever have the opportunity to study science on-site in Antarctica because of the obvious limitations resulting from the remoteness of this continent. This project will support a series of advanced level, graduate training courses that will be organized and taught on site in Antarctica. These courses will be open to Ph.D. students and postdoctoral-level scientists interested in the study of biological adaptations of Antarctic marine organisms. Each of the three austral summer courses will be offered for approximately twenty students over a five-year period in Antarctica, in January 2006, 2008 and 2010. These courses will be held at McMurdo Station, the major base in Antarctica of the United States Antarctic Program. This NSF-supported research station has well equipped laboratories for the kinds of educational and student research activities that will be undertaken in the proposed courses. The major goal of these courses is to introduce students and new postdoctoral-level investigators to Antarctic science through studies of the diversity of life forms and the mechanisms of biological adaptation of Antarctic marine organisms. The courses will introduce an international group of students to a wide range of Antarctic organisms, including vertebrates, invertebrates, algae and microbes. Lead instructors with considerable experience with organizing and teaching such advanced educational programs in Antarctica in the past will participate in the program A further aim of the proposed courses is to train all the participants in approaches to integrative biology, by having them study unique biological processes in the cold biosphere that span several different levels of biological organization. For instance, long-standing questions in evolution (e.g., cold adaptation) and ecology concerning the biology of Antarctic organisms will be examined with 1) physiological studies of whole organisms; 2) studies of isolated cells and tissues; 3) experiments on protein structure and function; and 4) molecular analysis of genetic systems. These Antarctic courses will have an educationally intense format similar to summer courses that have been offered in the past at US-based marine laboratories, an approach that has been very successful at introducing new students to important fields of biology. The general format of the Antarctic courses will consist of field collections and laboratory experiments, together with many lectures on polar science from course faculty and guest speakers. Some of the specific themes to be covered during the courses in Antarctica will include: biological diversity; biochemical adaptation; cold adaptation; energy metabolism; molecular phylogeny; and UV photobiology. These themes will be interwoven during the courses with independent, student-initiated research projects. Antarctica is a difficult place to do science. This is especially true for first-time, new investigators starting their careers. The proposed courses will introduce students to the hands-on "doing" of science under realistic Antarctic conditions. The major expectations from offering these training courses in Antarctica will be to introduce new researchers to the biological processes in that extreme environment and to train such students in modern research methods to understand the mechanisms that are unique to biology in Antarctica.