Collaborative Proposal: The Applications of Scaling Rules to Energy Flow in Stream Ecosystems

合作研究：尺度规则在河流生态系统能量流中的应用。作者：Anthony K.放大图片作者：Robert H. Findlay和Peggy H. Ostrom溶解在水中的天然有机分子构成了水生生态系统中最大的有机物库。 在溪流和河流中，源自陆地植被并在土壤和地下水中被微生物改变的分子在移动到通道期间是有机物质的主要来源。 这些陆地衍生的分子在下游运输过程中对淡水和沿海海洋环境中存在的生物有用的化学能作出贡献。 我们的研究使用稳定同位素的新应用来量化整个排水网络中的贡献，并且我们在缩放规则的背景下进行调查，这些规则有助于将信息从一个栖息地或系统转移到其他系统。 我们将在富含碳的稳定同位素的大气中种植年轻的落叶树，收获和堆肥树木，并提取堆肥以制备复杂的微生物改性分子的沥滤物，并在从小型实验室反应器到第五阶流的系统中跟踪这些有机分子的命运。 结合缩放规则的知识流“成长”，因为它们流向海洋与缩放规则与流中的营养吸收，使我们能够测试假设有机分子如何用于流网络内的能量。这项研究具有广泛的影响，在生态学研究和饮用水工业中使用的缩放规则，其中有机分子提供营养物质的微生物在分配系统中的不必要的增长和致癌的消毒副产品的积木。 我们的方法还可以提供一种预测工具，可用于了解人为污染物的命运和运输，这些污染物通过与天然存在的有机分子的结合向下游运输。

AbstractCollaborative Research: The Application of Scaling Rules to Energy Flow in Stream EcosystemsPIs: Louis A. Kaplan, Anthony K. Aufdenkampe, J. Denis Newbold, Robert H. Findlay, and Peggy H. OstromNaturally occurring organic molecules dissolved in water constitute the largest pool of organic matter in aquatic ecosystems. Within streams and rivers, molecules that originate in terrestrial vegetation and are modified within soils and groundwater by microorganisms during movement to the channel, are the dominant source of organic matter. These terrestrially derived molecules in transport downstream contribute to the biologically useful chemical energy present in freshwater and coastal marine environments. Our research uses a novel application of stable isotopes to quantify those contributions throughout a drainage network, and we frame our investigations within the context of scaling rules that facilitate the transfer of information from one habitat or system to others. We will grow young deciduous trees in an atmosphere enriched with the stable isotope of carbon, harvest and compost the trees, and extract the compost to prepare a leachate of complex, microbially modified molecules, and follow the fate of those organic molecules in systems which range from small laboratory reactors to a 5th order stream. Combining scaling rules derived from the knowledge of how streams "grow" as they flow towards the ocean with scaling rules associated with nutrient uptake in streams, allows us to test hypotheses concerning how organic molecules are used for energy within a stream network. This research has broad implications for the use of scaling rules in ecological studies and for the drinking water industry where organic molecules provide both nutrients for the unwanted growth of microorganisms in distribution systems and the building blocks for the carcinogenic byproducts of disinfection. Our approach also may provide a predictive tool that can be used to learn about the fate and transport of anthropogenic contaminants that are transported downstream through their association with naturally occurring organic molecules.