Collaborative Research: Landscape Limnology of Mountain Watersheds: Nutrient Retention and Ecosystem Stability in Complex Aquatic Ecosystems

合作研究：山地流域景观湖泊学：复杂水生生态系统中的养分保留和生态系统稳定性

• 批准号: 0519327
• 负责人: Wayne Wurtsbaugh
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Utah State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-15 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0519327&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Landscape; Limnology; Mountain

Wayne Wurtsaugh & Michelle Baker, Utah State University in collaboration with, Brian McGlynn, Montana State University.Nutrient transport through complex watersheds is an important scientific and management problem that must be understood so that society can make appropriate management decisions to deal with the increasing levels of atmospheric and agricultural pollution threatening our water bodies. Most studies of nutrient transport have focused on single components of the watershed such as a stream or lake, but little is know about how combinations of streams and lakes that exist in watersheds influence these processes. Our work will address how interacting complexes of lakes, lake bottoms (littoral zones), streams, and their subsurface component (hyporheic zones) interact to influence nitrogen transport through watersheds in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. We suggest that in simple watersheds without lakes or highly developed hyporheic zones, nutrients will runoff quickly during spring snowmelt so that little is left to fuel the growth of aquatic plants (phytoplankton, periphyton) latter in the summer. However, we expect that in complex watersheds with many lakes, the spring pulse of nitrogen will be dampened, thus providing a more stable supply of this nutrient than in simple watersheds. If nutrient delivery is stabilized, we expect that growth of phytoplankton and periphyton will also be less pulsed and thus increase ecosystem stability. We will test these ideas by measuring nutrient movement at small spatial scales with the stable isotope of nitrogen (15N), using those rates to model how nutrient transport occurs within whole watersheds, and then testing our model predictions with a whole-drainage tracer experiment and with large-scale watershed measurements of nutrient flux and algal growth in lakes and streams. To broaden the impact of our work, we will collaborate with educators to develop curricula for elementary school children, and make modules available for web-based learning.

韦恩Wurtsaugh米歇尔贝克，犹他州州立大学与，布赖恩McGlynn，蒙大拿州州立大学合作。通过复杂流域的营养物运输是一个重要的科学和管理问题，必须了解，使社会可以作出适当的管理决策，以处理日益严重的大气和农业污染威胁我们的水体。 大多数营养盐输运的研究都集中在流域的单一组成部分，如河流或湖泊，但很少有人知道如何组合的河流和湖泊，存在于流域影响这些过程。 我们的工作将解决如何相互作用的湖泊，湖底（沿岸的区），溪流，和他们的地下成分（潜流区）相互作用，影响氮运输通过流域在爱达荷州锯齿山。 我们认为，在简单的流域没有湖泊或高度发达的潜流区，营养物质将在春季融雪快速径流，使很少留下燃料的水生植物（浮游植物，附着生物）的生长在夏季后期。 然而，我们预计，在有许多湖泊的复杂流域，春季氮的脉冲将被抑制，从而提供比简单流域更稳定的营养供应。 如果养分输送稳定，我们预计浮游植物和附着生物的生长也将减少脉冲，从而增加生态系统的稳定性。 我们将测试这些想法，通过测量营养盐运动在小的空间尺度与稳定的氮同位素（15 N），使用这些速率来模拟如何营养盐运输发生在整个流域，然后测试我们的模型预测与整个排水示踪实验和大规模流域测量的营养通量和藻类生长的湖泊和溪流。 为了扩大我们工作的影响，我们将与教育工作者合作，为小学生开发课程，并为基于网络的学习提供模块。