Collaborative Research on Carbon cycling in the circum-Arctic flaw lead-polynya system: A radionuclide and molecular ecological approach

该提案将通过对相同样品应用独特的分析组合，提高对冰湖中目前碳循环的理解，这是北极缺陷铅系统的主要特征：放射性核素方法用于测量碳通量、来源和衰减，分子和酶方法用于评估微生物多样性和水解活性。先前在两个主要的多冰湖（不受河流的影响）的研究表明，来自光区的有机物通量很高，但在“黄昏区”却大大减弱。单独的微生物研究表明，下沉的颗粒被大量活跃的细菌定殖，在零度以下的海水中，水解活性与在温暖的海洋中一样高。关于与北极（或其他海洋）水域边缘地带的颗粒有关的特定细菌的资料很少，关于微生物多样性如何与海洋内部的碳通量或海洋和陆地碳的不同输入有关的资料也几乎没有。在连续数年的同一季节，对北极系统的几个主要融冰区（两个受河流影响，一个不受河流影响）进行比较研究，将有助于对北冰洋季节性无冰可能导致的碳循环可能发生的变化形成更广阔的视角。拟议的研究计划将用现代分子（或任何）技术表征在减少碳通量中起作用的微生物群落。这种综合方法的成功可能对评估世界海洋其他地方的碳循环方面有价值。两位主要研究人员都是专门的教育工作者和研究人员。除了为研究生和本科生提供独特的跨学科培训外，他们还将参与创新的船上项目，作为跨国合作企业（NABOS）的一部分，以及加拿大北极网“船上学校”项目，该项目致力于通过让高中生直接参与研究，使土著社区参与研究。

This proposal will improve understanding of present carbon cycling in polynyas, major features of the flaw lead system in the Arctic, by applying a unique combination of analyses to the same samples: radionuclide approaches for measuring carbon fluxes, sources and attenuation and molecular and enzymatic approaches for evaluating microbial diversity and hydrolytic activity. Previous work in two major polynyas (not influenced by rivers) showed that the flux of organic matter from the photic zone is high, yet strongly attenuated in the "twilight zone." Separate microbial work showed that sinking particles are colonized by an abundance of active bacteria, with hydrolytic activities as high in subzero waters as in warmer seas. Little information exists on specific bacteria associated with particles in the twilight zone of Arctic (or other marine) waters, with virtually none on how microbial diversity may relate to carbon flux in the ocean's interior or to differing inputs of marine and terrestrial carbon. This comparative research in several of the major polynyas of the Arctic system (two river-influenced, one not), in the same season over successive years, will help to develop a broader perspective on the possible changes in carbon cycling likely to result from a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean. The proposed research plan will characterize by modern molecular (or any) techniques the microbial communities that play a role in attenuating carbon flux. The success of this combined approach may prove valuable to evaluating aspects of carbon cycling elsewhere in the world oceans. Both principal investigators are dedicated educators, as well as researchers. In addition to providing graduate and undergraduate students with unique cross-disciplinary training, they will also be engaged in innovative shipboard programs, as part of a multi-national cooperative venture (NABOS), and the Canadian ArcticNet "Schools on Board" program dedicated to engaging indigenous communities in research by bringing in high school students to participate directly in research.