IRCEB: Interactive Effects of UV Radiation and Temperature on Pelagic Foodwebs

0210972威廉姆森拟议研究的目的是了解温度和有色溶解有机物（CDOM）如何影响紫外线对湖泊食物网的影响。我们假设气候变化将在分子水平（通过改变温度）和生态系统水平（通过改变CDOM）调节紫外线损伤。我们假设，高紫外线，低温条件下，将有利于植物为基础的食物网，而较低的紫外线：温度比的条件下，将有利于细菌为基础的食物网，浮游动物，鱼类和生态系统的结构和功能的重要后果。一套仔细集中的分析和实验方法将在实验室中测试这些假设，并在不同海拔的不同紫外线和CDOM条件下进行实地测试。人们普遍认识到环境紫外线是有害的，但对紫外线损害的分子修复如何随温度变化或这些影响如何传播到生态系统水平知之甚少。这项拟议中的研究将促进我们对湖泊可能如何应对未来与气候和臭氧变化有关的温度和紫外线变化的理解。学生将紧密结合到研究中，为他们提供解决环境生物学家在人类加速环境变化时期面临的一些复杂问题所需的各种定量技能。

0210972 Williamson The objective of the proposed research is to understand how temperature and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) influence the impact of UV on food webs in lakes. We hypothesize that climate change will regulate UV damage at both the molecular level (by altering temperature), and at the ecosystem level (by altering CDOM). We hypothesize that high UV, low temperature conditions will favor plant-based food webs while lower UV: temperature ratios conditions will favor bacteria-based food webs, with important consequences for zooplankton, fish, and ecosystem structure and function. A carefully focused set of analytical and experimental approaches will test these hypotheses in the lab, and in the field at different elevations with different UV and CDOM conditions. It is widely recognized that environmental UV is damaging, but little is known about how molecular repair of UV damage varies with temperature or how these effects propagate up to the ecosystem level. The proposed research will advance our understanding of how lakes are likely to respond to future changes in temperature and UV related to alteration of climate and ozone. Students will be closely integrated into the research to provide them with the diverse range of quantitative skills necessary to tackle some of the complex issues that environmental biologists face in this period of human-accelerated environmental change.