Collaborative Research: Understanding the Scaling of N Cycle Controls Throughout a River Network

合作研究：了解整个河流网络中N循环控制的规模首席调查者：Charles Vorosmarty(新汉普郡大学，Durham NH)联合调查员：Wil Wollheim(新汉普郡大学，Durham NH)Bruce Peterson(海洋生物实验室，MA伍兹霍尔)Charles Hopkinson(海洋生物实验室，Wood Hole MA)Michael Goosef(科罗拉多矿业学院，Golden CO)人类正在迅速改变高地、地表水和地下水的特征。在无数的流域中，开发大大增加了河源污染，最终流向沿海地区，带来了低氧死区和有害藻华等负面影响。人们对这些变化的性质知之甚少。这项研究的目标是更好地了解一种重要营养物质--氮的来源和命运。这项工作计划在波士顿以北的伊普斯威奇河进行实地过程研究和计算机建模。由于拟议的工作侧重于破译控制沿海流域营养物质来源和命运的基本过程，结果将有助于了解美国东北部其他地区河流系统的脆弱性。该项目将有助于解决有关土地利用变化的地点和类型如何影响污染物向敏感沿海生态系统传输的问题，从而有助于改进现有的环境管理战略。该项目还包括培养下一代科学家和从业人员的本科生和研究生教育部分。一个外展计划旨在更好地让公民了解当地分水岭正在发生的变化。

Collaborative Research: Understanding the Scaling of N Cycle Controls Throughout a River Network Principal Investigator: Charles Vorosmarty (University of New Hampshire, Durham NH)Co-Investigators: Wil Wollheim (University of New Hampshire, Durham NH) Bruce Peterson (Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole MA) Charles Hopkinson (Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole MA) Michael Gooseff (Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO)In suburbanizing regions of the country, humans are rapidly changing the character of upland surface and ground waters. In countless watersheds, development has greatly increased riverborne pollution that ultimately passes to the coastal zone with negative impacts such as low oxygen dead zones and harmful algal blooms. The nature of these changes is poorly understood. The goal of the study is to better understand the sources and fates of one important nutrient, nitrogen. The effort is planned around field process studies and computer modeling in the Ipswich River, north of Boston. Because the proposed work focuses on deciphering the fundamental processes that govern sources and fates of nutrients in coastal watersheds, results will help to understand the vulnerability of river systems in other parts of the Northeastern U.S.A. The project will help address questions about how the location and types of land use change affect pollutant transport into sensitive coastal ecosystems and will thus help to improve existing environmental management strategies. The project also includes an undergraduate and graduate educational component to train the next generation of scientists and practitioners. An outreach program is designed to better inform citizens about the changes unfolding across their local watersheds.