CAREER: Career Development Plan: Interdisciplinary Research and Education in Marine Habitats

该项目将把研究者的研究计划与学生的积极教育结合起来，以促进我们对海洋栖息地中生物、化学和物理过程相互依存关系的理解。这一目标将通过跨学科领域和实验室研究，以及通过在大学和K- 12阶段发展参与式教育项目来实现。提出研究的动机是了解动物穴居对沉积栖息地营养过程的作用。许多动物在覆盖绝大部分海底的软泥和沙子中挖洞。动物进食或给洞穴通风时排出的水通常富含铵、硅酸盐、磷酸盐和其他重要的营养物质。虽然已经证明了生物扰动和生物灌溉的一些重要的地球化学和生态效应，但从未对营养羽流的产生和命运进行过定量研究。在接下来的五年里，菲内利博士和他的学生将研究路易斯安那州沿海栖息地的两种海虾——河口鬼虾Lepidophthalmus Louisiana和海滩鬼虾Callichirus islagrande——对营养物质释放的影响。利用热敏电阻流量计和便携式泵，他们将测量洞穴通风的日常和季节性模式，洞穴水的营养物质浓度和洞穴形态。然后，在实验室和野外对羽流的详细测量将用于检验营养羽流被湍流分散的速度。这些测量对于预测养分羽流对初级生产的影响至关重要。最后，对洞穴周围区域的藻类色素浓度和光合效率的测量将测试洞穴羽流中营养物质的增加是否会影响底栖生物的生产。这项研究将导致我们对营养循环、底-上层耦合和沉积生境生态学的理解取得根本性进展。除了研究人员之外，科学教师也是教育工作者，他们传授既有知识，并为学生提供识别和解决问题的认知技能。科学技术在我们日常生活中无处不在的作用促使资助机构、州政府和联邦政府以及纳税的公众呼吁增加教学，这突显了后一种作用的重要性。在最近关于科学教育改革的讨论中，有两个主题被强调。首先，所有人都需要最低程度的科学理解来参与一个技术社会。第二，学习最好是通过观察和操作学习对象来完成的，而不是通过记忆和背诵。这两个主题在教育计划中都有涉及。在大学层面，菲内利博士将支持和监督本科生和研究生的研究，并教授强调假设形成和数据收集的课程。然而，它是在K- 12水平，一个真正的机会存在，以更好地服务4000名学生谁访问LUMCON每年。研究者是一个合作团队的一员，该团队正在开发7-12年级的实地体验，该团队受州和国家科学教育标准的指导。这项工作包括每年一次的教师研讨会，旨在帮助当地教师利用LUMCON作为科学教育的资源。此外，这些讲习班将作为实地方案形成性评价的机制。实地经验要求学生在实地收集水化学样品，在实验室分析数据，并解释他们的结果。所有课程的数据将在网上提供，以鼓励全年参与。这个练习的目的是教学生关于盐沼的物理和化学过程，同时让他们接触到科学的过程。

This project will integrate the investigator's research program with student active education to advance our understanding of the interdependency of biological, chemical, and physical processes in marine habitats. This goal will be achieved through interdisciplinary field and laboratory studies, and through the development of participatory educational programs at the university and K- 12 levels.The motivation for the proposed research is to understand the role of burrowing infauna on nutrient processes in sedimentary habitats. Many animals create burrows in the soft mud and sand that cover the vast majority of the sea floor. The water that is expelled as the animal feeds or ventilates its burrow is often enriched in ammonium, silicate, phosphate, and other important nutrients. While some important geochemical and ecological effects of bioturbation and bioirrigation have been demonstrated, quantitative studies of the production and fate of nutrient plumes have never been conducted. Over the next five-years, Dr. Finelli and his students will study the effects of nutrient release by two species of thalassinid shrimp from Louisiana coastal habitats, the estuarine ghost-shrimp Lepidophthalmus louisianensis and the beach ghost-shrimp Callichirus islagrande. Using thermistor flow meters and portable pumps, they will measure the daily and seasonal patterns of burrow ventilation, nutrient concentration of burrow water, and burrow morphology. Detailed measurements of plumes in the laboratory and field will then be used to examine how rapidly nutrient plumes are dispersed by turbulent water flow. These measurements are critical to predicting the effects of nutrient plumes on primary production. Finally, algal pigment concentrations and measurements of photosynthetic efficiency from the areas surrounding the burrows will test if the elevated nutrients in burrow plumes influence benthic production. This research will lead to fundamental advances in our understanding of nutrient cycling, benthic-pelagic coupling, and the ecology of sedimentary habitats.In addition to being researchers, science faculty members are educators who pass on established knowledge and provide students with the cognitive skills to identify and solve problems. The importance of this latter role is underscored by recent calls for increased teaching from funding agencies, state and federal governments, and the tax-paying public that are spurred by the pervasive role of science and technology in our daily lives. Two themes have been emphasized in the recent discussions of science education reform. First, all people need a minimal level of scientific understanding to participate in a technological society. Second, leaming is best accomplished by observation and manipulation of study subjects, not by memorization and recitation. Both of these themes are addressed in the education plan. At the university level, Dr. Finelli will support and supervise undergraduate and graduate research, and teach courses that emphasize hypothesis formation and data collection. However, it is at the K- 12 level that a real opportunity exists to better serve the 4000 students who visit LUMCON annually. The investigator is part of a collaborative team that is developing a field experience for grades 7-12 that is guided by state and national science education standards. This effort consists of annual teacher workshops that are designed to help local teachers use LUMCON as a resotirce for science education. In addition, these workshops will serve as a mechanism for formative evaluation of the field program. The field experience requires students to collect water chemistry samples in the field, analyze data in the lab, and interpret their results. Data from all classes will be available online to encourage yearlong participation. The objective of this exercise is to teach students about physical and chemical processes in the salt marsh, while exposing them to the scientific process.