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

该项目将整合调查员的研究计划与学生的积极教育，以促进我们对海洋栖息地的生物，化学和物理过程的相互依赖性的理解。这一目标将通过跨学科的实地和实验室研究，并通过在大学和K- 12水平的参与性教育计划的发展来实现。拟议研究的动机是了解穴居动物在沉积栖息地的营养过程中的作用。许多动物在覆盖海底绝大部分的软泥和沙子中打洞。当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归宿进行过定量研究。在接下来的五年里，Finelli博士和他的学生们将研究路易斯安那州沿海栖息地的两种海洋生物虾释放营养物质的影响，这两种虾是河口鬼虾Lengthophthalmus louisianensis和海滩鬼虾Callichirus islagrande。使用热敏电阻流量计和便携式泵，他们将测量洞穴通风，洞穴水的营养浓度和洞穴形态的日常和季节模式。在实验室和现场对羽流的详细测量将用于研究营养羽流被湍流分散的速度。这些测量对于预测营养羽流对初级生产的影响至关重要。最后，藻类色素的浓度和测量的光合效率从周围地区的洞穴将测试，如果洞穴羽的营养物质的升高影响底栖生物的生产。这项研究将导致我们对营养循环，底栖-远洋耦合和沉积栖息地生态学的理解的根本性进步。除了作为研究人员，科学教师是教育工作者，他们传授既定的知识，并为学生提供识别和解决问题的认知技能。最近，资助机构、州和联邦政府以及纳税公众呼吁增加教学，强调了后一种作用的重要性，他们受到科学和技术在我们日常生活中的普遍作用的刺激。在最近关于科学教育改革的讨论中，强调了两个主题。首先，所有人都需要最低水平的科学理解才能参与技术社会。第二，学习最好是通过观察和操作学习对象来完成，而不是通过记忆和背诵。这两个主题都在教育计划中涉及。在大学阶段，Finelli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，一个真实的机会存在，以更好地服务于谁访问LUMCON每年4000名学生。研究人员是一个合作团队的一部分，该团队正在开发7-12年级的实地经验，该经验由州和国家科学教育标准指导。这项工作包括每年的教师研讨会，旨在帮助当地教师使用LUMCON作为科学教育的资源。此外，这些讲习班将作为对实地方案进行形成性评估的机制。现场经验要求学生在现场收集水化学样品，在实验室分析数据，并解释他们的结果。所有课程的数据都将在网上提供，以鼓励全年的参与。这个练习的目的是教学生关于盐沼的物理和化学过程，同时让他们接触科学过程。

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.