NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2008

这一行动为NSF 2008财年少数民族博士后奖学金提供了资金。该奖学金支持在东道主实验室为该研究员制定的研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与度的计划。Marcelo Ardon-Sayao的这项研究和培训计划的标题是“加速水文循环下滨海湿地生态系统中的养分循环”。赞助科学家是杜克大学的艾米丽·S·伯恩哈特博士。全球气候变化预计将通过改变极端天气事件的频率和强度来影响社会和生态系统。风暴强度和频率的增加可能会削弱沿海湿地预防水质问题的能力，例如沿海生态系统的营养物质径流增加。这项研究的主要目的是建立经验关系，描述日益变化的湿地水文对营养丰富的沿海平原生态系统中氮(N)和磷(P)保留的影响，通过解决以下问题：1)风暴的时间和频率如何影响N和P在最近恢复的湿地生态系统中的去向和运输？2)降雨的时间变异性如何影响湿地土壤中N和P的转化？3)在快速实验水位下降过程中，景观N和P通量如何变化？研究将主要在北卡罗来纳州蒂雷尔县一个400公顷的湿地缓解项目中进行。培训目标包括学习新的实验和分析技术，以考察不同尺度上水文学变化对湿地养分转化的影响，并与不同学科的科学家、政府官员、顾问和土地所有者建立长期合作关系，以进一步将研究应用于公共政策。更广泛的影响包括增加未被充分代表的少数群体在博士后水平上的参与，并指导本科生进行生态研究，努力让代表不足的少数群体学生参与进来。这项研究将有助于预测由于东南沿海平原生态系统水文变化更大的未来，养分出口可能发生的变化方向。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The research and training plan for this fellowship to Marcelo Ardon-Sayao is entitled "Nutrient cycling in coastal wetland ecosystems under an accelerating hydrologic cycle." The sponsoring scientist is Dr. Emily S. Bernhardt at Duke University.Global climate change is forecasted to impact society and ecosystems by altering the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Increased intensity and frequency of storms could impair the ability of coastal wetlands to prevent water quality problems, such as increased nutrient runoff to coastal ecosystems. The main goal of this research is to develop empirical relationships describing the effects of increasingly variable wetland hydrology on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) retention in nutrient rich coastal plain ecosystems by addressing the following questions: 1) How does timing and frequency of storms affect the fate and transport of N and P across a recently restored wetland ecosystem? 2) How does the temporal variability of rainfall affect transformations of N and P in wetland soils? 3) How do landscape fluxes of N and P change during rapid experimental reductions of water level? Research will be conducted primarily within a 400-ha wetland mitigation project in Tyrell County, NC. The training goals include learning new experimental and analytical techniques to examine the effects of altered hydrology on nutrient transformation in wetlands across different scales and establishing long-term collaborations with scientists in different disciplines, government officials, consultants, and land owners to further the application of research to public policy. Broader impacts include increasing the participation of under-represented minorities at the postdoctoral level and mentoring undergraduate students in ecological research, making an effort to involve underrepresented minority students. This research will aid predictions of the likely direction of change of nutrient exports as a result of a more hydrologically variable future for southeastern coastal plain ecosystems.