COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN THE ANTARCTIC MARINE FOOD WEB: IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND INSIGHTS INTO THE FEEDING ECOLOGY OF APEX PREDATORS

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。持久性有机污染物(POPs)持续存在于环境中，通过大气向极地地区的长距离输送，在生物组织中积累，在食物网中生物放大(浓度随着营养水平的增加而增加)，并造成不良影响。该项目的总体目标是利用南极海洋生物中的化学信号：(A)追踪储存在冰川中的持久性有机污染物进入南极海洋食物网的移动，以及(B)洞察南极海鸟和海洋哺乳动物的饮食偏好和摄食生态。这一目标将通过美国和瑞典科学家充分协调和合作的研究工作来实现，该研究将为从浮游植物到顶级捕食者(海鸟、海豹和鲸鱼)等各种南极海洋生物的营养水平产生相互校准的化学数据。拟议研究的学术价值包括提供对全球气候变化与冰川污染物储藏库动员之间潜在耦合的理解。因此，它很可能成为了解储存在冰川中的污染物未来对区域水生生态系统的潜在影响的案例研究。其次，这项研究有望为了解不同营养水平的南极生物的觅食生态提供见解。拟议研究项目的更广泛影响将包括：(A)通过在面向广大受众的各种非技术媒体上公布研究成果，加强科学了解的巨大潜力；(B)在一个以研究生为主的研究机构(弗吉尼亚海洋科学学院)和一个以本科生为主的机构(查塔姆女子学院)的教职员工和学生之间建立研究和教育合作；(C)通过在斯德哥尔摩大学和瑞典农业科学大学的美国机构和国际合作伙伴之间建立研究合作，加强美国的研究基础设施。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) persist in the environment, undergo long-range atmospheric transport to polar regions, accumulate in biological tissues, biomagnify (increase in concentration with trophic level) in food webs, and cause adverse effects. The overall goal of this project is to use chemical signals in Antarctic marine organisms to: (a) trace the movement of POPs stored in glacier ice into the Antarctic marine food web, and (b) provide insight into the dietary preferences and feeding ecology of Antarctic seabirds and marine mammals. This goal will be achieved through a fully coordinated and collaborative research effort by U.S. and Swedish scientists that will generate intercalibrated chemical data for a variety of Antarctic marine organisms ranging in trophic level from phytoplankton to top predators (seabirds, seals, and whales). The intellectual merit of the proposed research includes providing an understanding of the potential coupling between global climate change and mobilization of glacier reservoirs of contaminants. As such, it is likely to serve as a case study for understanding the potential future impact of contaminants stored in glaciers on regional aquatic ecosystems. Secondly, this research is expected to provide insights into the feeding ecology of Antarctic organisms at various trophic levels. The broader impacts of the proposed research project will include: (a) a strong potential to enhance scientific understanding through publicizing research findings in diverse nontechnical media that reach broad audiences, (b) establishing a research and education collaboration between faculty and students from a predominantly graduate research institution (Virginia Institute of Marine Science) and a predominantly undergraduate institution (Chatham College for Women), and (c) enhancing U.S research infrastructure by establishing a research collaboration between U.S. institutions and international partners at Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.