COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Using empirical and modeling approaches to quantify the importance of nutrient spiraling in rivers

内河网调节陆地景观的营养物质输出，使其成为缓解下游生态系统富营养化的关键。然而，由于以前的研究主要集中在小源头溪流上，对河流处理和保留营养物质的能力研究不足。了解整个河流生态系统，而不仅仅是河流的部分，如何影响区域和大陆的营养物质输出模式，以保护水资源，这一点至关重要。这项研究将使用一种新的实地方法来收集西部和中西部多条河流养分吸收的经验测量数据，并将这些数据整合到一个动态网络尺度模型中，以评估对养分吸收的控制，从而将水生生态系统生态学和水文模拟结合起来。这一方法将产生关于跨越一系列营养物质和沉积物条件的河流的能力的关键预测关系，以减少下游营养物质的输出，这是在河网规模上实现有效水质管理的关键步骤。这项研究的学术价值包括关于河流营养循环的生态学理论的转变，以及对河流提供的生态系统服务的更好理解。反过来，这项工作的更广泛影响将为研究生带来无与伦比的教育机会，让他们在尖端河流研究、流域建模工具以及数据方面进行合作，这些工具立即对水资源管理人员有用，并为国家天文台项目使用的改进实时营养监测的新兴技术提供数据。

Inland river networks regulate the export of nutrients from the terrestrial landscape, making them critical for mitigating eutrophication of downstream ecosystems. Yet the ability of rivers to process and retain nutrients has been understudied as previous research has focused mainly on small headwater streams. It is critical to understand how entire river ecosystems, not just sections of streams, influence regional and continental patterns of nutrient export to protect water resources. This research will use a novel field approach to gather empirical measurements of nutrient uptake in multiple rivers across the west and midwest and integrate the data into a dynamic network scale model to evaluate controls on nutrient uptake, thereby integrating aquatic ecosystem ecology and hydrological modeling. This approach will generate critical predictive relationships regarding the capacity of rivers spanning a range of nutrient and sediment conditions to mitigate downstream nutrient export, which is an essential step towards effective water quality management at the river network scale. The intellectual merit of the research includes the transformation of ecological theory regarding nutrient cycling in rivers and improved understanding of the ecosystem services that rivers provide. In turn, the broader impacts of the work will result in unparalleled educational opportunities for graduate students to collaborate on cutting edge river research, watershed modeling tools immediately useful to water resource managers, and data to improve emerging technologies for real-time nutrient monitoring to be used by national observatory programs.