PostDoctoral Research Fellowship

博士后研究奖学金

• 批准号: 1103428
• 负责人: Andrew Thurber
• 金额: $ 20.88万
• 依托单位: Thurber Andrew R
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-15 至 2015-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1103428&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PostDoctoral; Research; Fellowship

The biota of the world's seafloor is fueled by bursts of seasonal primary production. For food-limited sediment communities to persist, a balance must exist between metazoan consumption of and competition with bacteria, a balance which likely changes through the seasons. Polar marine ecosystems are ideal places to study such complex interactions due to stark seasonal shifts between heterotrophic and autotrophic communities, and temperatures that may limit microbial processing of organic matter. The research will test the following hypotheses: 1) heterotrophic bacteria compete with macrofauna for food; 2) as phytoplankton populations decline macrofauna increasingly consume microbial biomass to sustain their populations; and 3) in the absence of seasonal photosynthetic inputs, macrofaunal biodiversity will decrease unless supplied with microbially derived nutrition. Observational and empirical studies will test these hypotheses at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, where a high-abundance macro-infaunal community is adapted to this boom-and-bust cycle of productivity. The investigator will mentor undergraduates from a predominantly minority-serving institution, in the fields of invertebrate taxonomy and biogeochemistry. The general public and young scientists will be engaged through lectures at local K-12 venues and launch of an interactive website. The results will better inform scientists and managers about the effects of climate change on polar ecosystems and the mechanisms of changing productivity patterns on global biodiversity.

世界海底的生物群是由季节性初级生产力的爆发推动的。为了维持食物有限的沉积物群落，后生动物对细菌的消耗和与细菌的竞争之间必须存在平衡，这种平衡可能会随着季节的变化而变化。极地海洋生态系统是研究这种复杂相互作用的理想场所，因为异养和自养群落之间明显的季节性变化，以及可能限制微生物处理有机物的温度。这项研究将检验以下假设：1)异养细菌与大型动物争夺食物；2)随着浮游植物数量的下降，大型动物越来越多地消耗微生物生物量来维持其种群；以及3)在没有季节性光合作用输入的情况下，大型动物的生物多样性将减少，除非提供微生物衍生的营养。观测和实证研究将在南极洲麦克默多站检验这些假设，那里的高丰度大型动物群适应了这种生产力的盛衰周期。这位研究人员将指导一家以少数族裔为主的机构的本科生，他们的领域是无脊椎动物分类学和生物地球化学。普通公众和青年科学家将通过在当地K-12场馆的讲座和推出一个互动网站来参与。研究结果将更好地让科学家和管理者了解气候变化对极地生态系统的影响，以及生产力模式变化对全球生物多样性的影响机制。