DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Mitigating with macrophytes: How plants buffer aquatic communities from anthropogenic perturbations

论文研究：用大型植物缓解：植物如何缓冲水生群落免受人为干扰

• 批准号: 1209084
• 负责人: Rick Relyea
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-05-01 至 2013-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1209084&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Mitigating; macrophytes; How

In contemporary ecology, it is becoming increasingly important to consider the effects of human activities on the environment. However, an equally important, but often overlooked, challenge is to consider how ecological interactions may ameliorate these human impacts. At the University of Pittsburgh, we have developed a unique and innovative research program that addresses these contemporary challenges by investigating the interactive effects of anthropogenic perturbations and ecological interactions. Specifically, we are examining the extent to which aquatic plants can mitigate the environmental consequences of anthropogenic stressors that make their way into freshwater ecosystems. While our prior work has shown that aquatic plants dramatically reduce the lethal effects of stressors to ecologically important aquatic species, we still have a poor understanding of whether this phenomenon translates up to complex communities. To take this critical next step, we will examine whether, and to what extent, aquatic plants can mitigate the effects of single exposures to high concentrations of stressors versus repeated exposures to lower concentrations in complex aquatic food webs. This research will advance our understanding of the effects that anthropogenic perturbations are having in biological communities, but also of how common components of most freshwater communities can alter, and potentially reduce, those effects. In addition to conducting this research and disseminating it within the scientific community, we also engage in a number of activities to promote environmental awareness with the public. For example, we frequently work with K-12 students, where we discuss our research and the importance of the research to conservation. Further, we run annual teacher workshops at the University of Pittsburgh's biological field station, the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, where middle and high school teachers learn how to conduct and integrate scientific experiments into classroom learning experiences for their students. We hope that our studies and efforts to provide students with scientific experiences early in their careers will lead to the development of innovative new strategies for conserving the environment in the future.

在当代生态学中，考虑人类活动对环境的影响变得越来越重要。但是，同样重要但经常被忽视的挑战是考虑生态相互作用如何改善这些人类的影响。在匹兹堡大学，我们开发了一项独特而创新的研究计划，该计划通过研究人为扰动和生态互动的交互作用来解决这些当代挑战。具体而言，我们正在研究水生植物可以在多大程度上减轻人为压力的环境后果，而人为压力源进入淡水生态系统。尽管我们先前的工作表明，水生植物大大减少了压力源对生态重要的水生物种的致命作用，但我们仍然对这种现象是否转化为复杂的社区仍然有糟糕的了解。 为了采取这一关键的下一步，我们将检查水生植物是否可以减轻对高浓度的压力源与重复暴露于复杂的水生食物网中较低浓度的影响。这项研究将促进我们对人为扰动在生物群落中产生的影响的理解，以及大多数淡水群落的共同组成部分如何改变并有可能减少这些影响。除了进行这项研究并将其传播在科学界之外，我们还进行了许多活动，以促进与公众的环境意识。例如，我们经常与K-12学生合作，在那里我们讨论我们的研究以及研究对保护的重要性。此外，我们在匹兹堡大学的生物野外现场举办年度教师讲习班，即生态学的pymatuning实验室，中学和高中教师学习如何进行科学实验和将科学实验纳入学生的学生学习经验。我们希望我们的研究和努力为学生在职业生涯的早期提供科学经验，将导致发展创新的新策略，以保护未来的环境。