OCE-PRF: ZOOPREDICT - A study of ZOOPlankton Responses to Environmental Determinants with Interns, Classes, and Teachers

在这个项目中，研究者将研究河口浮游动物对气候变化预测后果的响应，重点关注水温变化的直接影响，以及食物环境和死亡率变化的间接影响。变化的环境条件会对浮游生物群落中不同营养类群的物候产生不同的影响，导致浮游动物种群增长高峰与其捕食者和猎物的不耦合，自下而上和自上而下因素在调节浮游动物种群中的相对作用发生变化，以及整个浮游生物群落动态的重构。例如，浮游动物的生长通常比浮游植物对温度变化的反应更强烈。因此，温度升高可能最终增加浮游动物的资源限制。由于浮游动物作为鱼类的猎物和有机物垂直通量的促进者，潜在的生态系统水平效应包括鱼类招募和底-上层耦合程度的变化。研究者将研究詹姆斯河沿岸的浮游动物动态，使用实验、观测和定量建模相结合的方法来评估在当前条件和预测的气候变化情景下，温度、食物数量和质量以及死亡率对限制浮游动物生长的相对重要性。研究结果将有助于浮游动物生态学家和生态系统科学家研究切萨皮克湾和其他沿海生态系统。本研究将探讨自1985年以来该地区浮游动物群落的时间动态变化程度，直接有助于提高对浮游动物生态学的认识，并改进切萨皮克湾浮游动物种群动态的定量建模。更广泛的影响包括通过招募本科生在为期八周的暑期实习期间直接参与研究，扩大对海洋科学的参与。选择学生的目标是扩大代表性不足的群体在海洋科学领域的参与，与VCU的环境研究项目和汉普顿大学合作。此外，研究员将与暑期实习生、当地学校和VCU大学特别项目工作人员合作，开展半年和夏季教育活动，向K-12学生介绍水生科学和浮游生物生态学。该项目由美国国家科学基金会海洋科学博士后研究奖学金（OCE PRF）计划支持，旨在支持早期职业科学家的新颖研究，并增加美国海洋科学工作人员和研究界的多样性。在海洋学研究基金的支持下，该项目将使有前途的早期职业研究人员能够在与海洋科学有关的独立研究事业中立足，并扩大代表性不足的群体参与海洋科学。

In this project, the investigator will study the response of estuarine zooplankton to predicted consequences of climate change, focusing on the direct effects of changes in water temperature, and indirect effects through changes in food environment and mortality. Changing environmental conditions can have disparate effects on the phenologies of different trophic groups within the plankton community, resulting in an uncoupling of population growth peaks of zooplankton, their predators and prey, changes in the relative roles of bottom-up and top-down factors in regulating zooplankton populations, and a restructuring of the dynamics of the entire plankton community. For example, zooplankton growth often responds more strongly than phytoplankton to temperature changes. Therefore, warmer temperatures may ultimately increase resource limitation of zooplankton. Potential ecosystem level effects include changes in fish recruitment and degree of benthic-pelagic coupling due to the roles of zooplankton as prey for fish and facilitators of vertical flux of organic matter. The investigator will study zooplankton dynamics along the James River, using combined experimental, observational, and quantitative modeling approaches to evaluate the relative importance of temperature, food quantity and quality, and mortality in limiting zooplankton growth under present conditions and predicted scenarios of climate change. Research results will be useful to zooplankton ecologists and ecosystem scientists studying the Chesapeake Bay and other coastal ecosystems. The research activities will address the extent of change in temporal dynamics of the region's zooplankton community since 1985, contribute directly to advance understanding of zooplankton ecology, and improve quantitative modeling of Chesapeake Bay zooplankton population dynamics. The broader impacts include broadening participation in ocean sciences through recruitment of undergraduate students to participate directly in research during eight-week summer internships. The students will be selected with the goal of broadening participation of under-represented groups in ocean sciences, in collaboration with VCU's Environmental Studies program and Hampton University. In addition, the investigator will work in coordination with summer interns, local schools, and VCU's University Special Programs staff to develop semi-annual and summer educational activities that introduce K-12 students to aquatic sciences and plankton ecology. This project is supported under the NSF Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (OCE PRF) program, with goals to support novel research by early career scientists and increase the diversity of the U.S. ocean sciences workforce and research community. With OCE-PRF support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to ocean sciences and broaden participation of under-represented groups in the ocean sciences.