RCN: The Stream Resiliency Research Coordination Network

RCN：流弹性研究协调网络

• 批准号: 1354867
• 负责人: Jeremy Jones
• 金额: $ 49.9万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-05-15 至 2020-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1354867&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; Stream; Resiliency; Research; Coordination

Stream and rivers are being assaulted by myriad environmental stresses, including elevated nutrient inputs, species extinctions and invasions, and loss of biodiversity. In the contiguous US, nitrogen inputs have tripled relative to levels during pre-European settlement, primarily due to synthetic fertilizer production, atmospheric deposition from the combustion of fossil fuels, and through agricultural practices. Consequently, many streams have dramatically higher nutrient concentrations than they did historically, which can lead to algal blooms, fish die-offs, and increased export of nutrients to marine ecosystems. Streams can be important for regulating nutrient exports from continents to oceans, but the functioning is, in part, mediated by biodiversity, and rates of species losses in streams are among the highest on the planet. Therefore, understanding interactions among changing nutrient inputs, and declining biodiversity are major and immediate challenges for conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems. The number of available datasets on stream nutrient concentrations, stream flow, and biodiversity has increased rapidly, but many have yet to be evaluated for temporal or spatial trends, analyzed with state of the art statistical and modeling techniques, or compared across regions. Further, many large datasets are coming online in the near future, and stream ecologists need to develop strategies to best utilize this emerging information. The goal of the Stream Resiliency Research Coordination Network is to link stream ecologists with hydrologists, statisticians, modelers, and resource managers to develop a synthetic understanding of how streams and river ecosystems will respond to chronic nutrient inputs and changing species diversity. The network will meet through a series of workshops and webinars to develop new approaches to analyzing existing and forthcoming stream nutrient and organism datasets, and conduct state of the knowledge syntheses. An initial one-day planning workshop associated with the 2014 Joint Aquatic Sciences meeting will be hosted to engage the research community. Following the planning meeting, four three-day workshops will be held addressing topics focused on understanding long-term change in stream ecosystems, how ecosystem processes vary across river networks from small headwater streams to larger rivers, and the interactions among organisms in the context of changing climate, altered land-use, and loss of biodiversity. Each workshop will include one day focused on training in data analysis and modeling approaches not typically used by stream ecologists, and two days focused on data analyses and synthesis. In the last year of funding, a workshop will be hosted at the annual meeting of the Society for Freshwater Science to report back to the scientific community the activities of the network, and host a series of presentations about the state of knowledge.Key functions of the network include enabling interactions among researchers and managers, and providing opportunities for young scientists to collaborate with established scientists. The network will focus on developing novel conceptual frameworks and new analytical approaches to facilitate the synthesis of a wealth of existing datasets, as well as to provide the foundations for interpreting and guiding new research projects and sampling, and training opportunities for the next generation of scientists in the methods needed to deal with long-term datasets spanning large spatial scales. Each workshop will include training of a targeted statistical or modeling approach, provide educational opportunity for both graduate students and established researchers, and produce tangible applied products for natural resource managers and policy makers. In addition, an online graduate level seminar will be hosted focusing on stream functioning in a changing environment, providing an opportunity for students across the globe to learn about the activities and findings from the network.

溪流和河流正受到无数环境压力的冲击，包括养分投入增加、物种灭绝和入侵，以及生物多样性的丧失。在毗邻的美国，氮的投入相对于欧洲人定居前的水平增加了两倍，主要是由于合成肥料的生产、化石燃料燃烧产生的大气沉积以及农业实践。因此，许多溪流的营养物质浓度比历史上高得多，这可能导致藻类大量繁殖，鱼类死亡，并增加向海洋生态系统输出的营养物质。河流对于调节从大陆到海洋的营养输出可能很重要，但其功能在一定程度上是由生物多样性调节的，河流中的物种损失率是地球上最高的。因此，了解营养投入变化与生物多样性下降之间的相互作用是淡水生态系统保护和管理面临的主要和紧迫挑战。关于河流营养物质浓度、河流流量和生物多样性的可用数据集数量迅速增加，但许多数据集尚未进行时间或空间趋势评估，尚未使用最先进的统计和建模技术进行分析，也尚未进行跨区域比较。此外，许多大型数据集将在不久的将来上线，流生态学家需要制定策略来最好地利用这些新兴信息。河流恢复研究协调网络的目标是将河流生态学家与水文学家、统计学家、建模师和资源管理人员联系起来，对河流和河流生态系统如何对长期营养投入和物种多样性变化做出反应形成综合理解。该网络将通过一系列讲习班和网络研讨会召开会议，以开发新的方法来分析现有和即将推出的河流营养物质和生物体数据集，并进行知识状态综合。与2014年水产科学联合会议相关的初步为期一天的规划研讨会将举办，以吸引研究界参与。规划会议之后，将举行四个为期三天的研讨会，重点讨论河流生态系统的长期变化，从小源头到大河流的河流网络的生态系统过程如何变化，以及气候变化、土地利用改变和生物多样性丧失背景下生物之间的相互作用。每个研讨会将包括一天的重点培训数据分析和建模方法，而不是河流生态学家通常使用的方法，两天的重点是数据分析和综合。在资助的最后一年，将在淡水科学学会的年会上主办一个研讨会，向科学界报告该网络的活动，并主持一系列关于知识状况的演讲。该网络的关键功能包括使研究人员和管理人员之间能够相互作用，并为年轻科学家提供与成熟科学家合作的机会。该网络将专注于开发新的概念框架和新的分析方法，以促进丰富的现有数据集的综合，并为解释和指导新的研究项目和采样提供基础，并为下一代科学家提供处理跨越大空间尺度的长期数据集所需方法的培训机会。每次讲习班将包括培训有针对性的统计或建模方法，为研究生和已成立的研究人员提供教育机会，并为自然资源管理人员和决策者生产实际的应用产品。此外，将举办一个在线研究生水平研讨会，重点关注流在不断变化的环境中的功能，为全球学生提供一个了解网络活动和发现的机会。