RCN: The Stream Resiliency Research Coordination Network

溪流和河流正受到无数环境压力的冲击，包括营养输入增加、物种灭绝和入侵以及生物多样性的丧失。在毗邻的美国，与欧洲定居前相比，氮投入增加了两倍，主要原因是合成肥生产、化石燃料燃烧造成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出口营养物质。溪流对于调节从大陆到海洋的营养物质出口可能很重要，但其功能在一定程度上受到生物多样性的调节，溪流中的物种损失率是地球上最高的之一。因此，了解不断变化的营养输入与生物多样性下降之间的相互作用是淡水生态系统养护和管理面临的重大而紧迫的挑战。关于溪流营养物浓度、溪流流量和生物多样性的可用数据集的数量迅速增加，但许多数据集尚未评估时间或空间趋势，尚未使用最先进的统计和建模技术进行分析，或跨地区进行比较。此外，在不久的将来，许多大型数据集将上线，河流生态学家需要制定策略，最好地利用这些新出现的信息。河流复原力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、模型师和资源管理者联系起来，对河流和河流生态系统将如何应对长期的营养输入和不断变化的物种多样性达成综合理解。该网络将通过一系列讲习班和网络研讨会召开会议，以开发分析现有和即将到来的河流养分和生物体数据集的新方法，并进行知识合成的状况。将主办与2014年水产科学联合会议有关的最初为期一天的规划讲习班，以吸引研究界的参与。在规划会议之后，将举办四个为期三天的讲习班，重点讨论以下主题：了解河流生态系统的长期变化、从小源头河流到较大河流的生态系统过程是如何变化的，以及在气候变化、土地利用变化和生物多样性丧失的背景下生物之间的相互作用。每个讲习班将包括一天侧重于河流生态学家通常不使用的数据分析和建模方法的培训，以及两天侧重于数据分析和综合。在资助的最后一年，将在淡水科学学会年会上举办一次讲习班，向科学界报告该网络的活动，并举办一系列关于知识状况的介绍。该网络的主要功能包括促进研究人员和管理人员之间的互动，并为青年科学家提供与知名科学家合作的机会。该网络将侧重于开发新的概念框架和新的分析方法，以便利综合大量现有数据集，并为解释和指导新的研究项目和抽样提供基础，并为下一代科学家提供处理大空间尺度的长期数据集所需方法方面的培训机会。每个讲习班将包括有针对性的统计或建模方法的培训，为研究生和知名研究人员提供教育机会，并为自然资源管理人员和政策制定者提供切实的应用产品。此外，还将举办一次研究生级别的在线研讨会，重点是不断变化的环境中的流功能，为全球各地的学生提供机会，了解该网络的活动和调查结果。

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.