Collaborative Research: Fjord Ecosystem Structure and Function on the West Antarctic Peninsula - Hotspots of Productivity and Biodiversity? (FjordEco)

南极半岛西部的海洋群落是高生产力的生态系统，支持企鹅、海豹和鲸鱼等各种魅力动物的聚集，以及南极磷虾等商业渔业。沿半岛中央海岸的峡湾(高耸悬崖之间狭长的深水湾)似乎是生物生产和生物多样性的热点，可能对气候敏感，但人们对这些峡湾生态系统的结构和动态了解很少。由于这种强烈的生物活动和它所支持的富有魅力的动物，这些峡湾也是南极大型旅游业的主要目的地。该项目是一个综合性的领域和模拟程序，旨在评估这些重要但鲜为人知的峡湾系统中的物理海洋过程、冰川输入、水柱群落动态以及海底群落结构和功能。这些南极峡湾的特征与经过充分研究的北极峡湾有很大不同，可能会对气候变暖产生很大不同的反应。该项目将对南极峡湾生态系统的动态和气候敏感性提供重要的新见解，突出与北极亚极峡湾的对比，并有可能改变我们对峡湾在迅速变暖的南极西部沿海海洋景观中的生态作用的理解。该项目还将推进NSF培养新一代科学家的目标，为本科生、研究生和博士后提供科学培训。这包括为本科生提供参加南极洲研究游轮的独特教育机会，以及开发一门关于峡湾生态系统的新型暑期研究生课程。通过一名专业摄影师的参与，将加强和扩大基于互联网的外联活动，他将制作关于迷人的南极生态系统的杂志文章、网站、电台广播和其他形式的公共外联活动。该项目将包括一项为期15个月的实地计划，以测试有关海洋和冰川强迫以及南极峡湾浮游植物和底栖群落反应的机械假说。在这些努力之后，将进行物理/生物模拟工作，以评估峡湾生物地球化学循环的驱动因素，并探索其对增加的融水和沉积物输入的潜在敏感性。在两次海洋巡航中的实地考察将利用系泊、气象站和冰川、海冰和海底延时相机来获得峡湾生态系统过程的综合视图。现场小组还将在船上进行多次测量，并将使用拖曳和自主水下航行器在春夏秋季节集中评估峡湾生态系统的结构和功能。这些综合的实地和模拟研究有望阐明峡湾水柱和海底生态系统结构和功能的基本特性，并确定这些快速变暖的生态系统中的关键物理-化学-冰川强迫。

Marine communities along the western Antarctic Peninsula are highly productive ecosystems which support a diverse assemblage of charismatic animals such as penguins, seals, and whales as well as commercial fisheries such as that on Antarctic krill. Fjords (long, narrow, deep inlets of the sea between high cliffs) along the central coast of the Peninsula appear to be intense, potentially climate sensitive, hotspots of biological production and biodiversity, yet the structure and dynamics of these fjord ecosystems are very poorly understood. Because of this intense biological activity and the charismatic fauna it supports, these fjords are also major destinations for a large Antarctic tourism industry. This project is an integrated field and modeling program to evaluate physical oceanographic processes, glacial inputs, water column community dynamics, and seafloor bottom community structure and function in these important yet little understood fjord systems. These Antarctic fjords have characteristics that are substantially different from well-studied Arctic fjords, likely yielding much different responses to climate warming. This project will provide major new insights into the dynamics and climate sensitivity of Antarctic fjord ecosystems, highlighting contrasts with Arctic sub-polar fjords, and potentially transforming our understanding of the ecological role of fjords in the rapidly warming west Antarctic coastal marine landscape. The project will also further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists, providing scientific training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. This includes the unique educational opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research cruises in Antarctica and the development of a novel summer graduate course on fjord ecosystems. Internet based outreach activities will be enhanced and extended by the participation of a professional photographer who will produce magazine articles, websites, radio broadcasts, and other forms of public outreach on the fascinating Antarctic ecosystem. This project will involve a 15-month field program to test mechanistic hypotheses concerning oceanographic and glaciological forcing, and phytoplankton and benthic community response in the Antarctic fjords. Those efforts will be followed by a coupled physical/biological modeling effort to evaluate the drivers of biogeochemical cycles in the fjords and to explore their potential sensitivity to enhanced meltwater and sediment inputs. Fieldwork over two oceanographic cruises will utilize moorings, weather stations, and glacial, sea-ice and seafloor time-lapse cameras to obtain an integrated view of fjord ecosystem processes. The field team will also make multiple shipboard measurements and will use towed and autonomous underwater vehicles to intensively evaluate fjord ecosystem structure and function during spring/summer and autumn seasons. These integrated field and modeling studies are expected to elucidate fundamental properties of water column and sea bottom ecosystem structure and function in the fjords, and to identify key physical-chemical-glaciological forcing in these rapidly warming ecosystems.