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

合作研究：南极西部半岛峡湾生态系统结构和功能——生产力和生物多样性的热点？

• 批准号: 1443680
• 负责人: Craig Smith
• 金额: $ 79.68万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-05-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1443680&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Fjord; Ecosystem; Structure

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.

南极西部半岛沿岸的海洋群落是高产的生态系统，这些生态系统支持企鹅，海豹和鲸鱼等具有超凡魅力的动物以及南极磷虾等商业渔业。半岛中央海岸沿着高悬崖之间的峡湾（长，狭窄，深，深，深，深，潜在的气候敏感，生物生产和生物多样性的热点都很敏感，但这些峡湾生态系统的结构和动力学知之甚少。由于这种激烈的生物学活动和它支持的魅力动物动物，这些峡湾也是大型南极旅游业的主要目的地。该项目是一项集成的领域和建模计划，可评估物理海洋学过程，冰川输入，水柱社区动态以及海底底部社区结构和功能，但在这些重要但几乎没有理解的峡湾系统中。这些南极峡湾的特征与经过良好研究的北极峡湾有很大不同，可能对气候变暖产生大不相同的反应。该项目将为南极峡湾生态系统的动态和气候敏感性提供主要的新见解，突出与北极亚光峡湾的对比，并有可能改变我们对峡湾在快速变暖的西方南极沿海海洋海洋景观中的生态作用的理解。该项目还将进一步培训新一代科学家的目标，为本科，研究生和博士后学生提供科学培训。这包括本科生参加南极研究巡游的独特教育机会，以及开发有关峡湾生态系统的新型夏季研究生课程。一位专业摄影师的参与将增强和扩展基于互联网的外展活动，该专业摄影师将在迷人的南极生态系统上生产杂志文章，网站，广播和其他形式的公共宣传。该项目将涉及一个15个月的现场计划，以测试有关海洋学和冰川强迫的机械假设，以及南极峡湾中的植物浮游生物和底栖群落的反应。这些努力将在物理/生物建模的努力之后，以评估峡湾中生物地球化学循环的驱动因素，并探索它们对增强的融合水和沉积物输入的潜在敏感性。两次海洋学巡游的实地调查将利用系泊设备，气象站以及冰川，海冰和海底延时摄像机，以获得峡湾生态系统过程的综合视图。现场团队还将进行多个船上的测量，并将使用牵引和自动的水下车辆在春季/夏季和秋季季节深入评估峡湾生态系统结构和功能。这些综合的领域和建模研究有望阐明峡湾中水柱和海底生态系统结构和功能的基本特性，并在这些迅速变暖的生态系统中识别关键的物理化学化学强迫。