FSML: New technology for measuring lower trophic levels in lakes

空间结构影响湖泊和其他地方的大多数生态相互作用，包括捕食者-猎物动态、初级生产力、藻类水华和浮游动物的放牧。这项设施改进方案将在康奈尔生物野外站(http://www.cbfs.dnr.cornell.edu).)现有仪器的基础上增加测量湖泊中藻类和浮游动物的精细空间结构的能力将获得的设备是一个激光浮游生物光学计数器，用于测量长度从0.2毫米到3毫米的浮游动物。这一范围包括湖泊中的大多数甲壳类浮游动物。一种荧光探头，它使用一组不同波长的光来分离浮游植物中几个藻类的成分；一艘小型研究船，将荧光探头和浮游生物光学计数器运送到湖里的不同地点；最后是FlowCam，这是一种实验室仪器，可以拍摄样本中的颗粒，并使用图像识别软件组织照片。与标准显微镜技术相比，这种自动化技术可以处理更多的样品。这些仪器将用于评估空间结构在奥奈达湖和包括五大湖在内的其他地方的鱼-浮游动物和食草动物(浮游动物和贻贝)-藻类相互作用中的作用。康奈尔生物野外站参与对奥奈达湖生态系统的研究已有半个多世纪，所产生的数据集是北美(如果不是世界上)温带湖泊中从营养物质到鱼类的最佳长期数据集之一。新仪器将进一步提高这一数据集和相关研究项目的价值。为了对低营养水平进行更详细的空间和时间分析，有必要购置设备，以比目前在沙克尔顿点康奈尔生物野外站可能测量的更精细的空间尺度测量浮游动物、浮游植物和梭形贻贝的分布。所需设备包括一艘带有液压系统的新船，用于进行更频繁和详细的海底采样(包括船用马达和拖车)，一个用于测量浮游动物分布的激光光学浮游生物计数器，一个用于测量特定群体浮游植物生物量的荧光探头，以及一个用于对浮游植物和较小浮游动物进行更详细分类分析的FlowCAM。尽管CBFS在开发用于鱼类相互作用的空间分析的水声学方面处于领先地位，但缺乏对较低营养水平进行类似分析的设备。新的文书和部署这些文书的适当船只将纠正这种情况。CBFS的研究主要集中在两个领域：1)调查位于纽约中部的200平方公里浅水型中等营养湖泊Oneida湖的生态和渔业；2)研究五大湖生态系统的空间和时间动态以及这些动态如何影响生态系统进程。这两个领域的研究都依赖于在CBFS收集和/或分析的长期数据集，以了解这些系统中持续的生态变化对功能机制和生态系统服务的影响。这些长期数据集的可获得性使CBFS成为世界上少数几个可以在理解入侵物种和气候变化等扰动的影响所需的大时间尺度的背景下框定关于湖泊生态的研究问题的地点之一。如果我们要了解生态破坏的动态，建立影响这些动态的机制，并区分人类活动和自然变异的影响，对自然系统中生态过程的长期研究对社会至关重要。对使用CBFS设施的需求有所增加，包括NSF资助的和未决的提案，以及由各种其他来源资助的研究。CBFS活动的更广泛影响包括为来访的本科生和研究生提供教育机会，部分侧重于代表性不足的少数族裔的本科实习生计划，与管理机构的联系和关于生态系统渔业管理的建议，包括参加管理委员会，以及在该地区K-12公立学校的科学课程中增加使用奥奈达湖的计划。所有这些更广泛的影响正在进行中，并将在本项目期间持续下去。

Spatial structure affects most ecological interactions in lakes and elsewhere, including predator-prey dynamics, primary production, algal blooms, and grazing by zooplankton. This facilities improvement proposal will add the capability to measure fine-scale spatial structure of algae and zooplankton in lakes to the available instrumentation at the Cornell Biological Field Station (http://www.cbfs.dnr.cornell.edu). The equipment that will be acquired are a laser optical plankton counter used to measure zooplankton from about 0.2 mm to 3 mm in length. This range includes most of the crustacean zooplankton in lakes. A fluoroprobe, that uses a set of different wavelengths of light to separate the contributions of several algal groups in the phytoplankton; a small research vessel to transport the fluoroprobe and optical plankton counter to different sites in the lake, and finally a FlowCam, a laboratory instrument that take pictures of particles in a sample and organize pictures using image recognition software. This automation allows many more samples to be processed than with standard microscopy techniques. These instruments will be used to evaluate the role of spatial structure in fish-zooplankton and grazer (zooplankton and mussels)-algae interactions in Oneida Lake and elsewhere, including the Great Lakes. The Cornell Biological Field Station has been involved with studies on the Oneida Lake ecosystem for over half a century and the resulting data set is one of the best long-term data sets reaching from nutrients to fish in a temperate lake in North America, if not the world. The new instruments will further improve the value of this data set and associated research projects.For more detailed spatial and temporal analyses of lower trophic levels, the acquisition of equipment to measure zooplankton, phytoplankton and dreissenid mussel distributions at a finer spatial scale than what is currently possible at the Cornell Biological Field Station at Shackelton Point is necessary. The needed equipment includes a new boat with hydraulics to conduct more frequent and detailed benthic sampling (including boat motor and trailer), a laser optical plankton counter for measuring zooplankton distributions, a fluoroprobe to measure group specific phytoplankton biomass, and a FlowCAM for more detailed taxonomic analyses of phytoplankton and smaller zooplankton. Although CBFS has been a leader in developing hydroacoustics for spatial analyses of fish interactions, equipment for similar analyses of lower trophic levels is lacking. The new instruments and an appropriate boat for their deployment would remedy this situation. Research at CBFS is primarily in two areas: 1) investigations of the ecology and fisheries of Oneida Lake, a 200 km2 shallow mesotrophic lake in central New York, and 2) studies of the spatial and temporal dynamics of Great Lakes ecosystems and how those dynamics affect ecosystem processes. Both areas of research rely on long term data sets collected and/or analyzed at CBFS to understand functional mechanisms and ecosystem services as impacted by ongoing ecological changes in these systems. The availability of these long term datasets makes CBFS one of only a handful of sites in the world where research questions about lake ecology can be framed in the context of the large time scales required to understand the impacts of perturbations such as invasive species and changing climate. Long-term studies of the ecological processes in natural systems are vital to society if we are to understand the dynamics of ecological disruptions, establish the mechanisms that influence these dynamics, and differentiate the influence of human activities from natural variability. Demand for use of the CBFS facility has increased and includes NSF funded and pending proposals, as well as research funded from various other sources. Broader impacts of CBFS activities include educational opportunities for visiting undergraduate and graduate students, an undergraduate intern program which partly focuses on under-represented minorities, connections with management agencies and advice on ecosystem fisheries management including participating in management committees, and a program for increasing use of Oneida Lake in the science curriculum for K-12 public schools in the area. All these broader impacts are ongoing and will continue for the duration of this project.