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、藻华和浮游动物的放牧。这一设施改进建议将增加测量湖泊中藻类和浮游动物精细空间结构的能力，以增加康奈尔生物野外站（http://www.cbfs.dnr.cornell.edu）现有仪器的能力。将获得的设备是一个激光光学浮游生物计数器，用于测量浮游动物从0.2毫米到3毫米的长度。这一范围包括湖泊中大多数甲壳类浮游动物。一种荧光探针，它使用一组不同波长的光来分离浮游植物中几种藻类的贡献；一艘小型研究船，将氟探针和光学浮游生物计数器运送到湖中的不同地点，最后是一个FlowCam，这是一种实验室仪器，可以拍摄样本中的颗粒照片，并使用图像识别软件组织图片。这种自动化可以处理比标准显微镜技术更多的样品。这些仪器将用于评估空间结构在奥内达湖和其他地方（包括五大湖）鱼类-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。半个多世纪以来，康奈尔生物站一直在研究奥奈达湖的生态系统，所得到的数据集是北美温带湖泊中从营养物质到鱼类的最好的长期数据集之一，如果不是全世界的话。新工具将进一步提高该数据集和相关研究项目的价值。为了对较低营养水平进行更详细的空间和时间分析，有必要在更精细的空间尺度上测量浮游动物、浮游植物和贻贝的分布，而不是目前在沙克尔顿点的康奈尔生物野外站所能做到的。所需的设备包括一艘装有液压装置的新船，用于进行更频繁和更详细的底栖生物取样（包括船的马达和拖车），一个激光光学浮游生物计数器，用于测量浮游动物的分布，一个氟探针，用于测量特定浮游植物群的生物量，以及一个FlowCAM，用于对浮游植物和较小的浮游动物进行更详细的分类分析。虽然CBFS在开发用于鱼类相互作用空间分析的水声学方面一直处于领先地位，但缺乏用于低营养水平类似分析的设备。新的仪器和一艘部署这些仪器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)调查纽约中部200平方公里的浅中营养型湖泊奥奈达湖的生态和渔业；2)研究五大湖生态系统的时空动态及其对生态系统过程的影响。这两个领域的研究都依赖于CBFS收集和/或分析的长期数据集，以了解这些系统中受持续生态变化影响的功能机制和生态系统服务。这些长期数据集的可用性使CBFS成为世界上为数不多的几个站点之一，在这些站点中，关于湖泊生态的研究问题可以在大时间尺度的背景下进行框架，以了解入侵物种和气候变化等扰动的影响。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，并将人类活动的影响与自然变化区分开来，那么对自然系统中生态过程的长期研究对社会至关重要。使用CBFS设施的需求有所增加，包括国家科学基金会资助的和悬而未决的提案，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访问的本科生和研究生提供教育机会，一个部分侧重于代表性不足的少数民族的本科生实习项目，与管理机构建立联系，并就生态系统渔业管理提供建议，包括参与管理委员会，以及一个在该地区K-12公立学校的科学课程中增加使用奥奈达湖的项目。所有这些更广泛的影响都在进行中，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.