LTREB Renewal: Long-Term Effects of a Species Invasion on an Aquatic Ecosystem

人类活动使世界上成千上万的物种迁移，使它们能够在新的地方建立种群。这些外来物种对生物多样性和生态系统有着巨大的影响，造成巨大的经济损失，是人类对世界生态系统最重要和最不受控制的影响之一。科学家们知道，这些影响会随着时间的推移而改变，但对这些变化的数量、时间和性质却知之甚少。该项目将继续长期研究斑马贻贝对哈德逊河生态系统的变化影响，斑马贻贝是一种生态和经济上重要的入侵物种，于1991年首次出现在哈德逊河。这项研究将提高对水生生态系统中世界上最具问题的入侵者之一的理解，并提供对非本地物种的长期影响的极少数详细研究之一。这项研究的结果将继续被管理哈德逊河的政府机构使用，并应为一般非本地物种的管理提供信息。研究结果将通过在开放网站上发布研究数据来传播，继续开展非常成功的教育项目，为哈德逊河谷和纽约市学校系统的初中和高中教师和学生提供数据、教材和培训，并继续开展积极的公共宣传项目。研究人员将继续测量斑马贻贝的种群参数（密度、死亡率和大小结构）和过滤率、浮游植物生物量、浮游动物密度和物种组成、细菌产量、水质参数（透明度和营养物质浓度）以及颗粒和溶解碳，以回答以下问题：(1)斑马贻贝种群的长期变化及其影响将如何继续发展？(2)这些变化能否用斑马贻贝种群的大小和特征与哈德逊河生态系统之间的关系来解释？(3)放牧斑马贻贝与气候的相互作用如何影响哈德逊河生态系统的特性？研究人员将使用时间序列和回归模型来探索斑马贻贝种群动态以及斑马贻贝过滤率与河流食物网各组成部分之间的关系。此外，他们还分析了斑马贻贝入侵与气候的三个相互作用：1)淡水流量对斑马贻贝放牧的影响；2)水温和贻贝放牧对浮游植物生物量的影响；3)温暖温度与斑马贻贝死亡率年际变化的相关性。另外五年的数据将使研究人员能够记录下哈德逊河正在发生的显著变化，并大大提高统计模型描述这些事件的能力。

Human activities have moved thousands of species around the world, allowing them to establish populations in new places. These non-native species have large effects on biodiversity and ecosystems, cause enormous economic damage, and are one of the most important and least controlled of human impacts on the world's ecosystems. Scientists know that these effects can change through time, but the amount, timing, and nature of these changes are poorly known. This project will continue a long-term study of the changing impacts of the zebra mussel on the Hudson River ecosystem, an ecologically and economically important invasive species that first appeared in the Hudson River in 1991. This study will improve understanding of one of the world's most problematic invaders in aquatic ecosystems, and provide one of very few detailed studies of the long-term effects on a non-native species. The results of this research will continue to be used by government agencies that manage the Hudson River, and should inform management of non-native species in general. Findings will be disseminated by posting research data on open websites, continuing highly successful educational programs to provide data, lesson materials, and training to middle- and high-school teachers and students in the Hudson Valley and New York City school systems, and continuing an active program of public outreach.The researchers will continue measuring population parameters (density, mortality rates and size structure) and filtration rates of zebra mussels, phytoplankton biomass, zooplankton density and species composition, bacteria production, water quality parameters (transparency and nutrient concentrations) and particulate and dissolved Carbon to answer the following questions: (1) How will the long-term changes in the zebra mussel population and its effects continue to develop? (2) Can these changes be explained by relationships between the size and characteristics of the zebra mussel population and the Hudson River ecosystem? (3) How does zebra mussel grazing interact with climate to shape properties of the Hudson River ecosystem? The researchers will use time series and regression models to explore zebra mussel population dynamics and the relationship between zebra mussel filtration rates and various components of the river food web. In addition they will analyze three interactions between zebra mussel invasion and climate: 1) effects of freshwater flow on zebra mussel grazing, 2) effects of water temperature and mussel grazing on phytoplankton biomass and 3) correlations between warm temperature and inter-annual variation in zebra mussel mortality. Five additional years of data will allow the researchers to document the remarkable changes that are now occurring in the Hudson River, and substantially increase the power of statistical models to describe these events.