Collaborative Research: The Importance of Shelf Break Upwelling to Upper Trophic Level Ecology in the Western Beaufort Sea

合作研究：陆架破裂上升流对波弗特海西部高营养层生态的重要性

• 批准号: 1603941
• 负责人: Carin Ashjian
• 金额: $ 104.95万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-10-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1603941&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Importance; Shelf; Break

The edge of the shallow continental shelf (called the 'shelf break') in the Beaufort Sea is vulnerable both to direct impacts of ongoing climate change
and to indirect impacts that may result from increased human activity in response to new opportunities associated with ocean warming and sea ice reduction. Beaufort Sea shelf break upwelling may be increasing in frequency in response to recent large-scale atmospheric changes, potentially increasing the importance of the shelf-break environment for a range of upper trophic level animals. This grant will support research to increase our understanding of the importance of
the region to upper trophic levels such as beluga
whales, seabirds, and seals, provide a mechanistic understanding of the linked atmosphere-ocean- plankton-predator system, and predict future consequences and impacts of environmental change
on this system. A substantial communications program built upon long-standing, well-established relationships
between the researchers and Alaska North Slope communities and subsistence organizations is planned both to coordinate the planned sampling and to convey the results of the research back to the communities. Information will be disseminated locally before and during two research cruises using a range of media including daily email reports, Facebook pages, blogs, interviews on local radio stations, and flyers. A comprehensive project
report, a summary report written in straightforward English, and a poster describing results
will be disseminated to the North Slope communities. Project members will also present results
of the research in local lecture series or to interested local organizations. Involvement
of a K-12 teacher in at least one of the cruises is planned. Both cruises will have
the participation of a local community observer who will communicate directly with local communities during the cruise and share local knowledge with the science party. The Beaufort Sea shelf break experiences frequent upwelling of deep, nutrient rich basin water
onto the shelf. Such upwelling is not only a short-term source of heat, salt, and nutrients, and a mechanism promoting elevated primary production (production response), but it also transports populations between ocean regions and depth strata or regimes (physical response), potentially modifying ecosystem structure and availability of zooplankton and fish prey to upper trophic
level consumers. The Beaufort Sea shelf break is a domain of enhanced abundance of upper
trophic level animals, presumably in response to elevated availability of their prey. Here
we propose to explore and identify the mechanisms linking broad-scale atmospheric forcing, ocean physical response, prey-base condition and distribution, upper trophic level animal aggregations, and climate change along the Beaufort Shelf break. Our overarching hypothesis
is that atmospherically-forced (wind-induced) upwelling along this shelf break leads to enhanced feeding opportunities for intermediate links in the pelagic ecosystem (zooplankton, forage
fish) that in turn sustain the exploitation of this environment by animals such as beluga
whales, seabirds, and seals. This hypothesis will be addressed using a combination of ship-based fieldwork, long-term moorings equipped with physical and biological sensors, and syntheses of retrospective and projected model output and longer-term data. The distributions, abundances, condition, and biology of multiple trophic levels will
be described within the context of the dynamics of the physical environment to expand our understanding of trophic linkages and the importance of shelf-break upwelling to that system. Physical and biological model output and retrospective data will be synthesized with the mechanistic understanding gained during the field program to retrospectively characterize wind-driven
upper trophic level ecosystem variability and predict how the ecosystem may respond to future projections of these atmospheric drivers and ice-ocean conditions.

波弗特海浅层大陆架边缘（称为“陆架断裂”）既容易受到持续气候变化的直接影响，也容易受到因海洋变暖和海冰减少带来的新机会而增加的人类活动可能造成的间接影响。由于最近大规模的大气变化，波弗特海陆架断裂上升流的频率可能会增加，这可能会增加陆架断裂环境对一系列上营养级动物的重要性。这笔赠款将支持研究，以加深我们对该地区对白鲸、海鸟和海豹等上层营养层的重要性的了解，提供对相互关联的大气-海洋-浮游生物-捕食者系统的机械理解，并预测环境变化对该系统的未来后果和影响。计划在研究人员与阿拉斯加北坡社区和生存组织之间建立长期、牢固的关系基础上建立一个实质性的沟通计划，以协调计划的采样并将研究结果传达回社区。在两次研究航行之前和期间，将使用一系列媒体在当地传播信息，包括每日电子邮件报告、Facebook 页面、博客、当地广播电台的采访和传单。一份综合项目报告、一份用简单英语编写的总结报告以及一张描述结果的海报将分发给北坡社区。项目成员还将在当地系列讲座中或向感兴趣的当地组织展示研究成果。计划让一名 K-12 教师参与至少一次巡游。两次巡游都将有当地社区观察员参与，他将在巡游期间直接与当地社区沟通，并与科学小组分享当地知识。波弗特海陆架断裂经历了深层、营养丰富的盆地水频繁上涌到陆架上。这种上升流不仅是热量、盐和营养物质的短期来源，也是促进初级生产力提高的机制（生产响应），而且还可以在海洋区域和深层地层或区域之间运输种群（物理响应），可能改变生态系统结构以及浮游动物和鱼类猎物对上层营养级消费者的可用性。波弗特海陆架断裂带是上层营养级动物数量增加的区域，这可能是为了应对猎物数量增加的情况。在这里，我们建议探索和确定波弗特陆架断裂沿线的大范围大气强迫、海洋物理响应、猎物基础条件和分布、上层营养级动物聚集和气候变化之间的联系机制。我们的总体假设是，沿着这个陆架断裂的大气强迫（风引起的）上升流导致了中上层生态系统中间环节（浮游动物、饲料鱼）的进食机会增加，从而维持了白鲸、海鸟和海豹等动物对这一环境的利用。这一假设将通过结合船基现场工作、配备物理和生物传感器的长期系泊以及回顾性和预测模型输出以及长期数据的综合来解决。将在物理环境动态的背景下描述多个营养级的分布、丰度、条件和生物学，以扩大我们对营养级联系以及陆架破裂上升流对该系统的重要性的理解。物理和生物模型输出以及回顾性数据将与实地计划期间获得的机制理解相结合，以回顾性地描述风驱动的高营养级生态系统的变异性，并预测生态系统如何响应这些大气驱动因素和冰海条件的未来预测。