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.

波弗特海的浅层大陆架边缘（称为“大陆架断裂”）很容易受到持续气候变化的直接影响。以及为应对与海洋变暖和海冰减少相关的新机遇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，波弗特海大陆架断裂上升流的频率可能会增加，这可能会增加大陆架断裂环境对一系列高营养水平动物的重要性。这项拨款将支持研究，以增加我们对“该地区的营养水平较高，如白鲸&amp；鲸鱼、海鸟和海豹提供了对大气-海洋-浮游生物-捕食者系统联系的机制理解，并预测了环境变化的未来后果和影响。在这个系统中。建立在长期良好关系基础上的实质性沟通计划& & #8232；研究人员与阿拉斯加北坡社区和生计组织之间的联系是为了协调计划的抽样，并将研究结果传达给社区。在两次研究巡航之前和期间，将利用一系列媒体，包括每日电子邮件报告、Facebook网页、博客、当地广播电台采访和传单，在当地传播信息。综合项目&amp；#8232；报告，用简单易懂的英语写的总结报告，以及描述结果的海报&amp；#8232；将分发给北坡社区。项目成员也将展示结果&amp；#8232；在当地的讲座系列或感兴趣的当地组织的研究。Involvement& # 8232;一名K-12教师参加至少一艘游轮。两艘游轮都将配备&amp；#8232；当地社区观察员的参与将在巡航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而富营养的盆地水的频繁上涌。放到架子上。这种上升流不仅是热量、盐和营养物质的短期来源，也是一种促进初级生产（生产反应）的机制，而且还在海洋区域和深层地层或制度之间运输种群（物理反应），潜在地改变生态系统结构和浮游动物和鱼类猎物到上层营养物的可用性。水平的消费者。波弗特海陆架断裂是一个上层油气丰度增强的区域。营养级动物，可能是对猎物数量增加的反应。Here& # 8232;我们建议探索和确定波弗特大陆架断裂沿线大尺度大气强迫、海洋物理响应、猎物基础条件和分布、上层营养动物聚集和气候变化之间的联系机制。我们的首要假设&amp；#8232；是大气强迫（风诱导）沿着大陆架断裂的上升流增加了上层生态系统中中间环节（浮游动物、饲料和鱼类）的觅食机会，从而维持了白鲸等动物对这一环境的利用吗？鲸鱼、海鸟和海豹。这一假设将通过基于船舶的实地考察、配备物理和生物传感器的长期系泊、回顾性和预测模型输出以及长期数据的综合来解决。多种营养水平的分布、丰度、状况和生物学特性将在物理环境动力学的背景下进行描述，以扩大我们对营养联系的理解以及对该系统的大陆架断裂上升流的重要性。物理和生物模型输出和回顾性数据将与在实地项目中获得的机制理解综合起来，以回顾性地表征风力驱动。上层营养级生态系统变异性，并预测生态系统如何响应这些大气驱动因素和冰-海洋条件的未来预测。