CAREER:Unraveling processes for vertical and lateral carbon fluxes in salt marshes: an outdoor laboratory for research and phenomena-driven education

盐沼具有储存大量碳的潜力，因为它们是高产的生态系统，但有机物分解率很低。不幸的是，这些生态系统受到海平面上升、土地利用变化、养分流失和海洋酸化等干扰的威胁。调节碳通量过程的时空动态变化可能最终决定这些生态系统作为碳净源或净汇的作用。该项目将为调节潮汐盐沼中碳通量的生物和物理过程提供新的见解。该项目还有一个重要的教育组成部分，将少数民族科学、技术、工程和数学本科生和研究生纳入研究、教育和推广活动。具体而言，该项目将通过提供研究和交流机会来增强代表性不足的学生的能力，并通过加强学生、科学专业人员和研究人员之间的网络来增强社会资本。我们将在特拉华州的St Jones保护区的潮汐盐沼中建立一个室外实验室，盐沼中的碳循环将作为一种引人入胜的现象来提供现实世界的学习，这样学生就可以探索、检验和使用科学思想来解释盐沼的生态系统功能。该项目将整合多种传感器和技术，以更好地了解控制盐沼碳通量的过程和时间尺度。通过结合多种测量方法，如微气象技术、冠层物候近遥感与沉积物和水碳动态离散采样技术，本项目解决了三个相互关联的研究目标。目的是研究盐沼垂直和横向碳通量背后的生态过程：a)评估植物物物学对生态系统尺度CO2和CH4通量的影响；b)阐明沉积物CO2和CH4对生态系统通量的作用；c)确定潮汐（即小潮与大潮）对垂直和横向碳通量的影响。该项目将为八年级学生提供教育机会，并将与下一代科学标准（NGSS）保持一致。最后，该项目的成果将通过与正在进行的州和国家计划合作的外联活动，为与科学专业人员和决策者的互动提供基线。

Salt marshes have the potential to store large amounts of carbon, because they are highly productive ecosystems but have low organic matter decomposition rates. Unfortunately, these ecosystems are threatened by disturbances such as sea-level rise, land-use change, nutrient runoff, and ocean acidification. Changes in the spatial and temporal dynamics of processes regulating carbon fluxes could ultimately dictate the role of these ecosystems as net sources or sinks of carbon. The project will provide new insights regarding the biological and physical processes that regulate carbon fluxes in tidal salt marshes. The project also has a significant educational component that will integrate minority Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math undergraduate and graduate students into research, educational, and outreach activities. Specifically, the project will empower underrepresented students by providing research and networking opportunities, and to enhance social capital by strengthening the network of students, science professionals, and researchers. An outdoor laboratory will be maintained at a tidal salt marsh at the St Jones Reserve in Delaware, and the carbon cycle in salt marshes will be used as the engaging phenomenon to provide real-world learning, so students can explore, examine, and use science ideas to explain the ecosystem functions of salt marshes.This project will integrate multiple sensors and techniques to better understand the processes and timescales that control carbon fluxes in salt marshes. By combining a variety of measurements such as micrometeorological techniques, near-remote sensing of canopy phenology with discrete sampling techniques of sediment and water carbon dynamics, this project tackles three interrelated research objectives. The goal is to investigate ecological processes underlying vertical and lateral carbon fluxes in salt marshes: a) assess the influence of plant phenology on ecosystem scale CO2 and CH4 fluxes, b) elucidate the role of sediment CO2 and CH4 on ecosystem fluxes, and c) determine the influence of tides (i.e., neap vs. spring tides) on vertical and lateral carbon fluxes. The project will provide educational opportunities for 8th grade students and will be aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Finally, the outcomes of this project will provide a baseline for interaction with science professionals and policy makers through outreach activities in collaboration with ongoing state and national initiatives.