EAGER: CITIZEN SCIENCE BASED WATER QUALITY MONITORING IN UTAH LAKE

渴望：基于公民科学的犹他湖水质监测

• 批准号: 1743412
• 负责人: Ramesh Goel
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1743412&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; CITIZEN; SCIENCE; BASED; WATER

Cyanobacteria are a type of bacteria that can be found in almost every land and water environment, including oceans, lakes, and soils, and they are known to form extensive blooms in both freshwater and saltwater environments. Cyanobacteria are a growing concern for drinking water utilities, so understanding why cyanobacteria form blooms is a major focus of lake and ecological research. These blooms are termed harmful algal blooms (HABs), and in many cases, the prediction of HABs is not possible because of the unavailability of good data sets. Involving a large number of citizens in scientific data collection has the potential to help address this problem. In this project, a citizen science-based water quality program is being developed with Utah Lake, Utah as a model water body. The specific objectives of this citizen science project are to select and train citizen scientists in water quality data monitoring, to engage trained citizens in water quality data collection, to gather and validate the data collected by citizen scientists, and finally to develop a plan for a long term and sustainable citizen science-based water quality monitoring program. In this research project, a citizen science-based water quality monitoring program is being established to increase public participation in decision making and to enable sustainable management of surface water quality. The scientific hypotheses are; (1) Utah Lake is phosphorus limited and the magnitude of internal and external phosphorus loads are similar over space and time, (2) genetic tools based on DNA sequencing of environmental samples can provide an improved resolution of cyanobacterial ecology (including novel species) in the lake under different environmental factors and elucidate the active role of other flanking bacterial communities during HABs events, and (3) participatory education and outreach approaches can be used to develop management strategies that are embraced by stakeholders throughout the watershed and thus implemented on a broader basis. The most significant broader impact of this research is the training and involvement of citizen scientists in water quality research that may aid regulatory decision making. Graduate and undergraduate students are also being trained in this project.

蓝细菌是一种几乎可以在每一个陆地和水环境中发现的细菌，包括海洋，湖泊和土壤，并且已知它们在淡水和盐水环境中形成广泛的水华。蓝藻是一个日益关注的饮用水设施，所以了解为什么蓝藻形成水华是湖泊和生态研究的主要焦点。这些水华被称为有害藻华，在许多情况下，由于缺乏良好的数据集，无法预测有害藻华。让大量公民参与科学数据收集有可能有助于解决这一问题。在这个项目中，一个以公民科学为基础的水质计划正在以犹他州的犹他州湖为模型水体进行开发。这个公民科学项目的具体目标是选择和培训公民科学家进行水质数据监测，让受过培训的公民参与水质数据收集，收集和验证公民科学家收集的数据，最后制定一个长期和可持续的公民科学水质监测计划。在这个研究项目中，正在建立一个以公民科学为基础的水质监测计划，以增加公众参与决策，并使地表水质量的可持续管理。科学假设是：（1）犹他州湖是磷限制的，并且内部和外部磷负荷的大小在空间和时间上是相似的，（2）基于环境样品的DNA测序的遗传工具可以提供对蓝藻生态学的改进的分辨率（包括新物种）在不同环境因子下的湖泊，阐明其他侧翼细菌群落在赤潮事件中的积极作用，（3）参与式教育和推广方法可用于制定管理战略，这些战略得到整个流域利益相关者的拥护，从而在更广泛的基础上得到实施。这项研究的最重要的广泛影响是培训和参与公民科学家在水质研究，可能有助于监管决策。研究生和本科生也正在接受这一项目的培训。