Collaborative Research: The Role of Planktonic Lower Trophic Levels in Carbon and Nitrogen Transformations in the Central Arctic, a MOSAiC Proposal

对北极中部生态的描述仍然很少，尤其是那些在水里漂流一生的微小动物——浮游动物——“谁吃谁”的世界。浮游动物是鱼类、海鸟和须鲸（如弓头鲸）的食物，是海洋食物链的重要成员。MOSAiC（北极气候研究多学科漂流观测站）项目是一个独特的机会，可以在一年中的所有四个季节调查这些未被研究的动物（浮游动物）。这里提议与国际科学团队一起参加MOSAiC探险，研究北极的生物和环境如何影响浮游动物，了解它们在生态系统中的作用（例如，它们吃谁，吃多少），并描述北极环境的变化，如海冰的减少，如何影响它们的生存。更广泛的影响：需要这种理解来预测环境变化如何改变整个北极生态系统，从浮游生物到鱼类到海豹再到人类，以及独特的依赖冰的生态系统是否仍然存在。对北冰洋的生物学进行了长达数年的研究，因为在黑暗、漫长、寒冷的冬天很难到达那里。pi将与我们的一些最年轻的观众，北法尔茅斯MA小学的K-3学生接触，分享我们对北极的迷恋，并向学生介绍浮游生物的世界，以及在结冰的船上的生活和工作。该项目的大量公共宣传将由国际马赛克团队领导。一名博士后研究员和本科生也将参与研究。本研究的重点是浮游生物的低营养水平，并将量化中浮游动物在北冰洋中部生态系统中重要元素（C， N）的生物转化和循环中的作用。pi将与一个国际科学家团队合作，利用浮游生物网、声学和光学方法，确定整个浮游动物群落的丰度、生物量、垂直分布和生命阶段结构的季节性模式。将通过实验测量重要物种的关键生物速率过程，以确定食物网动态的季节性变化，并更好地了解生命周期和生存策略以及它们如何与生产周期时间相关联。营养键将使用同位素比率和分子技术来确定。然后将根据丰度和分布格局、海洋物理环境、海冰质量和范围以及季节来解释这些速率过程和联系。更大的时间和空间背景将通过与MOSAiC建模工作的合作进行量化。这项研究的新颖之处在于，它将通过直接测量重要的生物速率过程，首次对北极中部的浮游食物网动态进行量化，并将利用传统和现代技术来描述和量化营养联系和碳循环。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ecology of Central Arctic remains poorly described, especially the "who eats who" world of the microscopic animals that spend their lives drifting in the water, the zooplankton. Zooplankton are eaten by fish, seabirds, and baleen whales, such as the bowhead whale, and are important members of the ocean food chain. The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) project is a unique chance to investigate these understudied animals (zooplankton) over all four seasons of the year. Here is proposed to participate in the MOSAiC expedition with an international science team to study how the biology and environment of the Arctic affect the zooplankton, to understand their role in the ecosystem (for example, who do they eat and how much), and to describe how changes in the Arctic environment, such as loss of sea ice, may affect their survival. Broader Impacts: This understanding is needed to predict how environmental change might be changing the whole Arctic ecosystem from plankton to fish to seals to humans and if the unique ice-dependent ecosystem will still remain. There have been few year-long studies of the biology of the Arctic Ocean because it is very difficult to get there during the dark, long, cold winter. The PIs will reach out to some of our youngest audiences, K-3 students at North Falmouth MA Elementary, to share our fascination with the Arctic and to introduce the students to the planktonic world and to life and work on board a ship frozen into the ice. Substantial public outreach for the project will be led by the international MOSAiC team. A postdoctoral researcher and undergraduate students will also participate in the research.This proposal focuses on the planktonic lower trophic levels and will quantify the role that the mesozooplankton play in biological transformation and cycling of important elements (C, N) in the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem. Working together with an international team of scientists, the PIs will determine seasonal patterns in abundance, biomass, vertical distribution, and life stage structure for the entire zooplankton community using plankton nets and acoustic and optical methods. Key biological rate processes of important species will be measured experimentally to determine seasonal changes in food web dynamics and to better understand life cycle and survival strategies and how they are linked to production cycle timing. Trophic linkages will be determined using both isotopic ratios and molecular techniques. These rate processes and linkages then will be interpreted in the context of the abundance and distribution patterns, of the physical ocean environment, of sea ice quality and extent, and of season. Greater temporal and spatial context will be quantified through collaborations with MOSAiC modeling efforts. This study is novel in that it would result in the first quantification of the planktonic food web dynamics in the central Arctic through direct measurement of the important biological rate processes and will utilize both traditional and modern techniques to describe and quantify trophic linkages and carbon cycling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.