NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Leaky Landscapes: Using Arctic catchments to assess ecosystem 'openness'

这项行动资助了2019财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。该项目旨在了解变暖的北极地区陆地和水生生态系统之间的联系。国际社会和北极长期生态研究实地考察站已经确定了这一科学挑战。由于气候变化，北极生态系统正在发生迅速和系统性的变化。变化的一个关键因素是永久冻土融化，这使得以前被困的营养物质在北极景观中“泄漏”，尽管对泄漏物质的最终命运几乎没有达成一致。为了填补这一知识空白，该项目将对河流水质进行持续和地理范围广泛的监测，以揭示影响从土地到河流的营养物释放的景观特征。此外，该研究员将通过使用技术弥合实地与课堂之间的差距，提高公众对独特但具有全球意义的北极生态系统的认识。该研究员将在密歇根州立大学主持，与图里克野外站的北极LTER和凯洛格生物站LTER合作。博士后研究员将利用现有和计划中的LTER数据收集，在地块和流域尺度上整合北极生态理解。该项目将创建一系列研究产品，水文学家，生态学家和地球化学家对此具有广泛的兴趣，包括：1）分析尚未应用于北极的流域水文和水化学的天气和连续数据，以及2）提高对北极生态系统“热点”营养通量的基本理解。此外，该研究与教育计划相结合，旨在增加北极研究中代表性不足的群体的参与，分三个阶段进行：1）与凯洛格生物站教师培训研讨会合作开发K-12课程计划，2）将这些教学计划作为开源数据掘金，3）通过免费和广泛的“Skype科学家”计划覆盖K-12教室。该项目将扩大密歇根州立大学和北极LTER目前的努力，旨在了解水化学的命运和运输，并将直接连接到凯洛格生物站LTER的外展使命。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The project seeks to understand the connection between land and aquatic ecosystems in a warming Arctic. This scientific challenge has been identified by the international community and Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) field stations in the Arctic. The Arctic ecosystem is being altered rapidly and systematically as a result of the changing climate. One critical element of change is permafrost thaw, which allows previously trapped nutrients to 'leak' in Arctic landscapes, although there is little agreement about the ultimate fate of the leaked material. To fill this knowledge gap, the project will use continuous and geographically extensive monitoring of river water quality to reveal landscape features that influence nutrient release from land to streams. In addition, the fellow will enhance public awareness of unique but globally-significant Arctic ecosystems through the use of technology to bridge the field to classroom gap. Hosted at Michigan State University, the fellow will work in partnership with the Arctic LTER at Toolik Field Station and Kellogg Biological Station LTER.The postdoctoral fellow will use existing and planned LTER data collection to integrate Arctic ecological understanding at the plot and watershed-scales. The project will create a number of research products with broad interest to hydrologists, ecologists, and biogeochemists, including: 1) Analyses of synoptic and continuous data of catchment hydrology and hydrochemistry that have not yet been applied to the Arctic, and 2) Improved fundamental understanding of Arctic ecosystem 'hotspots' for nutrient fluxes. Further, the research is integrated with an education plan aimed at increasing participation of under-represented groups in Arctic research in three stages: 1) Developing K-12 lesson plans in partnership with Kellogg Biological Station Teacher Training Workshops, 2) Publishing these teaching plans as open-source Data Nuggets, and 3) Reaching K-12 classrooms through the free and broad-reaching 'Skype a Scientist' program. The project will expand current efforts at Michigan State University and the Arctic LTER aimed at understanding hydrochemical fate and transport, and will directly link to the Kellogg Biological Station LTER's outreach mission.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.