Belmont Forum Collaborative Research (BiodivERsA): De-icing of Arctic Coasts: Critical or new opportunities for marine biodiversity and Ecosystem Services?

需要对社会经济和全球环境趋势对生物多样性和生态系统服务的复杂相互作用进行创新研究，以帮助制定更具信息量的情景，以应对环境和人类发展挑战。要克服这些挑战，需要将自然-人类系统相互耦合；改善生物多样性情景；以及生态系统服务，将土地利用变化、外来入侵物种、过度开发、环境变化、污染以及这些驱动因素对生物多样性和生态系统服务的影响模型等直接和间接驱动因素的产出结合在一起。这种整体性方法提供了一种最先进的方法，能够更准确地量化评估生物多样性和生态系统服务的环境共同效益。这项研究建立在这种方法的基础上，以考察北极海冰减少对北极沿海地区生态系统和生态系统服务的影响，因为这些近岸水域是世界上生产力最高的水域之一。该项目美国部分的目标是研究生物多样性和食物网的变化，这些变化是由于北极有冰和无冰海岸季节性变化目前和未来造成的。实地数据将由高分辨率多光谱卫星图像加以扩充。来自其他国家的合作者将得到其相关国家资助机构的支持。研究结果将用于评估栖息地的丧失；海岸侵蚀和泥沙负荷增加对近岸底层栖息地和生物多样性变化的影响；以及这些过程对食物网的连锁影响。这项工作的更广泛影响包括与挪威、波兰、加拿大和丹麦的国际合作。该项目将在国家和对北极感兴趣的社区之间架起桥梁；让从当地社区到国家环境保护机构(包括土著人民)的利益攸关方参与进来；并开发关于受海冰消失影响的北极系统的影响深远和丰富的公共数据资源，供各国和各学科的自然和社会科学家使用。该项目还为北极海岸的可持续社会生态管理制定了框架，这对于矿产、石油、天然气和其他资源开发中新基础设施的规划、建设和可持续性；潜在新航道的选址；以及评估/预测渔业的变化可能非常重要。该项目的其他影响包括将科学与教育相结合，以及培训博士后学者成为下一代国际学者之一。该项目还支持在EPSCoR州(即阿拉斯加)的一个机构中来自科学中性别代表性不足的研究人员。该奖项支持美国研究人员参与一个由来自23个国家的26个资助机构组成的联盟通过贝尔蒙论坛征集关于“生物多样性和生态系统服务的情景”的建议的项目。这一呼吁是一项多边倡议，旨在支持有助于开发情景、模型和决策支持工具的研究项目，以了解和解决地球面临的关键问题。竞赛的目标是改进和应用参与性情景方法，以提高研究的相关性和接受度，并解决影响驱动因素和政策干预的建模方法方面的差距。它还将开发和传播与模型相关的不确定程度，改善数据可获得性，并填补知识空白。基金支持由丹麦、波兰、加拿大、美国和挪威科学家组成的大型国际财团的美国参与者，他们寻求显著提高对北极近岸环境中生物多样性如何受到海冰丧失的影响的理解。参与这一努力的其他国家通过其相关的国家筹资组织提供资金。美国科学家的活动包括提供食物网和其他必要的物理测量，以评估随着北极北部海岸线从季节性结冰海岸转变为无冰海岸，海冰消失对生物多样性的影响。目标物种包括大型藻类、微型底栖生物、浮游植物和冰藻等初级海洋生产者。将分析物种的多样性和与远洋和底栖生物领域初级生产者的食物网连通性。对生境的物理和化学特征的测量将补充和提供生物措施的背景。国际合作者将使用具有高分辨率多光谱卫星图像的遥感，推广来自当地站点的结果，以便在更广泛的地理、泛北极范围内应用。利用叶绿素a(Chla)、悬浮沉积物总量、有色溶解有机物(CDOM)以及近岸植被(如适用)的遥感光学数据，将提供对不同结冰条件下北极海岸关键食物网环境参数的动态、空间和时间变化的见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为是值得支持的。

Innovative research on the complex interaction of socio-economic and global environmental trends on biodiversity and ecosystem services is needed to help develop more informative scenarios for addressing environmental and human development challenges. Coupled natural-human systems; improved scenarios of biodiversity; and ecosystem services that integrate the outputs of both direct and indirect drivers such as land use change, invasive alien species, overexploitation, environmental change, pollution, and models of impacts of these drivers on biodiversity and ecosystem service are needed to overcome these challenges. This type of holistic approach provides a methodological state-of-the art that results in more accurate quantitative assessments and environmental co-benefits of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This research builds on such methodology to examine the impact of sea ice loss in the Arctic on ecosystems and ecosystem services in Arctic coastal regions because these nearshore waters are among some of the most productive in the world. Goals of the US part of the project are to examine biodiversity and food web changes resulting from present and future changes in seasonal ice-covered and ice-free Arctic coasts. Field data will be augmented by high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery. Collaborators from other countries will be supported by their associated national funding agencies. Results of the study will be applied to evaluate habitat loss; the impact increased coastal erosion and sediment loads have on changes in nearshore bottom habitats and biodiversity; and the cascading effects of these processes on food webs. Broader impacts of the work include international collaboration with Norway, Poland, Canada, and Denmark. The project will build bridges between countries and communities with interests in the Arctic; engage stakeholders ranging from local communities to national environmental protection agencies, including indigenous peoples; and develop a far-reaching and rich, public, data resource on Arctic systems impacted by sea ice loss that will be available to natural and social scientists across countries and disciplines. The project also sets a framework for sustainable socio-ecological management of Arctic coasts that could be important for the planning, construction, and sustainability of new infrastructure in the development of mineral, oil, gas, and other resources; the siting of potential new shipping lanes; and assessing/predicting changes in fisheries. Additional impacts of the project include the integration of science and education and training a postdoctoral scholar to become one of the next generation of international scholars. The project also supports a researcher from a gender underrepresented in the sciences at an institution in an EPSCoR state (i.e., Alaska).This award supports US researchers participating in a project competitively selected by a coalition of 26 funding agencies from 23 countries through the Belmont Forum call for proposals on "Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services". The call was a multilateral initiative designed to support research projects that contribute to the development of scenarios, models, and decision-support tools for understanding and solving critical issues facing our planet. The goal of the competition was to improve and apply participatory scenario methods to enhance research relevance and its acceptance as well as to address gaps in methods for modelling impact drivers and policy interventions. It was also to develop and communicate levels of uncertainty associated with the models, to improve data accessibility, and fill gaps in knowledge. Funds support U.S. participants in a large international consortium of Danish, Polish, Canadian, US, and Norwegian scientists who seek to dramatically improve understanding of how the biodiversity of organisms in Arctic nearshore environments are impacted by the loss of sea ice. Participants in this effort from other countries are funded through their associated national funding organizations. Activities of the US scientists include providing food web and other physical measurements required to evaluate the consequences of sea ice loss on biodiversity as northern Arctic coastlines change from seasonal ice-covered to ice-free coasts. Target species include primary marine producers such as macroalgae, microphytobenthos, phytoplankton, and ice algae. Species will be analyzed for diversity and food-web connectivity to primary producers in both pelagic and benthic realms. Measurements of the physical and chemical characteristics of habitats will complement and provide context for the biological measures. International collaborators will use remote sensing with high-resolution multi-spectral satellite imagery to generalize results from local sites to be applicable the wider, geographical, pan-Arctic scale. Remotely sensed optical data of chlorophyll a (Chl a); total suspended sediment; colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM); and, where applicable, nearshore vegetation will be used to provide insights into the dynamic, spatial, and temporal variability of key food-web environmental parameters of Arctic coasts under different icing conditions.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.