Collaborative Proposal: MRA: Linking land-to-water transport and stream carbon cycling to inform macrosystem carbon balance

碳是生态系统的能源货币。溪流和河流的碳排放是大气碳的重要来源。科学家很少测量碳从空气到植物，再到土壤和地下水，通过溪流和河流，再回到大气的移动。这项研究将开发新的方法和数据来测量淡水中的陆地碳循环。该项目还将培训不同的学生和专业人员进行将陆地和淡水碳流联系起来的研究。教育工作者将使用环境传感器和公共数据集完成暑期研究项目，以加强K-12学生对研究的理解。与行业合作伙伴的合作将制定淡水传感器测量的共同标准。该项目还将开发开源软件，以改善水质，并利用传感器收集的数据进行碳循环研究。陆地碳跨越陆地-水边界的运动控制着流域的碳平衡和淡水生态系统的新陈代谢。河流是陆地生态系统和淡水生态系统之间的主要界面。它们是促进理解陆地-水碳转移和元生态系统生态学(即研究通过能量和物质转移连接的多个生态系统)的理想试验台。本研究试图回答以下问题：(1)流域碳平衡中陆地到水的碳转移和河流碳排放的大小和变异性是什么？(2)是什么控制了元生态系统中碳的形态、循环和命运？(3)美国不同地区的元生态系统碳循环在年内和年间是如何变化的？碳代谢和碳排放的调控因素预计将在不同的空间和时间尺度上发挥作用。环境传感器和水化学采样将捕捉美国各地成对的陆地-水生国家生态观测网(NEON)研究站点的碳循环和土壤和溪流中碳损失的时间变异性。项目成果将通过跨越陆地-水边界的测量和模型，以及跨空间和跨时间整合生物、地质和化学的方法，促进对控制分水岭碳循环的每日、季节性和年度过程的预测性理解。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，被认为值得支持。

Carbon is the energy currency of ecosystems. Carbon emissions from streams and rivers are important sources of carbon to the atmosphere. Scientists rarely measure the movement of carbon from air to plants, into soils and groundwater, through streams and rivers, and back to the atmosphere. This research will develop new methods and data to measure terrestrial carbon cycling through freshwaters. This project will also train diverse students and professionals to conduct research linking terrestrial and freshwater carbon flows. Educators will complete summer research projects using environmental sensors and public datasets to enhance K-12 student understanding of research. Collaborations with industry partners will create common standards for freshwater sensor measurements. The project will also develop open-source software to improve water quality and carbon cycling research with data collected by sensors. The movement of terrestrial carbon across land-water boundaries controls the carbon balance of watersheds and the metabolism of freshwater ecosystems. Streams are the primary interface between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. They are ideal testbeds to advance understanding of land-water carbon transfers and meta-ecosystem ecology (i.e., the study of multiple ecosystems linked by energy and material transfers). This research seeks to answer the questions: (1) What is the magnitude and variability of land-to-water carbon transfers and stream carbon emissions in watershed carbon balances? (2) What controls carbon form, cycling, and fate in meta-ecosystems? (3) How does meta-ecosystem carbon cycling in different parts of the United States vary within and among years? The factors regulating carbon metabolism and emissions are predicted to operate at different spatial and temporal scales. Environmental sensors and water chemistry sampling will capture the temporal variability in carbon cycling and losses in soils and streams at paired terrestrial-aquatic National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) research sites across the United States. Project outcomes will advance a predictive understanding of the daily, seasonal, and annual processes controlling watershed carbon cycling through measurements and models that cross land-water boundaries and approaches that integrate biology, geology, and chemistry across space and time.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.