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。科学家们很少测量碳从空气到植物，进入土壤和地下水，通过溪流和河流，回到大气中的运动。这项研究将开发新的方法和数据来测量陆地通过淡水的碳循环。该项目还将培训不同的学生和专业人员，以开展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夏季研究项目，以提高K-12学生对研究的理解。与行业合作伙伴的合作将为淡水传感器测量创建共同标准。该项目还将开发开源软件，利用传感器收集的数据改善水质和碳循环研究。陆地碳跨越陆地-水边界的移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。它们是促进对陆地-水碳转移和元生态系统生态学（即，研究由能量和物质转移联系在一起的多种生态系统）。本研究试图回答以下问题：（1）在流域碳平衡中，陆地向水体的碳转移和河流碳排放的幅度和变化是什么？(2)是什么控制着元生态系统中的碳形态、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有何不同？调控碳代谢和排放的因素预计将在不同的空间和时间尺度上运作。环境传感器和水化学取样将在美国各地的成对陆地-水生国家生态观测网（氖）研究地点捕捉碳循环的时间变化和土壤和溪流的损失。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时间整合生物学、地质学和化学的方法，推进对控制流域碳循环的日常、季节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价值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.