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Macroinvertebrate Ecosystem Engineers Mediate Whole-Stream Metabolism and Nutrient Uptake

大型无脊椎动物生态系统工程师调节全流代谢和养分吸收

基本信息

批准号：
1945941
负责人：
Lindsey Albertson
金额：
$ 116.68万
依托单位：
Montana State University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2020-01-15 至 2024-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1945941&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Macroinvertebrate Ecosystem Engineers Mediate Whole

项目摘要

Many stream insects are highly sensitive to changes in water quality -- so much so that scientists use the presence or absence of certain stream insect species as indicators of water quality in rivers and streams. Yet evidence suggests that the reverse may also be true: the activity of stream insects in stream beds may help regulate water quality in streams in surprising ways. This award will document how stream insects alter the exchange of water between stream channels and underlying gravels of the streambed. This exchange can transport pollutants from the stream channel into the streambed. In the streambed, microbes break down the pollutants, providing a natural mechanism to remove pollutants from streams. Thus, these stream insects may alter these important water exchange rates while also providing new habitat for microbes. Researchers will investigate the ways in which stream insects may play in controlling processes that naturally cleanse rivers of pollutants and thereby facilitate the maintenance of high water quality in streams. Students from elementary through postgraduate will be trained and a video produced to highlight the importance of stream insects in the water quality of streams.Specifically, researchers will investigate how caddisfly activity in the streambed alters river and stream biogeochemical cycling by: (i) regulating streambed hydraulic conductivity, hydrologic exchange, and resultant nutrient processing, and (ii) influencing microbial metabolism and associated nutrient processing by altering habitat conditions and niche opportunities for streambed microbial biofilms. The project will use a suite of laboratory flume experiments and field enclosure experiments to quantify the impacts of caddisfly silk nets and retreats on hydraulic conductivity and streambed residence time distribution for water, as well as documenting how silk nets and retreats alter streambed microbial habitats and associated expression of metabolic pathways. Researchers will then integrate experimental results into a stream ecosystem model to understand the relative contribution of caddisfly-driven changes to hydrology versus changes to microbial communities in regulating whole-stream respiration and nutrient processing at the river reach scale. This study will be the first to: (i) quantify how macroinvertebrates (in this case, caddisflies) alter streambed hydrology in gravel-bedded rivers and streams, (ii) quantify how macroinvertebrate ecosystem engineers can influence microbial communities and their metabolic pathways, and (iii) develop a novel modeling approach to predict nutrient uptake under scenarios for animal-altered hydrology and microbial activity. The results from these studies will identify new biological considerations to be incorporated into theoretical and empirical models of river water flow dynamics and ecosystem functioning by bridging the disciplines of ecosystem ecology, aquatic entomology, and hydrology. Public outreach via a video and education will spanning elementary to postgraduate will highlight the importance of macroinvertebrates in altering hydrology, biogeochemistry, and metabolism of streams.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.

许多溪流昆虫对水质的变化非常敏感，以至于科学家们使用某些溪流昆虫物种的存在或不存在作为河流和溪流水质的指标。然而，有证据表明，反过来也可能是正确的：溪床中的溪虫活动可能以令人惊讶的方式帮助调节溪流的水质。该奖项将记录溪流昆虫如何改变河道和河床底层砾石之间的水交换。这种交换可以将污染物从河道输送到河床。在河床中，微生物分解污染物，提供了一种自然机制来去除河流中的污染物。因此，这些溪流昆虫可能会改变这些重要的水交换率，同时也为微生物提供新的栖息地。研究人员将调查溪流昆虫在控制过程中的作用，这些过程可以自然地清除河流中的污染物，从而促进维持溪流中的高水质。从小学到研究生的学生将接受培训，并制作一段视频，以强调溪流昆虫在溪流水质中的重要性。具体而言，研究人员将通过以下方式调查河床中的石蛾活动如何改变河流和溪流的生态地球化学循环：（i）调节河床水力传导率、水文交换以及由此产生的营养物处理，以及（ii）通过改变河床微生物生物膜的生境条件和生态位机会来影响微生物代谢和相关的营养物处理。该项目将使用一套实验室水槽实验和野外封闭实验来量化石蛾丝网和撤退对水的水力传导性和河床停留时间分布的影响，以及记录丝网和撤退如何改变河床微生物栖息地和相关的代谢途径表达。然后，研究人员将把实验结果整合到河流生态系统模型中，以了解石蛾驱动的水文变化与微生物群落变化在河流河段尺度上调节全流呼吸和营养物处理的相对贡献。这项研究将是第一个：（i）量化大型无脊椎动物（在这种情况下，石蛾）如何改变河床水文砾石层河流和溪流，（ii）量化大型无脊椎动物生态系统工程师如何影响微生物群落及其代谢途径，以及（iii）开发一种新的建模方法来预测动物改变水文和微生物活动的情况下的营养吸收。从这些研究的结果将确定新的生物考虑纳入河流水流动力学和生态系统功能的理论和经验模型，通过桥接生态系统生态学，水生昆虫学和水文学的学科。通过视频和教育将涵盖小学到研究生的公众宣传将突出大型无脊椎动物在改变水文学，生物地球化学和溪流代谢方面的重要性。该奖项反映了NSF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。