Aquatic N2-Fixation Research Coordination Network (ANF-RCN)

氮是一切生命所必需的元素。虽然地球大气的主要成分是氮，但植物和动物并不容易获得氮。在生命历史的早期，一些微生物进化出了通过固氮过程将大气中的氮转化为生物上有用的形式的能力。这一过程是全球氮循环的主要组成部分，在开放海洋和陆地生态系统中得到了广泛的研究。然而，对内陆和沿海水生生态系统的固氮率和生态控制仍知之甚少。这些生态系统至关重要，因为它们连接着陆地和海洋生物群落。它们也很多样化。对水生固氮的一般理解需要不同观点的科学家之间的强大整合。水生固氮研究协调网络将通过将科学家聚集在一起研究淡水到海洋连续体的固氮作用，为理解水生固氮作用建立一个生态框架。网络活动将提高科学发现的质量，并为不同科学领域的研究生和早期职业科学家提供培训。水生固氮研究协调网络将为生物地球化学家、计算建模者、生态学家、水文学家和微生物学家提供一个平台，以解决三个研究协调机会：1)自养和异养固氮的生物多样性和环境控制，2)固氮的生态化学计量学，以及3)固氮速率和速率的升级。专注于这些机会的三个工作组将在五年内通过一系列面对面和在线会议以及通过项目网站（www.aquaticnfixation.com）进行协调，以依次建立每个小组的产品。该项目将通过将生态化学计量学框架与化学资源的水文运输相结合，在内陆和沿海水域的生态动态中限制固氮率和固定氮命运，从而推进生态系统科学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Nitrogen is an essential element for all life. Although Earth’s atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, it is not readily available for plants and animals. Early in the history of life, some microorganisms evolved the ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a biologically useful form through a process called nitrogen fixation. This process is a major component of the global nitrogen cycle and has been extensively studied in open-ocean and terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, nitrogen fixation rates and ecological controls remain poorly understood in inland and coastal aquatic ecosystems. These ecosystems are critical as they link terrestrial and marine biomes. They are also quite diverse. A general understanding of aquatic nitrogen fixation requires strong integration between scientists representing diverse perspectives. The Aquatic Nitrogen Fixation Research Coordination Network will develop an ecological framework for understanding aquatic nitrogen fixation by bringing together scientists studying nitrogen fixation across the freshwater to marine continuum. Network activities will improve the quality of scientific discovery and training for graduate students and early career scientists across diverse fields of science.The Aquatic Nitrogen Fixation Research Coordination Network will provide a platform to engage a broad community of biogeochemists, computational modelers, ecologists, hydrologists and microbiologists to address three Research Coordination Opportunities: 1) the biodiversity and environmental controls on autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrogen fixation, 2) the ecological stoichiometry of nitrogen fixation, and 3) the upscaling of nitrogen fixation rates and fates. Three working groups focused on these opportunities will coordinate over a period of five years through a series of face-to-face and online meetings, as well as through the project website (www.aquaticnfixation.com) to successively build upon the products from each group. The project will advance ecosystem science by integrating the framework of ecological stoichiometry with the hydrologic transport of chemical resources to constrain nitrogen fixation rates and fixed nitrogen fates within the ecological dynamics of inland and coastal waters.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.