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

氮是所有生命所必需的元素。尽管地球的大气层主要是氮气，但动植物并不容易获得。在生命历史的早期，一些微生物通过一种称为固氮的过程，进化出了将大气中的氮转化为生物有用形式的能力。这一过程是全球氮循环的一个主要组成部分，在公海和陆地生态系统中得到了广泛的研究。然而，内陆和沿海水生生态系统的固氮率和生态控制仍然知之甚少。这些生态系统至关重要，因为它们将陆地和海洋生物群联系在一起。它们也相当多样化。对水生固氮的一般理解需要代表不同观点的科学家之间的紧密结合。水生固氮研究协调网络将通过将研究从淡水到海洋连续体的固氮的科学家聚集在一起，开发一个了解水生固氮的生态框架。网络活动将提高不同科学领域的研究生和早期职业科学家的科学发现和培训的质量。水生固氮研究协调网络将提供一个平台，让广泛的生物地球化学家、计算模型师、生态学家、水文学家和微生物学家参与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，以及3)固氮率和命运的提升。侧重于这些机会的三个工作组将通过一系列面对面和在线会议以及通过项目网站(www.aquaticnfix ation.com)在五年期间内进行协调，以相继扩大每个工作组的产品。该项目将通过将生态化学计量学的框架与化学资源的水文运输相结合来推动生态系统科学的发展，以限制内陆和沿海水域生态动态中的固氮率和固定氮命运。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。

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.