Collaborative Research FSML: PhytoChop: An estuarine phytoplankton observatory

浮游植物是水生食物网的基础，在水生生态系统的能量、碳和养分转化中起着重要作用。浮游植物生物量和物种组成可以迅速波动，产生生态甚至毒理学后果，但在沿海和河口环境中控制这些动态的因素仍然很少受到限制。该项目建立了PhytoChop海岸观测站，这是一个自主仪器阵列，旨在持续监测浮游植物群落的组成和光合活性。该观测站位于切萨皮克湾（Chesapeake Bay） Choptank河潮汐河口的Horn Point实验室研究码头，将在面向公众的数据门户网站上提供描述浮游植物组成和活动的图像和定量数据。该项目将提供数据，使人们能够更深入地了解在时间尺度上控制浮游植物动态的因素，从细胞分裂到季节演替，最终到年际尺度。与终端用户的接触将采取几种形式，包括为科学家开发计算机脚本，为学生开发课程模块，为包括公众在内的每个人开发图像库，以及专门与牡蛎养殖社区接触的实习。该提案旨在建立一个最先进的海岸观测站，PhytoChop，以支持浮游植物群落组成和生态生理学的研究和教育，包括光合作用和混合营养原生生物和蓝藻。PhytoChop海岸观测站将被安置在Horn Point实验室的研究码头上，从切萨皮克湾（Chesapeake Bay）的中盐潮次河口（Choptank River）取水。该观测站将结合成像流式细胞仪（IFCB）、快速重复率荧光仪（FRRF）和测量限制浮游植物生长的环境参数（温度、光线、营养）的仪器，提供高频分类和生理数据。数据收集频率将能够从从细胞分裂到季节演替的时间尺度，最终到年际尺度，对浮游植物群落进行检查。PhytoChop海岸观测站产生的数据流将在接近实时的情况下公开提供，以便科学界随时可以在（https://hplmonitoring.umces.edu/）上获得。为了帮助简化课堂内外的数据分析，我们将把导入和查询PhytoChop Coastal Observatory数据的脚本（R, Python）存入GitHub存储库。该项目产生的数据预计将使广泛的科学受众受益，包括浮游植物生态学家和生理学家以及沿海和河口生态系统生态学家。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。

Phytoplankton form the base of aquatic foodwebs and play a fundamental role in the transformation of energy, carbon, and nutrients in aquatic ecosystems. Phytoplankton biomass and species composition can fluctuate rapidly, with ecological and even toxicological consequences, yet the factors that govern these dynamics in coastal and estuarine environments remains poorly constrained. This project establishes the PhytoChop Coastal Observatory, an autonomous instrument array designed to continuously monitor the composition and photosynthetic activity of the phytoplankton community. The observatory, located at Horn Point Laboratory’s research pier situated on a tidal sub-estuary of Chesapeake Bay, the Choptank River, will provide images and quantitative data describing phytoplankton composition and activity on a public-facing data portal. The project will provide data that will enable a deeper understanding of the factors that govern phytoplankton dynamics at time scales ranging from cellular division to seasonal succession and eventually to interannual scales. Engagement with end-users will take several forms, including the development of computer scripts for scientists, course modules for students, image libraries for everyone including the general public, and an internship to specifically engage with the oyster aquaculture community. This proposal seeks to establish a state-of-the-art coastal observatory, PhytoChop, to support research and education on the community composition and ecophysiology of phytoplankton, including photosynthetic and mixotrophic protists and cyanobacteria. The PhytoChop Coastal Observatory will be housed at Horn Point Laboratory’s research pier drawing water from a mesohaline tidal sub-estuary of Chesapeake Bay, the Choptank River. The observatory will provide high frequency taxonomic and physiological data by combining an Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB), a Fast-Repetition Rate Fluorometer (FRRF), and instrumentation to measure environmental parameters that constrain phytoplankton growth (temperature, light, nutrients). Data collection frequency will enable examination of the phytoplankton community from time scales spanning from cell division to seasonal succession, and eventually to interannual scales. The data stream resulting from the PhytoChop Coastal Observatory will be made publicly available in near-real time to be readily available to the scientific community at (https://hplmonitoring.umces.edu/). To help streamline data analysis in the classroom and beyond, we will deposit scripts (R, Python) that import and query PhytoChop Coastal Observatory data into a GitHub repository. Data resulting from this project is anticipated to benefit a broad scientific audience including phytoplankton ecologists and physiologists and coastal and estuarine ecosystem ecologists.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.