Collaborative Research FSML: PhytoChop: An estuarine phytoplankton observatory

浮游植物构成了水生食物网的基础，并在水生生态系统中的能量、碳和营养物质的转化中发挥着重要作用。浮游植物的生物量和物种组成可以迅速波动，生态，甚至毒理学的后果，但在沿海和河口环境中，这些动态管理的因素仍然没有得到很好的约束。该项目建立了PhytoChop沿海观测站，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作用活动。该观测站位于霍恩角实验室的研究码头，位于乔普坦河切萨皮克湾的潮汐子河口，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从细胞分裂到季节性演替，最终到年际尺度的浮游植物动态的支配因素。与最终用户的接触将采取多种形式，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合作的实习。该提案旨在建立一个最先进的沿海观测站PhytoChop，以支持关于浮游植物群落组成和生态生理学的研究和教育，包括光合和兼养原生生物和蓝细菌。PhytoChop海岸观测站将设在霍恩角实验室的研究码头，从Choptank河切萨皮克湾的中盐潮汐子河口取水。该观测站将提供高频分类学和生理学数据，方法是将成像流式细胞机器人、快速重复率荧光计和测量制约浮游植物生长的环境参数（温度、光照、营养物）的仪器结合起来。数据收集频率将使检查浮游植物群落的时间尺度从细胞分裂到季节性演替，并最终到年际尺度。PhytoChop沿海观测站产生的数据流将以接近实时的方式公开提供给科学界（https：//hplmonitoring.umces.edu/）。为了帮助简化课堂内外的数据分析，我们将存款脚本（R，Python）导入和查询PhytoChop海岸观测站数据到GitHub存储库。从这个项目产生的数据预计将有利于广泛的科学观众，包括浮游植物生态学家和生理学家和沿海和河口生态系统ecologists.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

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.