Collaborative Research FSML: PhytoChop: An estuarine phytoplankton observatory

浮游植物构成水生食物网的基础，在水生生态系统能量、碳和营养物质的转化中发挥着重要作用。浮游植物生物量和物种组成可能会迅速波动，从而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受到很少的限制。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。该观测站位于切萨皮克湾潮汐亚河口、Choptank 河霍恩角实验室的研究码头，将在面向公众的数据门户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演替以及最终到年际尺度的时间尺度上控制浮游植物动态的因素。与最终用户的互动将采取多种形式，包括为科学家开发计算机脚本、为学生开发课程模块、为包括公众在内的所有人提供图像库，以及专门与牡蛎水产养殖界互动的实习机会。该提案旨在建立一个最先进的沿海观测站 PhytoChop，以支持浮游植物群落组成和生态生理学的研究和教育，包括光合和混合营养原生生物和蓝细菌。 PhytoChop 沿海观测站将设在 Horn Point 实验室的研究码头，从切萨皮克湾的中盐潮汐亚河口（Choptank 河）汲水。该观测站将通过结合成像 FlowCytobot (IFCB)、快速重复率荧光计 (FRRF) 和测量限制浮游植物生长的环境参数（温度、光照、营养物质）的仪器来提供高频分类和生理数据。数据收集频率将使浮游植物群落的检查范围涵盖从细胞分裂到季节演替的时间尺度，并最终达到年际尺度。 PhytoChop 沿海观测站产生的数据流将近乎实时地公开提供，以便科学界随时获取 (https://hplmonitoring.umces.edu/)。为了帮助简化课堂内外的数据分析，我们将把用于导入和查询 PhytoChop 海岸观测站数据的脚本（R、Python）存入 GitHub 存储库。该项目产生的数据预计将使广大科学受众受益，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 NSF 的法定使命，并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，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.