LTER: Ecological Response and Resilience to “Press-Pulse” Disturbances and a Recent Decadal Reversal in Sea Ice Trends Along the West Antarctic Peninsula

第一部分：所有LTER站点的目标都是针对需要数十年数据并覆盖大地理区域的问题进行与政策相关的生态系统研究。帕尔默南极长期生态研究站自1990年以来一直在运作，一直在研究南极半岛以西的海洋生态系统如何对地球上任何地方一样迅速变化的气候作出反应。这项研究正在评估变暖条件和冰盖减少如何导致开放水域的时间延长，影响生态系统功能的许多方面。该团队正在使用综合尖端方法，包括每年基于船舶的研究巡航，每周小船采样，自动驾驶车辆，动物生物记录，海洋学浮标和海底系泊，基于实验室的过程研究和建模，以评估季节性和年度生态系统响应。这些综合方法使研究生态系统变化所需的规模，以评估短期和长期的驱动因素。研究区域还包括海底峡谷，这些峡谷是WAP内生物活动增强的特殊区域。该研究计划与一个全面的教育和推广计划相结合，以促进南极科学和研究的全球意义。除了为研究生和本科生提供培训外，他们还将新开发的极地识字原则作为虚拟校园计划的基础，该计划共享极地教学材料，并为K-12教育工作者提供学习机会。PAL-LTER团队还为课外活动和夏令营项目开发了课外活动材料，并与大学、博物馆和4-H特殊兴趣俱乐部合作伙伴分享了Palmer LTER的特定教学材料。第2部分：技术咨询极地生态系统是地球上变化最快的生态系统之一。Palmer LTER（PAL-LTER）计划建立在沿着南极半岛西侧（WAP）三十年的协调研究基础上，以获得对生态系统变化的新的机制和预测性理解，以应对跨越长期十年（“压力”）驱动因素的干扰和高频（“脉冲”）驱动因素造成的变化，如大风暴和海冰覆盖的极端季节性异常。调节海冰、天气和海洋条件变化以推动生态系统结构和功能变化的主要自然气候模式的影响（例如，厄尔尼诺南方涛动和南方环形模式）正在多个时间尺度上进行研究-从昼夜、季节、年际到十年间隔，以及空间尺度-从半球到全球尺度，通过遥感调查，区域尺度。具体而言，该团队正在评估物理特性（如垂直和沿岸连通性过程）的变化如何相互作用，以调节WAP地区的地球化学循环和社区生态。 这项研究正在评估生态系统的复原力以及对长期“压力脉冲”驱动因素和海冰覆盖率十年逆转的生态反应。该项目提供了对经历深刻变化的海洋生态系统的人口和生物地球化学反应的基本理解。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Part 1: Non-technical description The goal of all LTER sites is to conduct policy-relevant ecosystem research for questions that require tens of years of data and cover large geographical areas. The Palmer Antarctica Long Term Ecological Research (PAL-LTER) site has been in operation since 1990 and has been studying how the marine ecosystem west of the Antarctica Peninsula (WAP) is responding to a climate that is changing as rapidly as any place on the Earth. The study is evaluating how warming conditions and decreased ice cover leading to extended periods of open water are affecting many aspects of ecosystem function. The team is using combined cutting-edge approaches including yearly ship-based research cruises, small-boat weekly sampling, autonomous vehicles, animal biologging, oceanographic floats and seafloor moorings, manipulative lab-based process studies and modeling to evaluate both seasonal and annual ecosystem responses. These combined approaches are allowing for the study the ecosystem changes at scales needed to assess both short-term and long-term drivers. The study region also includes submarine canyons that are special regions of enhanced biological activity within the WAP. This research program is paired with a comprehensive education and outreach program promoting the global significance of Antarctic science and research. In addition to training for graduate and undergraduate students, they are using newly-developed Polar Literacy Principles as a foundation in a virtual schoolyard program that shares polar instructional materials and provides learning opportunities for K-12 educators. The PAL-LTER team is also leveraging the development of Out of School Time materials for afterschool and summer camp programs, sharing Palmer LTER-specific teaching materials with University, Museum, and 4-H Special Interest Club partners.Part 2: Technical descriptionPolar ecosystems are among the most rapidly changing on Earth. The Palmer LTER (PAL-LTER) program builds on three decades of coordinated research along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) to gain new mechanistic and predictive understanding of ecosystem changes in response to disturbances spanning long-term decadal (‘press’) drivers and changes due to higher-frequency (‘pulse’) drivers, such as large storms and extreme seasonal anomaly in sea ice cover. The influence of major natural climate modes that modulate variations in sea ice, weather, and oceanographic conditions to drive changes in ecosystem structure and function (e.g., El Niño Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode) are being studied at multiple time scales –from diel, seasonal, interannual, to decadal intervals, and space scales–from hemispheric to global scale investigated by remote sensing, the regional scales. Specifically, the team is evaluating how variability of physical properties (such as vertical and alongshore connectivity processes) interact to modulate biogeochemical cycling and community ecology in the WAP region. The study is providing an evaluation of ecosystem resilience and ecological responses to long-term “press-pulse” drivers and a decadal-level reversal in sea ice coverage. This program is providing fundamental understanding of population and biogeochemical responses for a marine ecosystem experiencing profound change.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.