Collaborative Proposal: MRA: Teleconnections Among Great Plains NEON Sites by Wind and Wing

合作提案：MRA：Wind 和 Wing 大平原 NEON 站点之间的远程连接

• 批准号: 2027378
• 负责人: Christopher Patrick
• 金额: $ 28.63万
• 依托单位: College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-02-06 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2027378&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Proposal; MRA; Teleconnections; Among

While most wetlands and ponds are physically isolated, their communities are linked over years and long distances, through a process called "teleconnections." These exchanges occur via atmospheric processes, temporary aquatic connections, natural 'hitchhiking' on other migrating animals, and dispersal by humans. Aquatic systems where these can be studied include Great Plains ephemeral wetlands. These systems, such as playas and prairie potholes, are abundant in grassland ecoregions and support resident invertebrate species, amphibians, and migrating waterfowl. Their ephemeral nature requires residents to periodically seek other aquatic systems or produce resistant eggs that allow them to survive dry periods lasting months to decades. Their 'signature' species are tiny fairy and tadpole shrimps. These lay resistant eggs which can be dispersed by 'wind and wing.' The former includes egg transport by prevailing Great Plains winds, and the latter by eggs hitching rides in the guts of migrating waterfowl to be deposited later in other wetlands. The research will manipulate community composition in outdoor tanks to determine competitive abilities of invertebrates from different sites and to check for migrating branchiopods in the digestive tracts of waterfowl shot by hunters. The project will use this accessible system to develop ecology programs for K-6th grade students; employing young students in science studies; educating under-served student populations, including Native Americans and students from our Hispanic Serving Institution; and working on wetlands-focused conservation.The research will focus on the question: how do teleconnections (dispersal by wind and wing) and climatic factors influence macroinvertebrate community composition and synchrony (temporal links) in ephemeral ponds within a macrosystem network? This project will test 6 hypotheses on factors shaping community composition that are related to: strong dispersal, geographically variable dispersal, strong climatic synchrony, geographically variable climatic synchrony, equal roles for dispersal and climate, and a null hypothesis on stochasticity. The study will be 25 sites in the greater region, including 5 sites within the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). The study will consist of: (1) sampling pond invertebrate densities and diversities; (2) analyzing genetic signatures of branchiopod crustacean populations; (3) conducting tank experiments on community assembly; (4) obtaining data on waterfowl migrating through NEON sites; (5) correlating effects of winds and rainfall on species traits; and (6) extracting, hatching, and identifying crustacean eggs from gut contents analysis of waterfowl. Overall, this research will test the validity of a poorly understood phenomenon, that the biota of systems can be coupled without respect to geographic proximity but instead tele-connected by wind or wing.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.

虽然大多数湿地和池塘在物理上是孤立的，但它们的群落通过一种称为“远程连接”的过程，在多年和长距离中联系在一起。这些交换通过大气过程、暂时的水生联系、其他迁徙动物的自然“搭便车”以及人类的传播而发生。可以研究这些的水生系统包括大平原的短暂湿地。这些系统，如洼地和草原洼地，在草原生态区丰富，并支持居住的无脊椎动物物种，两栖动物和迁徙的水禽。它们的短暂性要求居民定期寻找其他水生系统或产生抗性卵，使它们能够在持续数月至数十年的干旱期生存。他们的“标志性”物种是小仙女虾和蝌蚪虾。它们会产下具有抵抗力的卵，这些卵可以通过“风和翅膀”传播。前者包括通过大平原盛行的风运输蛋，后者是通过将蛋搭在迁徙水禽的内脏上，然后在其他湿地沉积。这项研究将控制室外水箱中的群落组成，以确定来自不同地点的无脊椎动物的竞争能力，并检查被猎人射杀的水禽消化道中迁徙的枝足类动物。该项目将使用这个可访问的系统为k -6年级的学生开发生态课程；聘用青年学生从事科学研究；教育服务不足的学生群体，包括美洲原住民和西班牙裔服务机构的学生；致力于湿地保护。研究将集中在以下问题上：远距离联系（风和翅膀的传播）和气候因素如何影响宏观系统网络中短暂池塘的大型无脊椎动物群落组成和同年性（时间联系）？本项目将检验6个关于影响群落组成因素的假设：强扩散、地理可变扩散、强气候同步、地理可变气候同步、扩散和气候的平等作用，以及一个关于随机性的零假设。这项研究将在大区域的25个地点进行，其中包括国家生态观测站网络（NEON）内的5个地点。研究将包括：(1)取样池塘无脊椎动物密度和多样性；(2)分析了支足类甲壳类种群的遗传特征；(3)进行群体聚集的水池实验；(4)通过NEON站点获取水禽迁徙数据；(5)风、雨对物种性状的相关效应；(6)从水禽肠道内容物分析中提取、孵化和鉴定甲壳类卵。总的来说，这项研究将测试一个鲜为人知的现象的有效性，即系统的生物群可以在不考虑地理邻近的情况下耦合，而是通过风或翅膀进行远程连接。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。