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

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被称为“远程连接”的过程，在多年和很长的距离内连接在一起。这些交换通过大气过程、临时的水上连接、搭乘其他迁徙动物的自然“便车”以及人类的散布而发生。可以研究这些的水生系统包括大平原短暂湿地。这些系统，如Play和草原坑洞，在草原生态区丰富，并支持栖息的无脊椎动物物种、两栖动物和迁徙的水禽。它们短暂的本性要求居民定期寻找其他水生系统，或者产生耐受的卵，使它们能够在持续数月至数十年的干旱期中生存下来。它们的“标志性”物种是小仙女和蝌蚪。它们产下的抗虫卵可以被风和翅膀驱散。前者包括通过盛行的大平原风进行的卵运输，后者通过卵搭便车在迁徙的水鸟的肠道中进行运输，稍后将其存放在其他湿地。这项研究将操纵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，并检查猎人射杀的水禽消化道中是否有迁徙的分支足类动物。该项目将使用这个无障碍系统为K-6年级的学生开发生态学课程；雇用年轻学生进行科学研究；教育服务不足的学生群体，包括美洲原住民和我们拉美裔服务机构的学生；致力于湿地保护。研究将集中在以下问题：在大系统网络中，遥相关(通过风和翅膀传播)和气候因素如何影响短暂池塘中的大型无脊椎动物群落组成和同步性(时间联系)？本项目将检验6个关于影响群落组成的因素的假说，这些假说涉及：强扩散、地理可变扩散、强气候同步性、地理可变气候同步性、扩散和气候的同等作用以及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网(NEON)内的5个地点。这项研究将包括：(1)采样池塘无脊椎动物的密度和多样性；(2)分析枝脚类甲壳类种群的遗传特征；(3)进行群落聚集的水槽实验；(4)获取水禽通过霓虹灯站点迁徙的数据；(5)风和降雨对物种特征的关联影响；(6)从水禽的肠道内容物分析中提取、孵化和识别甲壳类卵。总体而言，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不考虑地理位置的接近而耦合，而是通过风或翅膀远程连接。这项裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.