CAREER: Experimentally Testing the Role of Sympagic Algae in Sea-ice Environments using a Laboratory Scale Ice-tank.

职业：使用实验室规模的冰槽实验测试交感藻类在海冰环境中的作用。

• 批准号: 2142491
• 负责人: Jodi Young
• 金额: $ 70.4万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-15 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2142491&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Experimentally; Testing; Role; Sympagic

Sea ice in Antarctic coastal waters shape ecosystems, both in the surface waters and at the bottom of the ocean, environments that depend on algae living in sea ice for their productivity. With high variability in sea ice formation and melt between years and as a response to climate change, it is of importance to obtain better understanding of the interaction of sea ice with algae, as well as provide better data for global climate models. This project will accomplish those goals by measuring phytoplankton growth and cellular properties in sea ice with experiments performed using an ice tank. Laboratory experiments will be based on previous observations in the Antarctic Peninsula coastal waters, providing realistic conditions to emulate. The scientific importance of the proposed work aligns with the National Science Foundation goals to understand the biological and chemical properties of sea ice bio-geo-chemistry and its feedbacks with seasonal sea ice dynamics and climate. The finding from this project will be of interest to a broad scientific community, including oceanographers, biologists, chemists, and ecosystem and ocean modelers. To address the scarcity of data on sea ice microbes that limits our ability to predict future Antarctic climate with accuracy, the principal investigator will develop an Antarctic Science Minor in order to train future scientists with an environmental perspective and prepare the future US workforce with a strong scientific background on Earth and Biological Sciences.There is a paucity of data to understand the processes underlying observed patters in sea ice quality and their interaction with the sea-ice microbial community. This project will provide a mechanistic understanding of primary production and physiology of sympagic algae over the seasonal cycle of formation and melt of Antarctic sea ice. Although sea ice is central to the Antarctic coastal ecosystems, little is known of how they affect, and are in turn affected, by sea-ice algae. This project concentrates on first-year sea ice, forming and melting each year, creating unique and very dynamic habitats. The study will be structured by 4 main objectives: 1) how different algal species adapt to the seasonal changes in sea ice conditions, 2) how different methods to measure primary production (carbon dioxide drawdown, oxygen production and variable fluorescence) relate in sea ice and differ from sea water measurements, 3) how sympagic algae influence the physical structure of sea ice, 4) how sympagic algae contribute to organic matter cycling during ice melt. Due to expected changes in sea ice due to climate change, this study is uniquely positioned to provide needed data on short-term and seasonal processes. Results from this study will be useful to refine models of algal production in Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems, data not available to date as sea ice and its biogeochemistry are often poorly represented in earth system models. This project will also provide education for graduate and undergraduate students as well as material to develop class curriculum for middle-school students.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.

南极沿海水域的海冰塑造了地表水和海底的生态系统，这些环境依赖于生活在海冰中的藻类的生产力。由于海冰的形成和融化在不同年份之间以及作为对气候变化的响应具有很高的可变性，因此更好地了解海冰与藻类的相互作用以及为全球气候模式提供更好的数据具有重要意义。该项目将通过使用冰槽进行实验，测量海冰中的浮游植物生长和细胞特性，从而实现这些目标。实验室实验将基于以前在南极半岛沿海水域的观测，提供模拟的现实条件。拟议工作的科学重要性与美国国家科学基金会的目标一致，即了解海冰生物地球化学的生物和化学特性及其与季节性海冰动态和气候的反馈。这个项目的发现将引起广泛科学界的兴趣，包括海洋学家、生物学家、化学家、生态系统和海洋建模者。为了解决海冰微生物数据的缺乏限制了我们准确预测未来南极气候的能力，首席研究员将开发一门南极科学副修课程，以培养具有环境观点的未来科学家，并为具有地球和生物科学强大科学背景的未来美国劳动力做好准备。缺乏数据来了解海冰质量的观测模式及其与海冰微生物群落的相互作用的过程。该项目将对同生藻类在南极海冰形成和融化的季节性循环中的初级生产和生理机制进行了解。虽然海冰是南极沿海生态系统的核心，但人们对它们如何影响以及如何被海冰藻类反过来影响知之甚少。这个项目专注于第一年的海冰，每年形成和融化，创造独特而充满活力的栖息地。该研究将由4个主要目标组成：1)不同的藻类物种如何适应海冰条件的季节性变化；2)测量海冰初级生产（二氧化碳减少、氧气生产和可变荧光）的不同方法如何相互关联，并与海水测量有何不同；3)共生藻类如何影响海冰的物理结构；4)共生藻类如何促进冰融化期间的有机物循环。由于气候变化导致海冰的预期变化，这项研究具有独特的定位，可以提供短期和季节性过程所需的数据。这项研究的结果将有助于完善南极和北极生态系统中藻类生产的模型，由于海冰及其生物地球化学在地球系统模型中往往表现不佳，因此迄今为止没有可用的数据。该项目还将为研究生和本科生提供教育，以及为中学生开发课堂课程提供材料。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。