CAREER: Expanding Our Understanding of Freshwater Salinization Through Data-Driven Limnology

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。淡水是饮用水、农业和工业使用所需的重要资源。在美国的一些地区，淡水资源受到不断上升的含盐量的威胁。水软化剂的使用，冬季在道路上撒盐，以及一些农业活动向湖泊、河流和地下水中添加盐。这个项目将研究盐从哪里来，它是如何在河流和湖泊中移动的，以及它对威斯康星州淡水栖息地的影响。该项目的总体目标是通过提高科学认识、教育和公众参与，保护我们的淡水资源免受进一步的盐污染。研究人员将与以社区为基础的组织合作，这些组织的任务是通过社区活动和社交媒体保护水质，提高人们对盐的影响的认识。将公开提供用于教学和分析数据的资源，以鼓励提高对盐对淡水资源的影响的认识和进一步研究。该项目的研究主题侧重于了解淡水环境中不同空间尺度下的盐循环。在当地范围内，该项目将在威斯康辛州的雅哈拉流域建立一个长期的盐观测站。在那里，科学家将追踪从源头到流出的盐污染，研究对淡水生态系统动态的影响，并模拟河流网络在盐度制度中的作用。研究结果将扩展到区域尺度，以调查湖泊在更大的河流网络中的作用，机器学习方法将用于将良好监测系统的知识转移到未监测系统，以便更好地预测盐度动态的时空。这项工作旨在推进机器学习方法在数据驱动生态科学中的应用。在全球范围内，除了美国以外，许多湖泊都存在湖泊盐碱化的风险。项目成员将与国际湖泊学界合作，建立一个湖泊盐度和离子浓度数据的全球数据库。该资源将用于促进我们对盐渍化趋势、驱动因素、适应和管理策略的全球理解。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Freshwater is a critical resource needed for drinking water, agriculture, and industrial use. In some regions of the United States, freshwater resources are threatened by increasing salt levels. The use of water softeners, spreading salt on roads in winter, and some agricultural activities add salts to lakes, rivers, and groundwater. This project will study where the salt is coming from, how it moves through rivers and lakes, and what impacts it has on freshwater habitats in Wisconsin. The overarching goal of the project is to protect our freshwater resources from further salt pollution through improved scientific understanding, education, and public engagement. Researchers will work with community-based organizations whose missions are to protect water quality and promote awareness of salt impacts through community activities and social media. Resources for teaching and analyzing data will be made publicly available to encourage greater awareness and further study of salt impacts on freshwater resources. The research themes of this project focus on understanding salt cycling in freshwater environments at a range of spatial scales. At the local scale, this project will establish a long-term salt observatory in the Yahara Watershed, Wisconsin. There, scientists will track salt pollution from source to outflow, studying the impacts on freshwater ecosystems dynamics, and modeling the role of river networks on salinity regimes. Findings will be expanded to the regional scale to investigate the role of lakes in larger river networks and machine learning approaches will be used to transfer knowledge of well-monitored systems to unmonitored systems for better spatial and temporal prediction of salinity dynamics. This work aims to advance the use of machine learning approaches for conducting data-driven ecological science. Globally, the risk of lake salinization exists for a broad range of lakes beyond the United States. Project members will collaborate with the international limnological community to establish a global database of lake salinity and ion concentration data. This resource will be used to advance our global understanding of salinization trends, drivers, adaptation, and management strategies.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.