Collaborative Research: The interplay of nitrogen loading and ecosystem sustainability in threatened wetlands: an extension of the WETFEET project

合作研究：受威胁湿地氮负荷与生态系统可持续性的相互作用：WEFTEET 项目的延伸

• 批准号: 2224999
• 负责人: Samantha Chapman
• 金额: $ 60.88万
• 依托单位: Villanova University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224999&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; interplay; nitrogen; loading

Over the last decade, pollution in Florida estuaries has had dire consequences such as red tides and massive die-offs of fish and marine mammals. This team of researchers has worked closely with land managers in northeastern Florida who seek data-driven guidance on strategies to mitigate pollution and help sustain these wetlands. Critical wetland habitats are increasingly being lost to erosion at the edges, and "ponding" in the interior due to sea level rise. As sea levels and pollution are increasing, the thin green strips of vegetation that protect Florida’s human population from big storms are changing from salt marsh grasses to mangrove forests. To determine how these wetlands will fare in a future with higher seas, more nutrient inputs, and larger plants, this project will use a combination of field experiments, mapping, and mathematical modeling. Information will be obtained on how coastal wetlands can help remove nitrogen, a common pollutant in coastal waters. The researchers will investigate whether wetland decline is contributing to the current uptick in nutrient levels that threatens the health of humans and other animals. Finally, the team will use the relationships that they have built with northeastern Florida land managers, government officials and restoration practitioners to help plan for the future of these threatened wetlands in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) and beyond. Data from this project will be used to map nutrient hotspots in the GTMNERR, and to train undergraduate and graduate student researchers in the study of coastal wetlands and plan for their restoration. In northeastern Florida, coastal wetland ecosystems are faced with rising seas and pollution loads, and are undergoing dramatic climate-driven vegetation conversion from marsh plants to mangroves. Nitrogen (N) eutrophication and rising sea levels each individually can severely impact coastal wetlands. This project will explore how these two problems may be linked by coastal wetland feedbacks, which underlie the project's three central hypotheses: (1) Excess N loading may interrupt the mechanisms of soil accumulation that sustain wetlands; (2) Conversion of marsh to mangrove greatly enhances N demand which may mitigate N pollution of adjacent waterways; (3) N-eutrophication can accelerate transformation of marsh to mangrove by satisfying the greater N demand of mangroves compared to marsh plants. Past studies have shown that N addition can hinder the ability of wetlands to keep up with sea level rise by stimulating loss of organic matter, whereas others have shown that N addition may promote plant growth, which can help sustain coastal wetlands. The discrepancy may result from stark differences in biogeomorphic processes between wetland edges and interiors. This project will address this discrepancy directly by leveraging established infrastructure to conduct experimental N addition at both creekside and interior locations, in addition to comparing N effects on marshes and adjacent mangrove-dominated plots for the first time. New hypotheses will be tested about how N may alter mechanisms of elevation gain and mangrove encroachment across the landscape as well as hypotheses about how ongoing loss of wetlands and conversion of marshes to mangroves could have dramatic effects on coastal N budgets. Examining N influences on wetland resilience to sea level rise was identified as a research priority by the GTMNERR management at a recent coastal vulnerability workshop (September 2021). This team of researchers will work with the GTMNERR water quality data and our own data collection from this project to build a new nutrient layer onto a coastal vulnerability map that will help prioritize GTMNERR sites for planned conservation and restoration initiatives. Research findings will be conveyed to the public by working with the environmental education center at the GTMNERR to produce an exhibit and curricula for visitors and camps. Interdisciplinary training of young scientists will also take place at three institutions- Villanova University, University of Central Florida and Roosevelt University.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.

在过去的十年中，佛罗里达河口的污染产生了可怕的后果，例如红潮和鱼类和海洋哺乳动物的大量死亡。这支研究人员与佛罗里达州东北部的土地管理者紧密合作，他们寻求有关减轻污染和帮助维持这些湿地的战略的指导。关键的湿地栖息地越来越多地因边缘侵蚀而损失，并且由于海平面上升而在内部“浮动”。随着海平面和污染的增加，保护佛罗里达人口免受大风暴的绿色植被薄薄的植被条正在从盐沼草变成红树林。为了确定这些湿地如何在未来使用更高的海洋，更多的营养投入和较大的植物的情况下进行，该项目将结合现场实验，映射和数学建模。将获得有关如何帮助去除氮的氮的信息，氮是沿海水域中的常见污染物。研究人员将调查湿地下降是否有助于当前的营养水平上升，从而威胁人类和其他动物的健康。最后，团队将利用他们与佛罗里达州东北部的土地经理，政府官员和恢复从业人员建立的关系，以帮助计划这些受威胁的湿地的未来，在Guana Tolomato Matanzas国家河口研究保护区（GTMNERR）及其他地区。该项目的数据将用于绘制GTMNERR中的营养热点，并培训本科和研究生研究人员研究沿海湿地研究并计划修复。在佛罗里达州东北部，沿海湿地生态系统面临着海洋和污染负荷的上升，并且在从沼泽植物到红树林的戏剧性气候驱动的植被转换下。氮（N）富营养化和海平面上升，每个氮水平都会严重影响沿海湿地。该项目将探讨这两个问题如何通过沿海湿地的反馈联系起来，这是该项目的三个中心假设的基础：（1）多余的N负载可能会中断维持湿地的土壤加速度的机制； （2）将沼泽转换为红树林的巨大增强n需求，这可能会减轻邻近水道的污染； （3）与沼泽植物相比，通过满足红树林的更大需求，N-嗜血酵母可以加速沼泽向红树林的转化。过去的研究表明，n增加可以阻止湿地通过刺激有机物的损失来跟上海平面上升的能力，而其他人则表明，n添加n可以促进植物的生长，这可以帮助维持沿海湿地。差异可能是由于湿地边缘和室内生物形态过程的明显差异所致。该项目将通过利用已建立的基础设施在Creekside和内部位置进行实验N添加来直接解决这一差异，此外还将首次对沼泽和相邻的红树林主导地块进行比较。将测试新的假设，以了解N可能如何改变景观中的高程增益和红树林侵占机制，以及关于湿地持续损失以及将沼泽转换为芒树的假设可能对沿海N预算产生巨大影响。 GTMNERM管理层在最近的沿海脆弱性研讨会（2021年9月）将检查N对湿地对海平面上升的影响的影响被确定为研究的优先事项。这个研究人员将与GTMNERR水质数据和我们自己的数据收集一起工作，以在沿海脆弱性地图上建立一个新的营养层，这将有助于优先考虑GTMNERR网站，以进行计划中的保护和修复计划。研究发现将通过与GTMNERR的环境教育中心合作，为游客和营地提供展览和课程，向公众传达。对年轻科学家的跨学科培训也将在三个机构 - 维拉诺瓦大学，中央佛罗里达大学和罗斯福大学进行。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子的评估而被视为珍贵的支持，并具有更广泛的影响。

项目成果

Mangrove Trees Outperform Saltmarsh Grasses in Building Elevation but Collapse Rapidly Under High Rates of Sea‐Level Rise

• DOI: 10.1029/2022ef003202
• 发表时间: 2023-04
• 期刊: Earth's Future
• 作者: J. Morris;J. Langley;W. C. Vervaeke;N. Dix;I. Feller;P. Marcum;S. Chapman

Contrasting Effects of Nitrogen Addition on Leaf Photosynthesis and Respiration in Black Mangrove in North Florida

氮添加对北佛罗里达州黑红树林叶片光合作用和呼吸作用的对比影响

• DOI: 10.1007/s12237-022-01120-7
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Estuaries and Coasts
• 影响因子: 2.7
• 作者: Sturchio, Matthew A.;Chieppa, Jeff;Simpson, Lorae T.;Feller, Ilka C.;Chapman, Samantha K.;Aspinwall, Michael J.
• 通讯作者: Aspinwall, Michael J.

Do global change variables alter mangrove decomposition? A systematic review

• DOI: 10.1111/geb.13743
• 发表时间: 2023-08
• 期刊: Global Ecology and Biogeography
• 影响因子: 6.4
• 作者: L. Simpson;S. Chapman;Lance Simpson;J. Cherry

Nitrogen Addition Increases Freeze Resistance in Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans) Shrubs in a Temperate-Tropical Ecotone

• DOI: 10.1007/s10021-022-00796-z
• 发表时间: 2022-12
• 期刊: Ecosystems
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: I. Feller;Uta Berger;S. Chapman;E. M. Dangremond;N. Dix;J. Langley;C. Lovelock;T. Osborne;Audrey C Shor;L. Simpson