Research Initiation Award: Comparing Carbon Fluxes of Tidal Marshes and Oyster Aquaculture Farms in the Chesapeake Bay

历史上的黑人学院和大学本科课程（HBCU-UP）通过研究启动奖为历史上的黑人学院和大学的初级和中级职业教师提供支持，他们正在建立新的研究项目或重新定向和重建现有的研究项目。预计该奖项将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，并改善家庭机构的研究和教学。这个奖项给摩根州立大学支持教师和本科生的研究经验，确定气候变化在切萨皮克湾的相对影响。具体而言，通过测量盐水潮汐沼泽和牡蛎养殖中的颗粒有机碳、溶解有机碳和溶解无机碳，该项目将揭示碳循环的证据，并作为两个沿海生态系统之间比较分析的基础。该项目的总体目标是比较海水潮汐沼泽和牡蛎养殖场对沿海碳循环的影响，了解牡蛎养殖设施对沿海碳循环的影响，并利用现代化学仪器和技术培养HBCU化学海洋学本科生。为了实现这一目标，该项目旨在分析三个碳库（颗粒和溶解有机碳，溶解无机碳）和一系列水质参数（叶绿素a，总悬浮固体，有色溶解有机物等）。从切萨皮克湾的三个不同的地方每年六次持续两年。结果可能会揭示季节和潮汐模式和配对沼泽水产养殖场之间的碳循环和潮汐沼泽和水产养殖设施一般的差异。预计这将为科学界提供有价值的信息，以更好地了解沿海碳循环可能如何变化，因为由于气候变化和牡蛎养殖设施中的人类活动，潮汐沼泽地正在消失。此外，这项研究可能有助于加强STEM教育，增加地球科学的多样性，推进行业-学术合作伙伴关系，并为环境和公共政策决策提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF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。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness and improve research and teaching at the home institution. This award to Morgan State University supports faculty and undergraduate research experiences determining the relative impact of climate change in the Chesapeake Bay. Specifically, by measuring particulate organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon and dissolved inorganic carbon in salt water tidal marshes and oyster aquaculture, the project will reveal evidence of carbon cycling and serve as a basis for comparative analyses between two coastal ecosystems. The overall goals of the proposed project are to compare the effects of saltwater tidal marshes and oyster aquaculture farms on coastal carbon cycling, understand the effects of oyster aquaculture facilities have on the coastal carbon cycle, and train HBCU undergraduate students in chemical oceanography using modern chemistry instruments and techniques. Toward this goal, this project aims to analyze three carbon pools (particulate and dissolved organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon) and an array of water quality parameters (chlorophyll-a, total suspended solids, colored dissolved organic matter, etc.) from three different locations in the Chesapeake Bay six times per year for two years. The results are likely to reveal seasonal and tidal patterns and differences in carbon cycling between paired marsh-aquaculture sites and between the tidal marshes and aquaculture facilities in general. It is anticipated that this will produce valuable information to the scientific community to better understand how the coastal carbon cycle may be changing as tidal marshes are lost due to climate change and human activities in oyster aquaculture facilities. In addition, this study may contribute to enhancements in STEM education, increasing diversity in geosciences, advancing industry-academic partnerships, and informing environmental and public policy decisions.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.