NSF PRFB FY 2023: Impacts of animal aggregations on stream carbon cycles: Linking evolutionary history, species traits, and environmental context to predict ecosystem function

这一行动为NSF 2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金，综合研究调查了支配基因组、环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训，这些研究员将以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。气候变化--主要由向大气中排放的碳推动--和生物多样性丧失是生态系统科学中最棘手的问题之一。这个项目旨在通过预测动物如何控制淡水生态系统中的碳来提高我们对气候变化和生物多样性丧失之间的联系的理解。淡水双壳贻贝是最容易受到气候变化影响的物种之一。贻贝也有碳酸钙外壳，可以储存碳，并可以间接影响碳循环。该项目旨在确定促进淡水碳储存的贻贝的生物学特征，并帮助指导促进碳储存的贻贝管理和保护倡议，从而帮助应对气候和生物多样性挑战。该研究员还将通过开发旨在覆盖当地服务不足的社区的推广项目将他们的研究与教育相结合，并向下一代科学专业人员传授淡水生物多样性的重要性。该项目的目标是合成淡水贻贝(双壳纲：统一纲)的系统发育历史、功能特征表型和组合组成的数据，以预测在生物分子、生物和生态系统尺度上控制动物对溪流碳循环的影响的生命规则。这项研究将(I)确定贻贝性状表型的多样性在多大程度上是由系统发育差异来解释的，(Ii)计算具有不同表型的优势贻贝物种对碳库和通量的生物水平的影响，以及(Iii)在不同环境背景下将贻贝产生的生物地球化学效应扩展到生态系统水平。这位研究员将使用公开可用的基因片段数据和一个广泛的贻贝特征数据库集，包括元素组成、生长速度、耐热性和运动，测试系统发育特征和功能特征表型之间的联系。该研究员还将把特征数据集与使用新陈代谢孵化室的野外实验相结合，以量化贻贝特征的变化如何影响自然条件下的碳收支，并使用地理空间模型将贻贝驱动的影响扩展到生态系统规模。该研究员将接受数据合成和地理空间建模方面的培训，招募和指导来自不同背景的本科生研究人员，并为所有年龄段的学生和普通公众进行推广。该奖项反映了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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment, and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Climate change—driven largely by carbon emissions to the atmosphere—and biodiversity loss are among the most difficult problems in ecosystem science. This project aims to improve our understanding of the link between climate change and biodiversity loss by predicting how animals control carbon in freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater bivalve mussels are among the most vulnerable species to climate change. Mussels also have calcium carbonate shells which store carbon and can indirectly affect carbon cycles. This project aims to identify biological traits in mussels that promote freshwater carbon storage and help guide mussel management and conservation initiatives that promote carbon storage, thus helping address climate and biodiversity challenges. The Fellow will also integrate their research with education by developing outreach programs intended to reach local underserved communities and teach the next generation of scientific professionals about the importance of freshwater biodiversity.The goal of this project is to synthesize data on phylogenetic history, functional trait phenotypes, and assemblage composition for freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoida) to predict the Rules of Life that govern animal effects on stream carbon cycles across the biomolecular, organismal, and ecosystem scales. This research will (i) determine how much variability in mussel trait phenotypes is explained by phylogenetic dissimilarity, (ii) calculate organism-level impacts of dominant mussel species with varying phenotypes on carbon pools and fluxes, and (iii) scale mussel-generated biogeochemical effects to the ecosystem level under different environmental contexts. The Fellow will test for links between phylogenetic identity and functional trait phenotypes using publicly available gene fragment data and an extensive mussel trait dataset including elemental composition, growth rates, thermal tolerances, and movement. The Fellow will also combine the trait dataset with a field experiment using metabolic incubation chambers to quantify how variation in mussels’ traits impact carbon budgets under natural conditions, and scale mussel-driven impacts to the ecosystem scale using geospatial models. The Fellow will receive training in data synthesis and geospatial modelling, recruit and mentor undergraduate researchers from diverse backgrounds, and conduct outreach for students of all age ranges and the general public.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.