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

该行动资助了美国国家科学基金会2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。气候变化——主要是由大气中的碳排放驱动的——和生物多样性的丧失是生态系统科学中最困难的问题之一。该项目旨在通过预测动物如何控制淡水生态系统中的碳，提高我们对气候变化与生物多样性丧失之间联系的理解。淡水双壳贻贝是最易受气候变化影响的物种之一。贻贝也有碳酸钙壳，可以储存碳，间接影响碳循环。该项目旨在确定贻贝促进淡水碳储存的生物学特性，并帮助指导贻贝管理和保护措施，促进碳储存，从而帮助应对气候和生物多样性挑战。该研究员还将把他们的研究与教育结合起来，制定旨在接触当地服务不足社区的外展项目，并向下一代科学专业人员传授淡水生物多样性的重要性。本项目的目标是综合淡水贻贝（双壳贝类：Unionoida）的系统发育历史、功能性状表型和组合组成数据，以预测生物分子、有机体和生态系统尺度上控制动物对河流碳循环影响的生命规则。本研究将(i)确定贻贝性状表型的可变性在多大程度上可以用系统发育差异来解释，（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衡量到生态系统水平。该研究员将使用公开的基因片段数据和广泛的贻贝性状数据集（包括元素组成、生长速度、耐热性和运动）来测试系统发育特性和功能性状表型之间的联系。该研究员还将性状数据集与利用代谢孵化室进行的实地实验相结合，量化自然条件下贻贝性状的变化如何影响碳收支，并利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综合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研究人员，并为所有年龄段的学生和公众开展外联活动。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 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.