RAPID: Assessing the role of hurricanes and microbes in enhancing coastal sediment accumulation

RAPID：评估飓风和微生物在增强沿海沉积物积累中的作用

• 批准号: 2307830
• 负责人: Elizabeth Trower
• 金额: $ 4.42万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-12-01 至 2023-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2307830&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Assessing; role; hurricanes; microbes

Over 60 million Americans live along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic. These regions of the United States are the most vulnerable to hurricanes and sea level rise. However, stabilizing coastlines and increasing sediment accumulation can reduce these hazards. This study explores how microbes affect these processes on Little Ambergris Cay, a small uninhabited island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. In September 2022, Hurricane Fiona passed near the island. This study examines how microbes stabilize sediment in both lagoonal and coastal settings after the hurricane. Results from this study will be shared with local communities through partnership with the Turks and Caicos Islands Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR). This study also provides proof of concept for interventions that could help communities stabilize their coastlines. This would enhance resilience against sea level rise and increasing hurricane intensity. The project educational Broader Impacts include participation of a graduate student from University of Colorado and a postdoc from University of California, Berkeley in the sampling trips.This study tracks responses of microbial mat sediment stabilization and cementation of hurricane breccias that occur during the recovery from Hurricane Fiona, which passed close to Little Ambergris Cay as a Category 3 hurricane in September 2022. Observations from a prior field season in June 2022 provide a pre-hurricane baseline. Proposed work includes: (i) microelectrode profiles of dissolved O2, H2S, and pH to track re-establishment of geochemical gradients in mats and 16S rRNA gene sequencing to compare community recovery to our pre/post-Irma and pre-Fiona observations; (ii) installation of small-scale surface elevation table devices to quantitatively track net thickness of mat growth in a suite of locations; (iii) repeated in situ microscopy observations and short-term trapping-and-binding experiments to determine whether mat response to added sediment is the same over time (i.e., the delivery of new sediment is the primary requirement for vertical accretion) or if the mat response changes as the ecosystem recovers (i.e., the hurricane perturbation to the microbial ecosystem is as important as the delivery of sediment); and (iv) in situ hurricane breccia lithification experiments to measure the timescale of lithification and the microbial activity present. This work will be carried out over three field seasons during 2023, allowing both short-term (daily) and medium-term (months-long) observations of the island response during the first year following hurricane perturbation.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.

超过 6000 万美国人居住在墨西哥湾和大西洋沿岸。美国的这些地区最容易受到飓风和海平面上升的影响。然而，稳定海岸线和增加沉积物积累可以减少这些危害。这项研究探讨了特克斯和凯科斯群岛无人居住的小岛小龙涎香岛的微生物如何影响这些过程。 2022 年 9 月，飓风菲奥娜经过该岛附近。这项研究探讨了飓风过后微生物如何稳定泻湖和沿海地区的沉积物。这项研究的结果将通过与特克斯和凯科斯群岛环境和沿海资源部 (DECR) 的合作与当地社区分享。这项研究还为可以帮助社区稳定海岸线的干预措施提供了概念证明。这将增强抵御海平面上升和飓风强度增加的能力。该项目具有更广泛的教育影响，包括科罗拉多大学的一名研究生和加州大学伯克利分校的一名博士后参与采样之旅。这项研究追踪了飓风菲奥娜恢复过程中微生物席沉积物稳定和胶结的反应，菲奥娜于 2022 年 9 月作为 3 级飓风经过小龙涎香礁附近。 2022 年 6 月的野外季节提供了飓风前的基线。拟议的工作包括：(i) 溶解 O2、H2S 和 pH 的微电极剖面，以跟踪垫子中地球化学梯度的重建，以及 16S rRNA 基因测序，以将群落恢复情况与我们在 Irma 之前/之后和 Fiona 之前的观察结果进行比较； (ii) 安装小型表面高程表装置，以定量跟踪一系列地点的垫层生长的净厚度； (iii) 重复原位显微镜观察和短期捕获和结合实验，以确定随着时间的推移，垫子对添加沉积物的响应是否相同（即，新沉积物的输送是垂直沉积的主要要求），或者垫子响应是否随着生态系统的恢复而变化（即，飓风对微生物生态系统的扰动与沉积物的输送同样重要）； (iv) 原位飓风角砾石化实验，以测量石化的时间尺度和存在的微生物活动。这项工作将在 2023 年的三个实地季节中进行，以便在飓风扰动后的第一年对岛屿的反应进行短期（每日）和中期（数月）观察。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。