LTREB Renewal: Nutrients and climate as drivers of carbon sequestration and ecosystem metabolism in a nitrogen-enriched, shallow coastal ecosystem

海草为许多物种提供了重要的栖息地，通过过滤营养物质来帮助维持水质，并储存了大量的碳。在许多沿海水域，海草正在以加速的速度消失，营养污染是一个主要原因。该项目研究了营养物质污染和气候变化对马萨诸塞州科德角沿海港口生态的影响，该港口拥有广阔的海草床。该项目研究海草如何储存碳并移除沿海海洋环境中的营养物质，从而减少环境退化。在过去的20年里，这个港口从受到附近市政污水处理污染的地下水中获得了大量的氮输入。由于废水管理的改善，预计港口的氮负荷在未来几年将会减少。因此，该项目衡量了以海草为主的生态系统如何从污染中恢复。该项目每年培养10到15名进行研究项目的本科生。该项目还与秃鹰湾联盟、法尔茅斯镇和秃鹰湾国家河口计划共享数据。这项研究为更好地保护和恢复海草栖息地和水质提供了信息。该项目是一项计划中的十年研究的第二个五年，该研究延续了自2005年以来进行的一系列测量。这些测量包括：氮负荷；初级生产力、生态系统呼吸和净生态系统生产量；沉积物、淡水和水柱中碳、氧、氮、磷、硫和叶绿素的浓度；海草面积和碳、氮、磷含量；以及与沿海海洋的氮和磷交换。该项目提供的长期数据集是全球唯一一个以氮污染、浅海草类为主的生态系统的数据集。这些数据允许探索几个基本问题，包括在这些类型的生态系统中，氮和磷中哪一个更具限制性。此外，该项目还研究了气候驱动的海洋环流变化可能如何改变氮和磷的来源。最终，这项研究展示了气候和营养物质如何相互作用来调节温带海草为主的生态系统中有机碳的储存。这一奖项反映了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。

Seagrasses provide critical habitat for many species, help maintain water quality by filtering nutrients, and store substantial quantities of carbon. In many coastal waters, seagrasses are being lost at an accelerating rate, with nutrient pollution being a major cause. This project examines the interaction of nutrient pollution with climate change on the ecology of a coastal harbor on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with extensive seagrass beds. The project studies how the seagrasses store carbon and remove nutrients in coastal marine environments, thereby reducing environmental degradation. The harbor has received high inputs of nitrogen for the past 20 years from groundwater contaminated by nearby municipal wastewater treatment. The nitrogen load to the harbor is expected to decrease over the coming years due to improved wastewater management. The project therefore measures how a seagrass-dominated ecosystem recovers from pollution. The project educates 10 to 15 undergraduate students each year who are conducting research projects. The project also shares data with the Buzzards Bay Coalition, the Town of Falmouth, and the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program. This research informs efforts to better protect and restore seagrass habitat and water quality. This project is the second five years of a planned ten-year study that continues a set of measurements made since 2005. These measurements include: nitrogen loading; rates of primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem production; concentrations of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and chlorophyll in sediments, porewaters, and water column; seagrass extent and carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus content; and exchanges of nitrogen and phosphorus with the coastal ocean. The long-term data set provided by this project is the only one globally for a nitrogen-polluted, shallow seagrass-dominated ecosystem. These data allow exploration of several fundamental questions, including whether nitrogen or phosphorus is more limiting in these types of ecosystems. Further, the project examines how climate-driven changes in ocean circulation may be altering sources of nitrogen and phosphorus. Ultimately, the research demonstrates how climate and nutrients interact to regulate the storage of organic carbon in seagrass-dominated ecosystems in the temperate zone.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.