REU: Tomales Bay, California: LMER Site for the Study of Biogeochemical Reactions in Estuaries

沿海海湾在陆地径流向海洋的输送和转化中起着至关重要的作用。Hollibaugh博士和Smith博士将研究海湾和河口在陆地和海洋之间碳、氮和磷的净通量中所起的作用。感兴趣的系统(加利福尼亚州托马莱斯湾)水文简单，水停留时间长，足够紧凑，可以作为一个单元进行研究，并且无机营养物质污染较低。该系统像许多其他沿海海洋生态系统一样，以新陈代谢的方式运作。在这个系统中，支持食物链的外部有机物质来源很容易表征，并具有强烈的季节性和年际信号。这些研究人员将通过多人现场和实验室计划解决以下问题：1)海岸上升流和陆源径流在向该系统输送可氧化有机质和养分方面的相对重要性是什么？2)系统新陈代谢和系统主要组成部分的新陈代谢对季节和年际变化的响应是什么？这些强迫作用？3)净系统新陈代谢和非保守的氮通量之间的关系是什么？4)从化学计量学论证得出的速率可以通过“直接”生化分析来验证吗？预计这项研究的结果可以外推到可能适用于国家资源管理的其他系统。这项工作是作为一个土地边缘生态系统研究项目资助的，该项目由地球科学和生物系统与资源管理局联合支持。

The coastal bays play a critical role in the transport and transformation of land runoff to the ocean. Drs. Hollibaugh and Smith will consider the role of bays and estuaries in the net flux of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous between the land and ocean. The system of interest (Tomales Bay, California) is hydrographically simple, has a long water residence time, is sufficiently compact that it can be studied as a single unit, and has low inorganic nutrient pollution. The system functions metabolically like numerous other coastal marine ecosystems. External sources of organic matter which support food chains in this system are simple to characterize and have strong seasonal and interannual signals. These investigators will address the following questions by means of a multi-investigator field and laboratory program: 1) What is the relative importance of coastal upwelling versus terrigenous runoff in delivering oxidizable organic matter and nutrients to this system? 2) What are the responses of system metabolism and the metabolism of major system components to seasonal and interannual variations in these forcing functions? 3) What is the relationship between net system metabolism and non-conservative fluxes of nitrogen? 4) Can rates derived from stoichiometric arguments be validated by "direct" biochemical assays. It is anticipated that the outcome of this research can be extrapolated to other systems which may be applicable to management of the nations resources. This effort is being funded as a Land Margins Ecosystem Research project in a program which is jointly supported by the Directorates of Geosciences and Biotic Systems and Resources.