Entry of Sewage-Derived Organic Matter from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Into the Benthic Food Web and its Biological Consequences

摘要 美国南极计划在麦默多站的人口在南半球的夏天大约有1000人。 未经处理的污水通过浸解器处理，并作为污水直接排放到20米等深线的站外海洋环境中。 虽然主要调查人员以前绘制了污水羽流在水柱中的边界，但人类活动来源的有机富集物被吸收并通过无水底栖食物网的程度尚不清楚。 巧合的是，了解南极底栖生物群落的结构、组成和功能的基础主要来自在麦克默多排污口羽流边界内进行的实地研究。 这项研究的目的是确定污水中的有机物质是否被海底食物网同化及其影响程度，是否对人为有机富集有生物反应，以及与海豹的天然有机富集相比如何。 这项研究将有助于了解海豹对天然有机富集的相对贡献。 第二个目的是了解不同有机来源对底栖生物的相对贡献以及这种物质在食物网中的移动方式。 主要研究人员将使用稳定的碳，硫和氮同位素比率和粪便衍生的细菌作为指标，并比较污水和海豹衍生的有机物与冰下，底栖生物和水柱的天然有机物来源的影响。 他们将检验污水的影响比以前认为的要大的假设。 这一认识对于有效的台站污水管理和政策决定以及对于在人类居住区或其他有机富集源附近进行的极地底栖生物研究的设计和解释至关重要。

Abstract The population of the United States Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station is approximately one thousand people in the austral summer. Untreated sewage is disposed through a macerator and released into the marine environment as effluent directly offshore of the station at the twenty meter depth contour. Although the Principal Investigators have previously mapped the boundaries of the sewage effluent plume in the water column, the degree to which anthropogenic sources of organic enrichment is taken up and passed through the antarctic benthic food web is unknown. Coincidentally, the foundation for understanding of the structure, composition and functioning of antarctic benthic communities comes primarily from field research conducted within the boundaries of the McMurdo sewage outfall plume. The purpose of this research is to determine if sewage-derived organic material is assimilated by the benthic food web and its extent of influence and if there is a biological response to anthropogenic organic enrichment and how this compares to natural organic enrichment by seals. This research will provide an understanding of the relative contribution to natural organic enrichment by seals. A secondary purpose will be to understand the relative contribution of different organic sources to the benthos and the way that this material moves through the food web. The Principal Investigators will use stable carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen isotope ratios and fecal-derived bacteria as indices and compare the influence of sewage and seal-derived organic matter with natural organic sources from the under-ice, benthos, and water column. They will test the hypothesis that sewage influence is greater than previously thought. This understanding is essential for effective station sewage management and policy decisions and for the design and interpretation of polar benthic research conducted in the vicinity of human inhabitation or other sources of organic enrichment.