Long-Term Ecological Research on the Antarctic Marine Ecosystem: An Ice-Dominated Environment

9632763史密斯这一建议继续，第二个六年期，帕尔默长期生态研究计划，重点是在南极洲西部半岛地区的海洋生态系统。 这项研究的一个中心原则是，海冰每年的进退是南极海洋生态系统结构和功能的时空变化的一个主要物理决定因素，从全年初级生产总量到海鸟繁殖成功。 我们目前正在评估一些可检验的假设，将海冰与以下因素联系起来： 季节性初选的时间和规模 生产， 微生物循环和颗粒沉降的动力学， 磷虾的丰度、分布和补充，以及 繁殖成功率和生存率的关系。 总体目标是：（1）记录该地区每年海冰的年际变化以及相应的物理、化学、光学、初级生产和次级生产者和顶级捕食者的生命史参数，（2）为了解南极海洋生态系统内的生态现象和过程创造重要数据遗产，（3）确定引起代表性营养级之间物理强迫和随后的生物反应变化的过程，（4）构建将生态系统过程与环境变量联系起来的模型，模拟空间/时间生态系统关系，并利用这些模型来预测和验证冰生态系统动态。 自1991年以来，该计划已包括在年度和季节性巡航在我们的区域网格在该地区的部分和时间采样从春季到秋季（10月至3月）在邻近帕尔默站的区域的空间采样。 该方案的目的是在一个区域尺度网格内的多个空间尺度上取样，允许在季节和年度时间尺度上重复取样，从而解决短期和长期的生态现象，并为具体的机制研究提供基础。 到目前为止，已经进行了七次区域航行，另外还有两次侧重于微生物动力学的航行（表1和表2）。 在年度巡航期间，从船上例行取样和监测核心变量。 文件和数据储存是通过圣巴巴拉的加州大学计算地球系统科学研究所的一个电子中心来组织的，该中心还根据需要充当数据档案。 有核心数据、数据集和元数据的联机定义，其组织是为了便利迅速的信息交流和联机数据文件编制。 这一多学科项目位于气候敏感地区，有可能在自然变化的背景下探测南极生态系统的长期趋势。

9632763 Smith This proposal continues, for a second six year period, the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research program which focuses on the marine ecosystem in the western Antarctic Peninsula region. A central tenet of this research is that the annual advance and retreat of sea ice is a major physical determinant of spatial and temporal changes in the structure and function of the Antarctic marine ecosystem, from total annual primary production to breeding success in seabirds. We are currently evaluating a number of testable hypotheses linking sea ice to: the timing and magnitude of seasonal primary production, the dynamics of the microbial loop and particle sedimentation, krill abundance, distribution, and recruitment, and the breeding success and survival of apex predators. The overall objectives are to: (1) document the interannual variability of annual sea ice and the corresponding physics, chemistry, optics, primary production and the life-history parameters of secondary producers and apex predators within the area, (2) create a legacy of critical data for understanding ecological phenomena and processes within the Antarctic marine ecosystem, (3) identify the processes that cause variation in physical forcing and the subsequent biological response among the representative trophic levels, (4) construct models that link ecosystem processes to environmental variables, which simulate spatial/temporal ecosystem relationships, and employ such models to predict and validate ice-ecosystem dynamics. Since 1991 the program has included spatial sampling during annual and seasonal cruises in portions of our regional grid in the region and temporal sampling from spring through fall (October to March) in the area adjacent to Palmer Station. The program was designed to sample at multiple spatial scales within one regional scale grid, permitting repeated sampling on both seasonal and annual time scales, thus addressing both short and long -term ecological phenomena, as well as providing a basis for specific mechanistic studies. To date, there have been seven regional cruises and two additional cruises emphasizing microbial dynamics (Tables 1 and 2). Core variables routinely sampled and monitored from shipboard during annual cruises. Documentation and data storage are organized through an electronic hub at the Institute for Computational Earth System Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara which also serves as a data archive as needed. There are on-line definitions of core data, datasets and metadata, organized to facilitate rapid information exchange and on-line data documentation. This multidisciplinary project, sited in a climatically sensitive region, has the potential to detect, against a background of natural variability, long term trends in the Antarctic ecosystem.