Seasonal Study of Production and Respiration in the Central Arctic

这一合作研究项目是在整个年度周期内在北冰洋进行的首批全面生物过程研究之一。俄勒冈州立大学加拿大分部的调查人员。来自渔业和海洋部以及其他美国机构的研究人员将使用一艘加拿大破冰船作为总部基地，为期14个月，研究北极中部生物生产和呼吸的季节性周期，以及藻类、细菌、原生动物和浮游动物生物量的季节性周期。研究计划将围绕连续测量上层水柱中的溶解氧浓度来组织。溶解氧含量综合了水柱和上层海冰中的生产和呼吸的总和。对溶解氧的持续监测将使人们能够检测到初级生产力的初始春季增长，以及可能被不连续采样程序遗漏的瞬时藻类水华。将至少每周分析一次上层100米无机营养物质的浓度、水和海冰中溶解和颗粒有机物的浓度、水柱和海冰中自养和异养生物的生物量、浮游植物对碳和氮的吸收速率以及浮游群落的呼吸速率。对生产/呼吸过程的季节性研究将提供以下方面的宝贵信息：1)北极中部生态系统目前的结构和功能，可作为评估这一敏感区域未来全球变化过程影响的基线；2)高纬度系统生产和呼吸过程的性质和时间，特别是异养群落如何在黑暗的冬季生存。

This collaborative research project represents one of the first comprehensive biological process studies to be carried in the Arctic Ocean over a full annual cycle. Investigators from Oregon State University, the Canadian Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, and from other U.S. institutions will use a Canadian icebreaker as home base for a 14-month period to study the seasonal cycle of biological production and respiration, and the seasonal cycle in biomass of algae, bacteria, protists, and zooplankton, in the central Arctic. The research program will be organized around continuous measurement of dissolved oxygen concentration in the upper water column. Dissolved oxygen content integrates the sum of production and respiration in both the water column and in the overlying sea ice. Continual monitoring of dissolved oxygen will allow detection of the initial spring increase in primary production, and of transient algal blooms, that may be missed by a discontinuous sampling program. Concentration of inorganic nutrients in the upper 100 m, concentration of dissolved and particulate organic matter in the water and in sea ice, biomass of autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms in the water column and sea ice, uptake rates of carbon and nitrogen by phytoplankton, and respiration rates of the planktonic community, will be analyzed at least weekly. The seasonal study of production/respiration processes will provide valuable information regarding: 1) the present structure and function of central Arctic ecosystems, which can serve as a baseline for evaluating the impact of future global change processes in this sensitive region; and 2) the nature and timing of production and respiration processes in a high latitude system and in particular how the heterotrophic community survives during the dark winter months.