Collaborative Research: Impacts of a Strong Regulator Along a Productivity Gradient: Linking Watersheds with Reservoir Food Webs

9726930Stein在这个多研究者合作的提案中，PI提出了一个雄心勃勃的项目，该项目将利用参与者的各种优势，对水生食物网进行多方面的调查。具体来说，他们将研究砂囊如何影响水库的营养结构和社区组织，并将其与流域过程联系起来。他们研究的核心问题是，鲱鱼对不同生物群体的影响是否取决于湖泊的生产力。砂囊是一种杂食性鱼类，在暖水湖泊和水库食物网中占主导地位，随着生产力的提高变得更加重要。本研究将量化导致砂囊阴影优势的流域特征，并调查砂囊阴影的影响如何在生产力梯度上变化。 这项研究将测试相关的假设，导致砂囊阴影优势的因素在过度营养系统和砂囊阴影的影响如何随生产力的变化。具体而言，本研究将探讨营养负荷，生产力和砂囊阴影丰富和影响之间的关系，在12个俄亥俄州水库，从中营养到过度营养。 这些比较领域的研究将与建模工作，旨在将这些模式与广泛适用的水生食物网和生态系统过程的理论。

9726930Stein In this multi-investigator collaborative proposal the PIs propose an ambitious project that will utilize the diverse strengths of the participants in a multi-faceted investigation of an aquatic food web. Specifically, they will study how gizzard shad influence the trophic structure and community organization in reservoirs and tie this to watershed processes. They examine the central question of whether or not the influence of shad on different groups of organisms is dependent upon lake productivity. Gizzard shade is an omnivorous fish that dominates warm-water lake and reservoir food webs and becomes more important as productivity increases. This research will quantify the watershed features that lead to gizzard shade dominance and investigate how impacts of gizzard shade vary across the productivity gradient. The study will test hypotheses related to the factors causing gizzard shade dominance in hypereutrophic systems and how gizzard shade impacts vary with productivity. Specifically, this research will examine the relationships between nutrient loading, productivity and gizzard shade abundance and effects in 12 Ohio reservoirs, ranging from mesotrophic to hypereutrophic. These comparative field studies will be coupled with a modeling effort aimed at relating these patterns to a broadly applicable theory of aquatic food webs and ecosystem processes.