COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Mesozooplankton-Microbial Food Web Interactions in the Western Arctic Shelf & Basin Regions

陆架-盆地相互作用（SBI）计划的一个中心目标是了解影响北极陆架和盆地生态系统内部和之间碳转化和通量的过程，以及气候变化如何影响这些过程。北极大陆架和盆地生境的碳循环取决于微型和中型浮游动物的结构和功能，它们是初级生产的重要消费者。初级生产力在留在水柱中的部分或积累到海底（从大陆架输出的有机物质较少）的部分之间的分配，可能受到微型浮游动物相对于中型浮游动物食草动物的相对摄食率的很大影响。微型浮游动物放牧抑制出口通量，而中型浮游动物放牧增强it. The的主要重点是微型浮游动物和中型浮游动物grazers的加拿大海盆和楚科奇/博福特海的陆架沃茨内的海洋沃茨的碳通量和交换的影响进行分析。 这项研究将明确解决营养联系以前未探索在北极地区。假设气候变化导致的生态系统结构变化将改变北极大陆架和盆地系统中碳利用和循环中这些营养相互作用的作用。该项目将提供微型浮游动物和中型浮游动物摄食和繁殖的速率测量值，这些参数是履行机构项目季节性过程考察的高度优先事项。

A central goal of the Shelf-Basin Interactions (SBI) program is to understand the processes affecting carbon transformations and fluxes within and between Arctic shelf and basin ecosystems, and how climate change might impact these processes. The cycling of carbon in Arctic shelf and basin habitats depends on the structure and functioning of both micro- and meso- zooplankton acting as significant consumers of primary production. The partitioning of primary production between the fractions remaining in the water column or accumulating to the seafloor (where organic matter is less available for export from the shelf) can be greatly affected by the relative grazing rates of microzooplankton versus mesozooplankton herbivores. Microplankton grazing dampens export flux, while mesozooplankton grazing enhances it. The primary focus of this project is an analysis of the impact of microzooplankton and mesozooplankton grazers on the fluxes and exchanges of carbon within the oceanic waters of the Canada Basin and the shelf waters of the Chukchi/Beaufort Seas. This study will explicitly address trophic linkages previously unexplored in this region of the Arctic. The hypothesize is that changing ecosystem structure resulting from climate change will alter the role of these trophic interactions in the utilization and cycling of carbon in arctic shelves and basin systems. This project will provide rate measurements for microzooplankton and mesozooplankton grazing and reproduction, parameters that are a high priority for the seasonal process cruises in the SBI project.