The Arctic LTER Project: Regional Variation in Ecosystem Processes and Landscape Linkages

这是北极LTER（ARC）的第四阶段，位于阿拉斯加的图里克湖野外站，研究苔原，溪流和湖泊的生态，以了解在预测环境变化影响的长期目标中对生态系统结构和功能的控制。自20世纪70年代以来，该站一直在进行研究，LTER项目的重点是一系列相连的河流和湖泊的地球化学成分，这些河流和湖泊共同流入并影响图里克湖以及邻近的库帕鲁克河源头地区。在研究区域的各种陆地和水生生态系统之间存在着广泛的变异性，但所有这些都是通过水和物质的运输联系在一起的。ARC下一阶段的目标是通过加强对这些联系和相互作用的了解，了解北极系统在流域和景观尺度上的变化。研究工作将查明和量化系统内和系统间的联系，确定对这些联系的控制以及这些联系将如何受到不断变化的环境的影响，并预测整个景观将如何对环境变化作出反应。一系列地球化学研究将针对这一景观中陆地、河流和湖泊生态系统之间的相互作用。短期研究将侧重于具体材料，以更好地了解投入、气候驱动因素和材料的转化。长期研究将调查物种组成、温度、光照和养分变化对四类冻原的影响以及养分负荷和气候变化的影响。湖泊研究将侧重于湖泊与湖泊的联系，以了解陆地斑块对湖泊生产力模式的控制。研究人员还将研究湖中过程及其与营养物和溶解有机物流域输入的关系。目标是测量浮游和底栖生产和耦合，illucidate食物网结构，并确定如何流域河流湖泊的联系调节水化学和生产力模式的转变。更广泛的影响围绕使用ARC的研究成果，以解决预测北极生态系统对环境变化的反应的重要社会目标。数据和见解将提供给规范阿拉斯加北坡石油和天然气开发的联邦和州官员。夏季将举办为期两周的本科生/研究生合作课程，本科生将与来自10所大学的研究生一起沿着该领域的培训。MBL的科学新闻课程方便记者访问图里克湖。ARC LTER校园项目涉及大多数阿拉斯加原住民学生。K-12学生进行和观察当地的实地实验类似于那些在图利克湖。最后，参与ARC的科学家通过提供关于科学主题的志愿者讲座，积极吸引该地区的学生、居民和当地社区官员。

This is the fourth stage of the Arctic LTER (ARC) located at the Toolik Lake Field Station, Alaska, where the ecology of tundra, streams, and lakes is studied to understand controls on ecosystem structure and function within the long-term goal of predicting the effects of environmental change. Research has been ongoing at the station since the 1970s, with the LTER project focusing on the biogeochemical components of a series of connected streams and lakes that collectively flow into and affect Toolik Lake, as well as the adjacent headwaters region of the Kuparuk River. Extensive variability exists among the various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the study area, but all are linked via water and materials transport. The goal for this next phase of ARC is to understand changes in the Arctic system at catchment and landscape scales through enhanced knowledge of these linkages and interactions. Research will identify and quantify intra- and inter-system linkages, determine controls of the linkages and how they will be affected by a changing environment, and predict how the entire landscape will respond to environmental change. A suite of biogeochemical studies will target the interactions among the component terrestrial, stream, lake ecosystems within this landscape. Short-term studies will focus on specific materials to better understand inputs, climate drivers and transformations of materials. Long-term studies will investigate effects of changes in species composition, temperature, light and nutrients on four types of tundra and the effects of nutrient loading and climate variability. Lake studies will focus on landscape-to-lake linkages to understand controls of terrestrial patchiness on productivity patterns in lakes. Researchers will also examine in-lake processes and their relations to watershed inputs of nutrients and dissolved organic matter. Objectives are to measure pelagic and benthic production and coupling, illucidate food web structures, and determine how watershed-stream-lake linkages regulate transformations in water chemistry and patterns of productivity. Broader Impacts center around the use of ARC research results to address the important societal goal of predicting responses of Arctic ecosystems to environmental change. Data and insights will be provided to Federal and State officials regulating the development of oil and gas on the Alaskan North Slope. A collaborative undergraduate/graduate course will be held for two weeks in the summers, with undergraduate students trained in the field along with graduate students from ten universities. The MBL's Science Journalism Course facilitates journalist visits to Toolik Lake. The ARC LTER Schoolyard project involves a majority of Native Alaskan students. K-12 students conduct and observe local field experiments similar to those at Toolik Lake. Finally, participating ARC scientists actively engage students, residents and local community officials in the region by presenting volunteer lectures on science topics.