Oden Science: Sea Ice Ecology in the Amundsen and Eastern Ross Sea

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。瑞典破冰船奥登号提供了一个前所未有的机会，在南极冰盖的一个地区采样海冰微生物群落，迄今为止很少受到关注。这项研究将检查位于南极洲别林斯高晋海和罗斯海之间的大片海冰中的微生物群落。该项目将：1）描述海冰微生物群落组成的空间变异性，并在可能的情况下将其与水柱中观察到的群落组成联系起来，2）测量冰藻群落的生物量、生物生理学和代谢率，并将其与浮冰内的物理化学条件联系起来，3）使用正在进行的采样，对二氧化碳和二甲基硫醚等气候重要气体进行连续测量，以确定“热点”并进行离散采样在微生物作用改变了这些气体的环境浓度的浮冰中，4）利用分子生物学工具来确定负责二氧化碳吸收和二甲基磺基丙酸盐（DMSP）的浮游植物通过检测二氧化碳吸收和DMSP生产途径中靶基因的表达，了解DMSP的生产以及物理和化学因素在多大程度上控制这些过程。科学家们将与斯坦福大学的科学教师专业发展暑期项目（http：//pangea.stanford.edu/outreach/about/index.html）合作，并参加斯坦福大学地球科学学院的高中实习项目。该项目还将作为向公众提供信息的教学工具，部分方式是出版一个关于初级生产者和南极生态系统的教学单元。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Swedish icebreaker Oden provides an unprecedented opportunity to sample the sea ice microbial community in a region of the Antarctic ice pack that has received very little attention to date. The research will examine the microbial community throughout the large expanse of sea ice that is located between the Bellingshausen Sea and the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The project will 1) characterize the spatial variability in the sea ice microbial community composition and, where possible, relate it to the community composition observed in the water column, 2) measure the biomass, photophysiology and metabolic rates of the ice algal community and relate these to physicochemical conditions within the pack ice, 3) use underway sampling to make continuous measurements of climatically important gases such as carbon dioxide and dimethyl sulfide to identify and discretely sample "hot spots" within the pack ice where microbial processes have altered the ambient concentrations of these gases, and 4) use molecular tools to determine phytoplankton responsible for carbon dioxide uptake and dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) production and to what extent physical and chemical factors control these processes by examining expression of target genes in the carbon dioxide uptake and DMSP production pathways. Scientists will work with Stanford's Summer Program for Professional Development for Science Teachers (http://pangea.stanford.edu/outreach/about/index.html) and participate in Stanford's School of Earth Sciences high school internship program. The project also will be used as a teaching tool to inform the public, in part by publishing a teaching module about primary producers and the Antarctic ecosystem.