International Research Experience for Students (IRES): Climate Change and Threatened Salmonid Fishes in Northern Mongolia

要了解气候变化对水生生态系统的影响，就需要将直接和间接的气候影响从其他人为变化中分离出来。世界上很少有不受干扰的湖泊和河流可以做到这一点。呼苏湖-额河水系就是其中之一. 该项目团队将带领一小群美国研究生和本科生到Hovsgol湖（世界第17大湖泊）和Eg河（Hovsgol湖唯一的流出物）进行生态研究，重点是气候变化对受威胁的鲑鱼的影响。具体项目包括：（1）利用标记和遗传学来了解产卵地点的真实性和种群结构;（2）饮食和稳定同位素研究，以描述与历史条件相比的当前食物网的特征;（3）开发一种新的非侵入性照片标记再捕获技术，以估计泰门鱼的生长;（4）对受威胁的鲑鱼进行生物能量研究，以了解它们对变暖的生理反应;（5）发展水和营养收支，以了解从支流输入到霍夫苏古尔湖的变化的影响;（6）各种湖沼和鱼类群落采样，以了解长期变化和年际变化。学生将与来自13个美国项目合作者中的一名导师配对，其中大多数人已经在Hovsgol湖- Eg河生态系统中进行了研究。学生的实习将包括样品处理，数据分析和手稿写作的计划，将在他们从外地返回后完成。两名美国导师该项目的广泛影响包括：（1）改善蒙古和其他高纬度温带环境中水生生态系统和受威胁鱼类管理的知识基础;（二）在学生参与者的学术生涯早期提供国际研究经验，并通过以下方式扩展他们的专业网络与项目合作者（除了我们的蒙古合作者外，还有10个州的11个机构）合作;（3）让学生参与独立的研究项目（其中大部分应该是独立的），这也有助于更广泛的目标，即了解鲑鱼如何在一个几乎不受干扰的系统中应对气候变化。

Understanding the impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems requires disentangling the web of direct and indirect climate effects from other anthropogenic changes. There are very few undisturbed lakes and rivers in the world in which this might be possible. The Lake Hovsgol - Eg River system is one of them. This project team will bring a small group of U.S. graduate and undergraduate students to Lake Hovsgol (the 17th largest lake in the world by volume) and the Eg River (Lake Hovsgol's only outflow) to conduct ecological research with a focus on effects of climate change on threatened salmonid fishes. Specific projects include: (1) using tagging and genetics to understand spawning site fidelity and population structure; (2) diet and stable isotope studies to characterize the current food web compared to historical conditions; (3) developing a novel non-invasive photo markrecapture technique for estimating growth of taimen; (4) bioenergetic studies of threatened salmonids to understand their physiological responses to warming; (5) developing water and nutrient budgets to understand the effects of changing inputs from tributary streams into Lake Hovsgol; and (6) a variety of limnological and fish community sampling to understand long-term change and inter-annual variability. Students will be paired with a mentor from among the 13 U.S. project collaborators, most of whom have already conducted research in the Lake Hovsgol - Eg River ecosystem. Students' prepartion will include plans for sample processing, data analysis, and manuscript writing to be completed upon their return from the field. Two U.S. mentors (rotating) and a Mongolian mentor will accompany students and supervise the field research.Broader Impacts of this project include: (1) improving the knowledge base for management of aquatic ecosystems and threatened fishes in Mongolia and in other high latitude temperate environments; (2) providing an international research experience early in the academic careers of the student participants and extending their professional networks by working with project collaborators (11 institutions in 10 states in addition to our Mongolian collaborator); (3) engaging students in independent research projects (the majority of which should be publishable on their own) that also contribute to the broader goal of understanding how salmonid fishes respond to climate change in an otherwise nearly undisturbed system.