Collaborative Research: Impact of sea-ice on bottom-up and top-down controls of crustacean zooplankton and the mediation of carbon and energy flow in the eastern Bering Sea

提供资金来研究海冰对浮游动物分布和丰度的影响，以及它们如何在顶级捕食者之间分配。为此，将使用新的和历史的数据来测试一系列假设，并回答有关自下而上和自上而下控制大型甲壳类浮游动物及其对生态系统中碳和能量流动的影响的问题。通过对这些假设的研究，将得出新的机制，并重新评估旧的机制。现有的数值模型将用于评估这些机制的相对重要性。将测试现有的概念模型，并开发新的碳和能源流动概念模型。对东白令海大陆架生态系统的这种研究是及时的。气候变化的一些最直接的影响将是对海冰的影响--海冰的范围、持续时间、退缩的时间和年际变化。海冰反过来又控制着海洋的温度/盐度、春季浮游植物大量繁殖的时间，从而控制着固定碳的输出/再矿化的程度。甲壳类浮游动物可能是碳和能量通过食物链流动的瓶颈。白令海生态系统提供了美国大约一半的商业海产品上岸量，也是渔民赖以生存的重要资源。 这些种群的重大波动发生在过去，并与气候变化有关。 从这一项目中获得的理解应能改善对这些重要渔业的管理。

Funds are provided to examine the impact of sea ice on the distribution and abundance of zooplankton, and how they are partitioned among top predators. To this end, new and historical data will be used to test a series of hypotheses and answer questions relating to bottom-up and top-down control of large crustacean zooplankton and their impact on the flow of carbon and energy in the ecosystem. From the examination of these hypotheses, new mechanisms will be derived and old ones re-evaluated. Existing numerical models will be used to assess the relative importance of these mechanisms. Existing conceptual models will be tested, and new conceptual models of carbon and energy flow will be developed. Such a study of the eastern Bering Sea shelf ecosystem is timely. Some of the most direct effects of changing climate will be on sea-ice - its extent, duration, timing of retreat, and inter-annual variability. Sea ice in turn controls ocean temperature/salinity, timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom and thus the extent of export/remineralization of fixed carbon. Crustacean zooplankton can be a choke-point in the flow of carbon and energy through the food chain.The Bering Sea ecosystem provides roughly half the commercial seafood landings in the United States, as well as significant resources for subsistence fishermen. Major fluctuations in these stocks have occurred in the past and been associated with climate variations. Improved management of these important fisheries should be enabled by the understanding derived from this project.