U.S. - China Planning Visits: Forecasting the Potential Impacts of Invasive Species in Aquatic Ecosystems

美国有许多来自亚洲的水生入侵物种，由于两大洲之间不断增加的交通，来自亚洲大陆的未来入侵的威胁正在上升。同样，北美物种目前正在入侵亚洲水域。该项目的总体目标是启动并保持与中国的研究人员的长期合作，以了解生态系统的弹性和可持续性，以防止和/或最大限度地减少入侵物种对本地水生动物的负面影响，保护水生生态系统服务。具体的研究目标是：1)开发生态系统模型，以量化入侵物种对五大湖和中国湖泊和水库生态系统的影响；2)交换入侵物种的信息；3)就入侵物种、气候变化和富营养化对水生生态系统弹性和可持续性的独立和协同影响向NSF环境可持续发展项目提出全面建议；以及4)培训美国博士后研究员和中国学生进行生态系统建模、撰写拨款申请和建立合作关系。为了完成我们的项目，美国研究人员将在一年内两次前往中国。在这些访问期间，美国和中国的团队将就生态系统建模、入侵物种和生态系统弹性举行会议和演讲。研究人员和学生将参加每月的电话会议，报告进展并讨论提案制定。这种合作将有助于塑造科学家研究包括亚洲鲤鱼在内的入侵物种的方式，转向一种利用原产国研究人员的专业知识的积极和全面的研究方法。它还将通过提供对这些国家发达的知识库的访问，使正在研究入侵物种的美国和中国的研究人员互惠互利。因此，两国的研究人员可以建立更好的生态系统模型来解决研究问题，为政策制定者提供更可靠的预测，并最终改善对入侵物种的管理。这一合作将广泛惠及科学研究的三个方面：研究、教育和推广。这一合作有望为未来的合作开辟一条途径，让来自多个学科的研究人员和学生参与到两国共同关注的入侵物种问题上。在教育方面，这笔初始拨款和后续提案将为中国和美国的学生提供教育和研究机会。外联活动包括出席科学研讨会和会议，并在科学期刊上发表文章，向管理人员、公众和其他研究人员传播关于入侵物种生态系统影响的重要信息。

The US has a number of aquatic invasive species from Asia and the threat of future invasions from the continent of Asia is on the rise due to increasing traffic amongst the two continents. Likewise, North American species are currently invading waters in Asia. The overall goal of the project is to initiate and sustain a long-term collaboration with researchers in China to understand ecosystem resiliency and sustainability so as to prevent and/or minimize the negative impacts of invasive species on native aquatic fauna, preserving aquatic ecosystems services. Specific research objectives are to 1) develop ecosystem models to quantify invasive species impacts on Great Lakes and Chinese lake and reservoir ecosystems; 2) exchange information on invasive species; 3) develop a full proposal to the NSF Environmental Sustainability program on the independent and synergistic effects of invasive species, climate change and eutrophication on aquatic ecosystem resiliency and sustainability; and 4) train a US postdoctoral fellow and Chinese students to conduct ecosystem modeling, write grant proposals, establish collaborations. To complete our project, US researchers will travel for two weeks to China twice over the course of a year. During these trips, the US and Chinese teams will hold meetings and presentations on ecosystem modeling, invasive species, and ecosystem resiliency. Researchers and students will participate in monthly conference calls to report progress and discuss proposal development.This collaboration will help shape the way scientists study invasive species, including Asian carps, toward a proactive and holistic research approach that utilizes expert knowledge from researchers in the country of origin. It also will mutually benefit researchers in both the US and China who are studying invasive species by providing access to well-developed knowledge bases in these countries. As a result, researchers in both countries can build better ecosystem models to address research questions, provide more reliable predictions to policy-makers, and ultimately improve management of invasive species. This collaboration will benefit broadly three aspects of scientific study: research, education, and outreach. This collaboration is expected to create a pathway for future collaborations involving researchers and students from multiple disciplines on issues of invasive species of concern in both countries. Educationally, this initial grant and the follow-on proposal will provide educational and research opportunities for students from both China and the US. Outreach activities include attendance at scientific seminars and meetings and publications in scientific journals to disseminate critical information to managers, the public and other researchers on invasive species ecosystem impacts.