Workshop: Ecology under Lake Ice; NCEAS-Santa Barbara, CA - October 2014 and February 2015

本次研讨会将汇集约20位专家，以及其他一些通过互联网连接的专家，综合现有的信息，了解冰冻湖泊冰层下的生物在冬季是如何活跃的。通常，夏季被认为是主要的生长季节，但越来越多的证据表明，漫长的冬季对于可能影响湖泊全年功能的各种生物活动和物理过程也很重要。海洋研究表明，在某些地方，冰下生物群落可以贡献超过一半的年总生产力。对湖泊的了解要少得多，但观察表明，湖泊可能也是如此。冰的损失现在被广泛认为是极地海洋的一个主要环境变化。世界各地湖泊的冬季结冰时间也缩短了，但人们对由此产生的生态变化的关注要少得多。内陆水域在冬季结冰的经济和社会重要性，如五大湖，是我们应该更好地了解全年湖泊动态的重要原因。本次研讨会的成果将包括确定冬季湖沼学的关键下一步，探索卫星遥感方法，以及与海洋科学家合作回答关于冰下湖泊生态系统如何运作的重大问题。该研讨会还将建立和加强一个科学家网络，研究冰下过程，撰写科学文章，并生成可供公众使用的数据集。社交媒体将为结果提供其他渠道，并在结果出现时为参与者提供与大众媒体接触的其他机会。

This workshop will bring together in person about 20 experts, as well as a number of others via internet connections, to synthesize the existing information about how active organisms are in winter under the ice of frozen lakes. Usually summer is considered the prime growing season, but there is increasing evidence that long winters are also important for diverse biological activity and physical processes that may affect the functioning of lakes all year. Ocean studies have shown that under-ice biological communities can contribute more than half of the total annual productivity in some locations. Far less is known about lakes, but observations suggest the same may be true there too. Ice loss is now widely recognized as a major environmental change in the polar seas. Winter ice duration has also shortened in lakes worldwide, but there has been much less attention to the resulting ecological changes. The economic and social importance of inland waters that freeze in the winter, such as the Great Lakes, are great reasons why we should better understand lake dynamics over the entire year. Products of this workshop will include the identification of key next steps in winter limnology, the exploration of satellite remote sensing approaches, and collaboration with ocean scientists to answer big questions about how lake ecosystems function under ice. This workshop will also build and reinforce a network of scientists studying under-ice processes, produce scientific articles, and generate data sets that will be available to the public. Social media will provide other outlets for the results and lead to other opportunities for the participants to engage with the popular media as results emerge.