Collaborative Research: The Role of Planktonic Lower Trophic Levels in Carbon and Nitrogen Transformations in the Central Arctic, a MOSAiC Proposal

北极中部的生态仍然没有得到很好的描述，特别是浮游动物的“谁吃谁”世界，它们一生都在水中漂流。浮游动物是鱼类、海鸟和须鲸（如弓头鲸）的食物，是海洋食物链的重要成员。MOSAiC（北极气候研究多学科漂流观测站）项目是一个独特的机会，可以在一年四季中研究这些未充分研究的动物（浮游动物）。建议与一个国际科学小组一起参加MOSAiC考察，研究北极的生物和环境如何影响浮游动物，了解它们在生态系统中的作用（例如，它们吃谁和吃多少），并描述北极环境的变化，如海冰的损失，可能会影响它们的生存。更广泛的影响：这一理解需要预测环境变化如何改变整个北极生态系统，从浮游生物到鱼类到海豹再到人类，以及这种独特的依赖冰的生态系统是否仍然存在。对北冰洋生物学的研究很少有长达一年的时间，因为在黑暗、漫长、寒冷的冬天很难到达那里。PI将接触到我们的一些最年轻的观众，北法尔茅斯MA小学的K-3学生，分享我们对北极的迷恋，并向学生介绍北极的世界，以及在船上冻结成冰的生活和工作。国际MOSAiC小组将领导该项目的大量公众宣传工作。一名博士后研究员和一名本科生也将参与这项研究。这项研究的重点是浮游动物的低营养水平，并将量化的作用，浮游动物在生物转化和重要元素（C，N）在北冰洋中部生态系统的循环。PI将与一个国际科学家团队合作，使用浮游生物网和声学和光学方法确定整个浮游动物群落的丰度、生物量、垂直分布和生命阶段结构的季节模式。将通过实验测量重要物种的关键生物速率过程，以确定食物网动态的季节性变化，并更好地了解生命周期和生存策略以及它们如何与生产周期时间相关联。营养联系将使用同位素比率和分子技术来确定。这些速率过程和联系，然后将解释的背景下的丰度和分布模式，物理海洋环境，海冰的质量和范围，和季节。将通过与MOSAiC建模工作的合作，对更大的时间和空间背景进行量化。这项研究的新颖之处在于，它将通过直接测量重要的生物速率过程，首次量化北极中部的浮游食物网动态，并将利用传统和现代技术来描述和量化营养联系和碳循环。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过利用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The ecology of Central Arctic remains poorly described, especially the "who eats who" world of the microscopic animals that spend their lives drifting in the water, the zooplankton. Zooplankton are eaten by fish, seabirds, and baleen whales, such as the bowhead whale, and are important members of the ocean food chain. The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) project is a unique chance to investigate these understudied animals (zooplankton) over all four seasons of the year. Here is proposed to participate in the MOSAiC expedition with an international science team to study how the biology and environment of the Arctic affect the zooplankton, to understand their role in the ecosystem (for example, who do they eat and how much), and to describe how changes in the Arctic environment, such as loss of sea ice, may affect their survival. Broader Impacts: This understanding is needed to predict how environmental change might be changing the whole Arctic ecosystem from plankton to fish to seals to humans and if the unique ice-dependent ecosystem will still remain. There have been few year-long studies of the biology of the Arctic Ocean because it is very difficult to get there during the dark, long, cold winter. The PIs will reach out to some of our youngest audiences, K-3 students at North Falmouth MA Elementary, to share our fascination with the Arctic and to introduce the students to the planktonic world and to life and work on board a ship frozen into the ice. Substantial public outreach for the project will be led by the international MOSAiC team. A postdoctoral researcher and undergraduate students will also participate in the research.This proposal focuses on the planktonic lower trophic levels and will quantify the role that the mesozooplankton play in biological transformation and cycling of important elements (C, N) in the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem. Working together with an international team of scientists, the PIs will determine seasonal patterns in abundance, biomass, vertical distribution, and life stage structure for the entire zooplankton community using plankton nets and acoustic and optical methods. Key biological rate processes of important species will be measured experimentally to determine seasonal changes in food web dynamics and to better understand life cycle and survival strategies and how they are linked to production cycle timing. Trophic linkages will be determined using both isotopic ratios and molecular techniques. These rate processes and linkages then will be interpreted in the context of the abundance and distribution patterns, of the physical ocean environment, of sea ice quality and extent, and of season. Greater temporal and spatial context will be quantified through collaborations with MOSAiC modeling efforts. This study is novel in that it would result in the first quantification of the planktonic food web dynamics in the central Arctic through direct measurement of the important biological rate processes and will utilize both traditional and modern techniques to describe and quantify trophic linkages and carbon cycling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.