NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Leaky Landscapes: Using Arctic catchments to assess ecosystem 'openness'

该行动为2019财年美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，扩大生物学中代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该项目旨在了解北极变暖中陆地和水生生态系统之间的联系。这一科学挑战已被国际社会和北极的长期生态研究（LTER）现场站所确定。由于气候变化，北极生态系统正在迅速而系统地发生变化。变化的一个关键因素是永久冻土融化，这使得以前被困的营养物质在北极景观中“泄漏”，尽管对于泄漏物质的最终命运几乎没有一致意见。为了填补这一知识空白，该项目将对河流水质进行连续和广泛的地理监测，以揭示影响从土地到溪流的营养物质释放的景观特征。此外，该研究员将通过利用技术弥合实地与课堂之间的差距，提高公众对独特但具有全球意义的北极生态系统的认识。该研究员由密歇根州立大学主办，将与图里克野外站和凯洛格生物站LTER的北极LTER合作。该博士后将利用现有的和计划中的LTER数据收集，在地块和流域尺度上整合北极生态认识。该项目将创造许多对水文学家、生态学家和生物地球化学家具有广泛兴趣的研究产品，包括：1)分析尚未应用于北极的流域水文和水化学的天气和连续数据；2)提高对北极生态系统“热点”营养通量的基本认识。此外，该研究还与一项教育计划相结合，旨在分三个阶段增加代表性不足群体对北极研究的参与：1)与凯洛格生物站教师培训研讨会合作制定K-12课程计划，2)将这些教学计划作为开源数据块发布，以及3)通过免费和广泛的“Skype a Scientist”计划进入K-12教室。该项目将扩大密歇根州立大学和北极LTER目前旨在了解水化学命运和运输的努力，并将直接与凯洛格生物站LTER的外展任务联系起来。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The project seeks to understand the connection between land and aquatic ecosystems in a warming Arctic. This scientific challenge has been identified by the international community and Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) field stations in the Arctic. The Arctic ecosystem is being altered rapidly and systematically as a result of the changing climate. One critical element of change is permafrost thaw, which allows previously trapped nutrients to 'leak' in Arctic landscapes, although there is little agreement about the ultimate fate of the leaked material. To fill this knowledge gap, the project will use continuous and geographically extensive monitoring of river water quality to reveal landscape features that influence nutrient release from land to streams. In addition, the fellow will enhance public awareness of unique but globally-significant Arctic ecosystems through the use of technology to bridge the field to classroom gap. Hosted at Michigan State University, the fellow will work in partnership with the Arctic LTER at Toolik Field Station and Kellogg Biological Station LTER.The postdoctoral fellow will use existing and planned LTER data collection to integrate Arctic ecological understanding at the plot and watershed-scales. The project will create a number of research products with broad interest to hydrologists, ecologists, and biogeochemists, including: 1) Analyses of synoptic and continuous data of catchment hydrology and hydrochemistry that have not yet been applied to the Arctic, and 2) Improved fundamental understanding of Arctic ecosystem 'hotspots' for nutrient fluxes. Further, the research is integrated with an education plan aimed at increasing participation of under-represented groups in Arctic research in three stages: 1) Developing K-12 lesson plans in partnership with Kellogg Biological Station Teacher Training Workshops, 2) Publishing these teaching plans as open-source Data Nuggets, and 3) Reaching K-12 classrooms through the free and broad-reaching 'Skype a Scientist' program. The project will expand current efforts at Michigan State University and the Arctic LTER aimed at understanding hydrochemical fate and transport, and will directly link to the Kellogg Biological Station LTER's outreach mission.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.