LTER: Ecological Response and Resilience to “Press-Pulse” Disturbances and a Recent Decadal Reversal in Sea Ice Trends Along the West Antarctic Peninsula

第1部分：非技术描述所有LTER站点的目标是对需要数十年数据并覆盖大片地理区域的问题进行与政策相关的生态系统研究。帕尔默南极长期生态研究(PAL-LTER)站点自1990年以来一直在运行，一直在研究南极洲半岛(WAP)以西的海洋生态系统如何应对与地球上任何地方一样迅速变化的气候。这项研究正在评估气候变暖和冰盖减少导致长时间开放水域如何影响生态系统功能的许多方面。该团队正在使用综合的尖端方法，包括每年基于船舶的研究巡航、小艇每周采样、自动驾驶车辆、动物生物记录、海洋浮标和海底系泊、基于实验室的操纵性过程研究和建模，以评估季节性和年度生态系统响应。这些结合起来的方法使这项研究能够在评估短期和长期驱动因素所需的规模上进行生态系统变化。研究区域还包括海底峡谷，这些峡谷是WAP内生物活动增强的特殊区域。这一研究计划与促进南极科学和研究的全球意义的全面教育和推广计划相匹配。除了为研究生和本科生提供培训外，他们还将新开发的极地识字原则作为一个虚拟校园项目的基础，该项目共享极地教学材料，并为K-12教育工作者提供学习机会。PAL-LTER团队还利用为课外和夏令营项目开发的课外时间材料，与大学、博物馆和4-H特殊兴趣俱乐部合作伙伴共享Palmer LTER专用教材。第2部分：技术描述极地生态系统是地球上变化最快的生态系统之一。Palmer LTER(PAL-LTER)计划建立在南极半岛(WAP)西侧三十年协同研究的基础上，以获得对生态系统变化的新的机制和预测性理解，以应对跨越长期十年(PRESS)驱动因素的干扰，以及由更高频率(‘脉冲’)驱动因素引起的变化，如大风暴和海冰覆盖的极端季节性异常。正在研究主要自然气候模式的影响，这些模式调节海冰、天气和海洋条件的变化，以推动生态系统结构和功能的变化(例如，厄尔尼诺南方涛动和南环状模式)，从昼夜、季节、年际、十年间隔和空间尺度--从半球尺度到全球尺度--由遥感研究的区域尺度。具体地说，该团队正在评估物理特性(如垂直和近岸连接过程)的可变性如何相互作用，以调节WAP地区的生物地球化学循环和群落生态。这项研究正在对生态系统复原力和生态反应进行评估，以应对长期的“压力脉冲”驱动因素和海冰覆盖率的十年水平逆转。该计划提供了对经历深刻变化的海洋生态系统的种群和生物地球化学反应的基本了解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Part 1: Non-technical description The goal of all LTER sites is to conduct policy-relevant ecosystem research for questions that require tens of years of data and cover large geographical areas. The Palmer Antarctica Long Term Ecological Research (PAL-LTER) site has been in operation since 1990 and has been studying how the marine ecosystem west of the Antarctica Peninsula (WAP) is responding to a climate that is changing as rapidly as any place on the Earth. The study is evaluating how warming conditions and decreased ice cover leading to extended periods of open water are affecting many aspects of ecosystem function. The team is using combined cutting-edge approaches including yearly ship-based research cruises, small-boat weekly sampling, autonomous vehicles, animal biologging, oceanographic floats and seafloor moorings, manipulative lab-based process studies and modeling to evaluate both seasonal and annual ecosystem responses. These combined approaches are allowing for the study the ecosystem changes at scales needed to assess both short-term and long-term drivers. The study region also includes submarine canyons that are special regions of enhanced biological activity within the WAP. This research program is paired with a comprehensive education and outreach program promoting the global significance of Antarctic science and research. In addition to training for graduate and undergraduate students, they are using newly-developed Polar Literacy Principles as a foundation in a virtual schoolyard program that shares polar instructional materials and provides learning opportunities for K-12 educators. The PAL-LTER team is also leveraging the development of Out of School Time materials for afterschool and summer camp programs, sharing Palmer LTER-specific teaching materials with University, Museum, and 4-H Special Interest Club partners.Part 2: Technical descriptionPolar ecosystems are among the most rapidly changing on Earth. The Palmer LTER (PAL-LTER) program builds on three decades of coordinated research along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) to gain new mechanistic and predictive understanding of ecosystem changes in response to disturbances spanning long-term decadal (‘press’) drivers and changes due to higher-frequency (‘pulse’) drivers, such as large storms and extreme seasonal anomaly in sea ice cover. The influence of major natural climate modes that modulate variations in sea ice, weather, and oceanographic conditions to drive changes in ecosystem structure and function (e.g., El Niño Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode) are being studied at multiple time scales –from diel, seasonal, interannual, to decadal intervals, and space scales–from hemispheric to global scale investigated by remote sensing, the regional scales. Specifically, the team is evaluating how variability of physical properties (such as vertical and alongshore connectivity processes) interact to modulate biogeochemical cycling and community ecology in the WAP region. The study is providing an evaluation of ecosystem resilience and ecological responses to long-term “press-pulse” drivers and a decadal-level reversal in sea ice coverage. This program is providing fundamental understanding of population and biogeochemical responses for a marine ecosystem experiencing profound change.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.