NSF Convergence Accelerator Track E: Developing Blue Economy from Micro to Macro-Scale in Kelp Aquaculture

美国扩大水产养殖的必要性被公认为是刺激沿海经济、确保海鲜供应、恢复受损的生态系统以及创新解决我们的全球气候问题的一种手段。海藻水产养殖正在经历一场全球热潮，现在被认为是美国东北部增长最快的海洋产业之一。这些新兴经济体的结合有可能促进经济增长，并在我们的气候解决方案中发挥关键作用。该项目将汇集一个由科学研究人员、部落团体和海带种植者组成的广泛团队，探索如何加强美国西海岸的海藻种植。该项目团队将探索微生物群落及其基因功能在促进海藻健康、营养和工业质量方面的作用，最终目标是确定这些微生物群落是否能够在扩大海藻水产养殖方面发挥关键作用。海藻遗传学在海藻养殖和恢复工作领域的作用越来越受到重视，特别是在海洋变暖的情况下。该团队将与加州和阿拉斯加的团队成员召开几次面对面和在线会议，前往海藻养殖场培训农民微生物采样技术，并最终建立一个可供这个不断扩大的行业使用的海藻种植最佳实践指南。总体目标是提供一个框架，加强西海岸的蓝色经济和栖息地恢复工作。这个合作项目的重点是与北美西海岸的海藻养殖场相关的未被研究但至关重要的微生物群落，即微生物群落。该项目的目标是阐明存在哪些物种，以及它们在海带养殖中的作用。具体地说，项目组试图回答以下问题：每个微生物物种的作用是什么；微生物环境中物种之间以及与其宿主之间发生了什么相互作用；以及微生物在环境中是如何变化的。该项目将提高对整个西海岸海藻微生物群落在分类和功能代谢水平上的时空变化的理解，将这些知识与海带的健康和化学成分相关联。这将为海带水产养殖业提供更好的信息，说明农场管理和生态系统恢复的最佳做法、最佳养殖场设计和场地位置，以及增加与海藻水产养殖相关的可取属性的方法(多糖和藻酸盐生产、碳水化合物和脂肪生产、耐热震性和总生物量生产产量)。教育外展活动将对学生和公众进行培训和告知。项目成果将与卡西茨纳湾实验室和圣地亚哥州立大学现有的K-12外联活动相结合。社交媒体将被用来突出研究发现，包括一个专门的项目网页和相应的博客文章，这将使这项研究接触到不同年龄、阶层、种族等不同的人。最终，将生成一份最佳实践指南，指导海藻种植者如何采样微生物，以及如何将这些知识融入他们的农场设计，以促进从阿拉斯加到加利福尼亚州的蓝色经济活动和栖息地恢复。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。

The need for aquaculture expansion in the United States is well recognized as a means of stimulatingcoastal economies, securing seafood supplies, restoring damaged ecosystems, and generating innovativesolutions to our global climate issues. Seaweed aquaculture is experiencing a global boom and is nowconsidered one of the fastest growing marine industries in the Northeastern US. The combination of thesefarming economies has the potential to bolster economic growth and play a key role in our climatesolution. This project will bring together a wide-ranging team of scientific investigators, tribal groups, and kelp farmers to explore ways to enhance seaweed farming along the west coast of the USA. The project team will explore the role of microbial communities and their gene functions in promoting seaweed health, and nutritional and industrial quality, The ultimate goal is to determine whether these microbiomes can play a crucial role in expanding seaweed aquaculture. The role of seaweed genetics is being increasingly appreciated in the field of seaweed farming and restoration efforts, especially as the oceans warm. The team will convene several in-person and on-line meetings with team members in California and Alaska, travel to seaweed farms to train farmers in microbial sampling techniques, and ultimately build a “Guide for best Practices” for seaweed farming that can be used by this expanding sector. The overarching goal is to provide a framework to enhance Blue Economy and habitat restoration efforts along the west coast. This collaborative project focuses on the understudied, yet critically important microbial communities associated with seaweed farms throughout the west coast of North America, the microbiome. The project goal is to elucidate which species are present and what their functions in kelp farming are. Specifically, the project team seeks to answer the following questions: what the role of each microbial species is; what interactions occur among species and with their host in the microbial environment; and how do microbes change in the environment. This project will improve understanding of spatial and temporal variation in seaweed microbial communities at taxonomic and functional metabolism levels throughout the west coast, correlating this knowledge with kelp health and chemical composition. This will provide better information for the kelp aquaculture industry concerning best practices for farm management and ecosystem restoration, optimal farm designs and site locations, and approaches for increasing desirable attributes associated with seaweed aquaculture (polysaccharide and alginate production, carbohydrate and lipid production, heat shock resistance and overall biomass production yields). Educational outreach activities will train and inform students and the public. Project results will be incorporated with existing K-12 outreach activities at the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory and San Diego State University. Social media will be used to highlight research discoveries, including a dedicated project web page and corresponding blog posts, which will allow this research to reach a diverse range of people differing in age, class, race, etc. Ultimately, a Guide to Best Practices will be generated to teach seaweed farmers how to sample microbiomes, and how to incorporate this knowledge into their farm designs to enhance Blue Economy activities and habitat restoration from Alaska to California.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.