RCN: Intermittent River Research Coordination Network (IRRCN): Integrating Intermittent River Ecology and Hydrology

生命在没有水的情况下是完全不同的，特别是对河流和溪流中的生命来说。然而，地球上每年有一半的河流干涸或停止流动。这些小溪或河流被称为“间歇性”。研究河流生态学或河流水文学的研究人员并没有很好地研究或理解断断续续的河流。初步研究表明，间歇性河流的水文和生态与经常流动的河流有很大不同。目前对溪流和河流的科学理解和概念是不完整的，因为它偏向于地球上一半不断流动的河流。间歇性河流研究协调网络(IR-RCN)将组织一系列专家工作组，综合日益增多的间歇性河流水文学和生态学研究。这些工作组将制定通用框架，解释断断续续的河流水文和生态系统是如何工作的。这项研究很重要，因为断断续续的河流由于其水文和生态重要性的不确定性，经常被忽视或排除在水管理计划之外。研究生将接受水文学和生态学的跨学科培训，并与全球断断续续的河流生态学家和水文学家建立联系。该奖项将提供资金，组成关于断断续续的河流水文学、生态学和生态水文学的三个工作组。水文学工作组将寻求产生新的工具来描述间歇性河流流量状况，开发一个基于等级尺度的框架来预测空间间歇性流量模式，并比较用于预测间歇性河流流量指标的统计模型和处理模型。生态工作组将综合大规模间歇性河流生物多样性和生态系统数据集，以更好地了解间歇性河流生态系统的结构和功能。生态水文学工作组将整合生态学和水文学工作组的产品，以确定对间歇性河流生态系统的水文控制，并将这些发现整合到我们目前为不断流动的河流设计的河流概念框架中。IR-RCN将通过加强学术研究人员和非学术利益攸关方(包括政府机构和非政府组织)之间的沟通和网络，来改善间歇性河流的管理。由IR-RCN产生的数据集、方法、材料和项目将在IR-RCN门户网站上开放获取，并存放在Dryad数字存储库中供长期使用，这将广泛影响全球科学界。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。

Life is simply different in the absence of water, especially for life in rivers and streams. Yet half of the Earth's rivers dry or stop flowing each year. These streams or rivers are called "intermittent." Intermittent rivers are not well studied or understood by researchers studying river ecology or river hydrology. Initial research shows the hydrology and ecology of intermittent rivers are very different from rivers that always flow. The current scientific understanding and concepts of streams and rivers is incomplete as it is biased towards the half of the Earth's rivers that continuously flow. The Intermittent River Research Coordination Network (IR-RCN) will organize a series of expert workgroups that will synthesize the growing body of research on intermittent river hydrology and ecology. These workgroups will produce generalized frameworks that can explain how intermittent river hydrologic and ecologic systems work. This research is important because intermittent rivers are often overlooked or excluded from water management plans due to uncertainty about their hydrologic and ecological importance. Graduate students will receive interdisciplinary training in hydrology and ecology and network with intermittent river ecologists and hydrologists across the globe.Funds will be provided by this award to form three workgroups on intermittent river hydrology, ecology, and ecohydrology. The hydrology workgroup will seek to generate new tools to characterize intermittent river flow regimes, develop a hierarchical scale-based framework for predicting spatial intermittence patterns, and compare statistical and processed-based models for prediction of intermittent river streamflow metrics. The ecology workgroup will synthesize large scale intermittent river biodiversity and ecosystem datasets to better understand the structure and function of intermittent river ecosystems. The ecohydrology workgroup will integrate products from the ecology and hydrology workgroups to identify hydrologic controls on intermittent river ecosystems and integrate these findings into our current river conceptual frameworks designed for rivers that always flow. The IR-RCN will improve the management of intermittent rivers by enhancing communication and networking among academic researchers and nonacademic stakeholders, including government agencies and NGOs. Datasets, methods, materials and projects produced by the IR-RCN will be made open access on the IR-RCN web portal and deposited in the Dryad Digital Repository for long-term availability, which will broadly impact the global scientific community.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.