Collaborative Research: Community Based Phytoplankton Observatory for Northwestern Alaska Coastal Waters

北极的变暖速度是地球其他地区的两倍多，随之而来的是微生物种群的变化。Kotzebue沿海社区位于北极圈以北30英里处的Kotzebue海峡东岸，这是阿拉斯加西北部楚科奇海东南部的一个海湾。Kotzebue海湾对该社区具有重要的商业价值，该社区平均每年收获23万条鲑鱼，海湾中的鱼类和海洋哺乳动物为他们提供了每年70%的食物收获重量。但是，尽管海湾对当地社区很重要，但对浮游植物——构成海湾食物网基础的微生物——的全面研究却很少。因此，了解浮游植物的数量，包括可能影响粮食安全的有害藻华的数量，对生活在这里的人们也具有直接的重要性。该提案启动了一项全年长期的浮游植物种群、相关物理特征和Kotzebue周围水域营养物质浓度的观测计划。该项目将在无冰季节用船在六个地点测量水柱水文、营养物质浓度和浮游植物数量，在冬季用船在两个穿越冰层的地点测量。此外，将部署一台YSI Exo 2探空仪，在无冰季节每10分钟进行一次测量。关于河口系统年际和年际变化的信息目前还无法通过分布式生物观测站或邻近楚科奇海的近海研究项目等大规模项目获得，因此该项目填补了科学和社会相关的重要空白。该项目旨在建立一个持续的观察项目，是由Kotzebue原住民村的环境项目主任coPI Whiting共同构思和设计的。鉴于了解浮游植物种群和蓝藻毒素变化对粮食安全的重要性，该项目的研究结果将以多种方式向社区展示，包括：向部落理事会报告、电台采访、向居民发送的通讯、在社区中心的晚间演讲、在初中和高中的演讲，以及Facebook和Instagram等社交媒体页面。研究结果也将通过阿拉斯加海洋观测系统提交给阿拉斯加有害藻类爆发网络。将为Kotzebue的初高中学生提供浮游生物镜，并培训教师设置课堂项目，在Kotzebue周围水域取样，让学生了解当地的浮游生物。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。

The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate as the rest of the planet with subsequent changes to the microbial population. The coastal community of Kotzebue is located 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the eastern shore of Kotzebue Sound, an embayment of the southeast Chukchi Sea, in northwest Alaska. Kotzebue Sound is commercially important to the community, which harvests on average 230,000 chum salmon, and the fish and marine mammals from the Sound provide up to 70% by weight of their annual food harvest. But, as important as the Sound is to the local community, there have been few comprehensive studies of phytoplankton - the microbes that make up the base of the food web in the Sound. Thus, knowledge of phytoplankton populations including that of Harmful Algal Blooms that could impact food security is also of immediate importance to the people who live here. This proposal initiates a year-round long-term observational program of phytoplankton populations, relevant physical characteristics, and nutrient concentrations in the waters around Kotzebue. This project will measure water column hydrography, nutrient concentrations, and phytoplankton populations at six sites using boats during the ice-free season and at two locations through the ice in the winter. In addition, a YSI Exo 2 sonde will be deployed to make measurements every 10 minutes during the ice-free season. Information about interannual and annual changes in an estuarine system produced here is not currently available through large scale programs like the Distributed Biological Observatory or the offshore research projects occurring in the adjacent Chukchi Sea and thus this project fills an important scientific and societally relevant gap. This project to set up a sustained observation program has been co-conceived and co-designed with coPI Whiting, the Environmental Program Director for the Native Village of Kotzebue. Given the importance of knowledge about changes in phytoplankton populations and cyanotoxins to food security, findings from this project will be presented to the community in a variety of ways including: reports to the Tribal Council, radio interviews, newsletters delivered to residents, evening presentations at the community center, presentations at the middle and high school, as well as social media such as Facebook and Instagram pages. Findings will also be presented to Alaska Harmful Algae Bloom Network run through the Alaska Ocean Observing System. Kotzebue middle and high school students will be provided a Planktoscope and the teachers will be trained to set up class projects for sampling waters around Kotzebue for the students to learn about local plankton.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.