RAPID: Bacterial Population Dynamics and Community Composition during the US Synoptic Arctic Survey

随着北极持续经历快速的环境变化，包括水温升高和海冰面积下降，研究人员已经观察到太平洋北极大陆架和更深的北冰洋盆地的生态系统和生物种群的变化。然而，海洋生态系统中的微生物成分仍未得到充分研究。该项目利用了2022年USCGC破冰船Healy上的美国北极综合调查（SAS）游轮，该游轮正在研究北冰洋大部分地区的物理、生物和化学现状。整个SAS项目正在建立一个基线，以便未来对北极的研究将有一个基础，以了解北极在未来几十年的变化。该微生物项目旨在评估北极原核微生物的种群分布、它们在北极生态系统中的功能以及它们在北极碳循环中的作用。该项目还为冰岛和马里兰州的本科生提供基因组测序数据和分离标本，以进行额外的研究。该团队正在参加马里兰大学环境科学中心切萨皮克生物实验室的“公民科学”系列讲座，以及由位于诺姆的阿拉斯加费尔班克斯大学西北校区支持的海峡科学系列讲座，这两个讲座都可以在全球范围内在线获得。这两个科学传播论坛都促进了公众对北极变化的更好理解。该项目将对从大陆架到北极盆地的沉积物和大型动物相关的原核生物进行实地收集和巡航后的遗传分析，作为SAS更大努力的一部分。原核生物是复杂生物聚合物分解的重要生物成分；碳、氮、磷和硫的循环；并为海洋生态系统中更高营养水平的人提供营养。与沉积物相关的原核生物种群对温度变化的脆弱性对于绘制影响海洋碳循环的沉积物-水界面的原核生物种群动态、碳循环和营养循环变化的未来变化至关重要。这项沉积物原核生物分析工作填补了美国对SAS工作的贡献的空白，并补充了其他组成部分，包括沉积物和大型动物呼吸的调查，沉积物-水界面的营养交换以及低底生的特征。微生物部分是美国对国际SAS计划的贡献，并允许与作为国际SAS计划一部分的其他微生物研究进行泛北极比较。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。

As the Arctic continues to experience rapid environmental change, including increasing water temperatures and declining sea ice extent, researchers have observed ecosystem and biological population shifts in the Pacific Arctic shelves and deeper Arctic Ocean basins. However, the microbial component in the marine ecosystem remains understudied. This project is taking advantage of the 2022 US Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) cruise on the USCGC icebreaker Healy, which is studying the current status of the physics, biology, and chemistry across much of the Arctic Ocean. The overall SAS project is establishing a baseline so that future studies of the Arctic will have a basis to understand how the Arctic is changing in the coming decades. This microbial project is evaluating the population distributions of Arctic prokaryotic microbes, their function in the Arctic ecosystem, and their roles in the cycle of carbon in the Arctic. The project is also providing access to genomic sequencing data and isolate collections for undergraduate students in Iceland and Maryland to carry out additional research. The team is participating in a “Science for Citizens” lecture series at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the Strait Science lecture series that is supported by the Northwest Campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Nome, both of which are available globally online. Both of these science communication forums promote better public understanding of Arctic change. This project will undertake field collections and post-cruise genetic analyses of sediment and macrofauna-associated prokaryotes from the shelf to the Arctic Basin as part of larger SAS efforts. Prokaryotes are an essential biological component for the breakdown of complex biopolymers; cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur; and for making nutrients available to higher trophic levels in the marine ecosystem. The vulnerability of sediment-associated prokaryote populations to shifts in temperature is crucial for mapping future changes in prokaryote population dynamics, carbon cycling, and changes in nutrient cycling at the sediment-water interface that influences the marine carbon cycle. This sediment prokaryote analytical work fills a gap in the US contribution to the SAS effort and complements other components, including investigations of sediment and macrofaunal respiration, nutrient exchange at the sediment-water interface as well as meiobenthic characterizations. The microbial component is a US contribution to the international SAS program and allows for pan-Arctic comparisons with other microbial studies planned as part of the international SAS program.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.