The influence of biophysical coupling and cross-scale interactions on ecosystems of the Plum Island LTER

确定决定生物地理分布的生物和环境因素，对于理解自然生态系统的功能及其为社会提供的无数好处至关重要。例如，盐沼生态系统是陆地-海洋界面的关键过渡区，提供关键的生态系统服务，如通过去除陆地径流中的过量营养物来改善水质，通过海岸线缓冲来减轻海岸侵蚀。该项目利用实地调查、实验室实验和数学模型相结合的方法来预测负责这些关键生态系统服务的生物的地理分布如何受到生物相互作用的影响（例如，竞争和捕食）以及环境因素（例如，温度和物理扰动），这些扰动随横跨新英格兰盐沼位置范围的洋流而变化。该项目的更广泛的影响包括生物学，统计学，数学建模和计算机编程研究生的交叉培训。此外，该项目的成果将与梅岛生态系统长期生态研究（LTER）网络共享，并将纳入生物统计学，数学建模和实验设计的本科课程，以展示定量和跨学科STEM培训对解决社区和生态系统生态学中的重要问题的重要性。最后，将创建多个交互式网络模块，以加强本研究成果在传统学术界以外的传播，包括东北大学的K-12外展计划。该项目的总体目标是确定是否理解和预测的动态多，多尺度的营养盐沼生态系统取决于物理海洋学过程的整合及其对营养盐供应的影响。外来输入该项目将在NSF的Plum Island LTER进行，包括四个目标：（1）在三个嵌套空间尺度上对永久建立的研究地块进行重复调查，以量化外来输入的数量以及海洋和陆地食物网的群落结构，允许评估外来输入和食物网结构的时空分布是否与其假定的物理海洋学驱动因素;（2）进行实地实验，操纵碎屑输入量的梯度以及海洋鱼类在三个嵌套空间尺度上自上而下的控制，以便能够评估观测到的调查模式是由自下而上还是由自上而下的过程驱动的;（3）一个完全析因的实验室实验，以进一步解开海洋鱼类与陆地蜘蛛对关键生态系统过程（如初级生产，分解，食草动物）的自上而下控制的作用，和捕食跨越梯度的碎屑输入;和（4）字段参数化的，空间上明确的数学模型，以确定独立和联合的影响，自下而上的强迫和自上而下的控制盐沼群落结构跨越尺度。通过将模型和实地实验结合在一个生物-外来输入框架中，该项目将利用传统上与社区生态学相关的机制性见解，揭示局部和大尺度过程对开放生态系统层次组织动态的联合影响。该项目将有助于为新英格兰盐沼的资源管理提供信息，并通过强调定量和跨学科STEM培训对解决生物学中重要问题的重要性来促进公共教育。该项目由生物海洋学和生态系统科学集群共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Identifying the biological and environmental factors that govern the geographical distribution of organisms is critical for understanding the functioning of natural ecosystems and the myriad benefits that they provide to society. For example, salt marsh ecosystems serve as critical transition zones at the land-sea interface and provide key ecosystem services such as improving water quality via removal of excess nutrients from terrestrial run-off and mitigating coastal erosion via shoreline buffering. This project leverages a combination of field surveys, lab experiments, and mathematical models to predict how the geographical distribution of organisms responsible for these critical ecosystem services is influenced by biological interactions (e.g., competition and predation) as well as environmental factors (e.g., temperature and physical disturbance) that vary with oceanographic currents across a range of New England salt marsh locations. The broader impacts of the project include cross-training of graduate students in biology, statistics, mathematical modeling, and computer programming. In addition, the results of this project will be shared with the Plum Island Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network and will be integrated into undergraduate courses in biostatistics, mathematical modeling, and experimental design in order to demonstrate the importance of quantitative and interdisciplinary STEM training for addressing important questions in community and ecosystem ecology. Finally, multiple interactive web modules will be created to enhance the dissemination of the results of this research beyond traditional academic circles, including Northeastern University’s K-12 outreach programs.The overall aim of this project is to determine whether understanding and predicting the dynamics of multi-trophic salt marsh ecosystems across multiple scales hinges upon the integration of physical oceanographic processes and their influence on the supply of allochthonous inputs. This project will be conducted at NSF’s Plum Island LTER and consists of four objectives: (1) repeated surveys of permanently established study plots across three nested spatial scales to quantify the magnitude of allochthonous inputs and the community structure of both marine and terrestrial food webs, allowing an assessment of whether the spatiotemporal distributions of allochthonous inputs and food web architectures are consistent with their putative physical oceanographic drivers; (2) a field experiment that manipulates a gradient in the magnitude of detrital input as well as top-down control by marine fish across three nested spatial scales, enabling an assessment of whether observed survey patterns are driven by bottom-up vs. top-down processes; (3) a fully factorial lab experiment to further disentangle the role of the top-down control by marine fish vs. terrestrial spiders on key ecosystem processes such as primary production, decomposition, herbivory, and predation across a gradient of detrital inputs; and (4) development of a field-parameterized, spatially-explicit mathematical model to determine the independent and joint influences of bottom-up forcing and top-down control on the salt marsh community structure across scales. By combining models and field experiments in a biophysical-allochthonous input framework, this project will leverage the mechanistic insights traditionally associated with community ecology to reveal the joint influence of local and broad-scale processes on the hierarchically organized dynamics of open ecological systems. This project will help inform resource management for New England salt marshes and promote public education by highlighting the importance of quantitative and interdisciplinary STEM training for addressing important questions in biology.This project is jointly funded by Biological Oceanography and the Ecosystems Science Cluster.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.