Microbial diversity and food web complexity over time and space in Arctic seas and associated coastal regions

关于海洋生态系统将如何应对持续的气候扰动和其他人为压力源，特别是在北极地区，目前还存在重大的知识空白。北极现在比地球上其他地区变暖得更快，改变了整个地区的水温、盐度和混合模式。这些影响到浮游生物的营养供应，并对浮游微生物群落的物种组成产生深远的影响，而浮游微生物群落是所有北极海洋食物网的基础。由于北极海洋动物从浮游动物到海豹的生命周期与生命关键阶段可预测的特定食物来源的出现密切相关，因此，如果生产及时转移，或者现有物种被营养价值较低的物种所取代，高等食物网可能发生重大变化。快速变化的步伐需要对特定条件下发生的微生物群落的选择机制以及这些群落对物理和生物变化的适应能力有新的认识。需要增加对碳和氮循环和矿化的多种代谢途径的了解，以确保在变化的背景下进行明智的规划。我们将通过采样广泛的地点来研究这些问题，以确定不同条件下微生物的代谢能力、物种分布、多样性和存活率。这份北方增刊将支持我基于发现的研究，研究北冰洋食物网底部的微生物群落是如何形成的，它们随着时间的推移是如何稳定的，以及是什么因素导致了群落内部的变化。此外，该补充资料将提供机会对各种沿海环境进行取样，并获得近岸浮游生物的生物多样性知识，以及耐盐和淡水微生物群落，从而提供更完整的北方微生物资源清单。这项研究将为衡量北极生物多样性和生态系统可持续性提供新的工具，并为北极社区提供咨询、培训和外联服务。

There are major gaps in knowledge of how marine ecosystems will respond to continued climate perturbations and other anthropogenic stressors, especially in the Arctic. The Arctic is now warming more rapidly than other regions of the planet, changing the patterns of water temperature, salinity and mixing across the region. These affect the nutrient supply to the plankton, and have a profound influence on the species composition of planktonic microbial communities, which are the base of all Arctic marine food webs. If production is displaced in time or the present species are replaced by less nutritionally valuable species major changes in higher food webs could occur, since life cycles of Arctic marine animals from zooplankton to seals are strongly linked to the predictable appearance of specific food sources during critical life stages. The fast pace of change requires new insights into mechanisms selecting for microbial communities occurring under specific conditions and the resilience of these communities to physical and biological changes. Increased understanding of the diverse metabolic pathways that recycle and mineralize carbon and nitrogen is needed to ensure informed planning in the context of change. We will investigate these questions by sampling a wide range of sites to define microbial metabolic capacity, species distribution, diversity, and survival under different conditions. This Northern supplement will support my Discovery based research on how microbial communities at the base of the Arctic Ocean food web are formed, their robustness over time and what factors force changes within the communities. In addition the supplement will provide the opportunity to sample a wide range of coastal environments and gain knowledge of the biodiversity of near-shore plankton, and salt tolerant and freshwater microbial communities providing a more complete inventory of microbial resources in the north. This research will provide new tools to measure Arctic biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability, and enable consultation, training and outreach to Northern communities.