Operation and Maintenance Support for the Experimental Lakes Area

加拿大的IISD-ELA（IISD-Experimental Lakes Area）是一个独特的、世界知名的淡水研究和培训实地设施。由慈善组织国际可持续发展研究所（IISD）管理和运营的IISD-ELA一直是进行全生态系统实验的全球领导者。这些实验对于制定国家和国际环境政策以及了解人类对淡水的影响至关重要。在本提案中，我们要求为IISD-ELA外地站的运行和维护提供资金。IISD-ELA仍然是世界上少数几个可以在不受混杂变量（其他人类影响）影响的情况下操纵整个生态系统的地方之一。ELA已经完成了50多项全生态系统实验，这些结果已被用于制定有关酸雨、富营养化和汞污染等问题的无数政策。此外，ELA拥有用于了解气候变化的水文、水质和食物网特性方面最长和最完整的数据集之一。IISD-ELA已被来自20多所加拿大大学的研究人员及其学生使用。多年来，来自大学、国内和国际政府机构以及工业界的无数国际研究人员在ELA开展了研究项目。更重要的是，IISD-ELA为研究生和本科生提供实践培训机会。学生成为全面的环境科学家，他们可以进行对健康的水生生态系统具有最大价值和相关性的最高质量的科学，并能够领导新的举措来评估和解决新出现的水问题。

Canada’s IISD-Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) is a unique, world-renowned field facility for freshwater research and training. Managed and operated by the charitable organization International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), IISD-ELA has been a global leader in conducting whole-ecosystem experiments. These experiments have been essential in shaping national and international environmental policy and understanding human impacts on freshwater. In this proposal we are requesting funds for the operation and maintenance of the IISD-ELA field station. IISD-ELA continues to be one of the few places in the world where an entire ecosystem can be manipulated without the influence of confounding variables (other human impacts). More than 50 whole ecosystem experiments have been completed at the ELA and these results have been used to inform countless policies on acid rain, eutrophication and mercury pollution among others. In addition ELA has one of the longest and most complete sets of data on hydrology, water quality and food web properties used to understand climate change. IISD-ELA has been used by researchers and their students from over 20 Canadian Universities. Over the years, countless international researchers from universities, domestic and international government agencies, and industry have based research projects at ELA. More importantly, IISD-ELA provides hands-on training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Students become well-rounded environmental scientists who can conduct the highest-quality science of greatest value and relevance for healthy aquatic ecosystems and are able to lead new initiatives to evaluate and solve emerging problems on water.