Coastal aquatic ecosystems: integrators of environmental change in Canada's high Arctic

我的NSERC研究计划将重点放在淡水生态系统及其应对环境变化的过程上。我的研究团队将把重点放在极北湖泊(沿埃尔斯米尔岛北部海岸)，这是北极气候变暖的宝贵哨所，因为它们位于北冰洋海冰与北极群岛陆地环境交汇的高度动态区域。这是加拿大变暖最迅速的地区之一；尽管那里的湖泊正在被持续的气候变化所改变，但人们对它们的许多功能知之甚少。在沉积物中，这些湖泊还保存着过去气候变化的记录，这将有助于我们了解最近观测到的北冰洋冰的恶化是否在自然变化范围内。我们将开展研究，以更好地了解这些沿海湖泊的过程，并根据沉积物岩心重建区域全新世气候历史。这些目标将通过研究湖泊过程和分析湖泊的沉积记录来实现，并使用现代古生态技术来推断过去的环境条件。研究中应用的替代指标将包括高光谱岩心扫描和硅藻、光合色素、有机质和地化标志物分析的推断。我的研究将有助于理解加拿大北极最近变暖的生态影响，并为过去数千年来北极高地的气候变化提供见解。

My NSERC research program will focus on freshwater ecosystems and the processes by which they respond to environmental change. My research team will place emphasis on extreme northern lakes (along the coast of northern Ellesmere Island), which are valuable sentinels of Arctic climate warming because they are located in a highly dynamic region where Arctic Ocean sea ice meets the terrestrial environments of the Arctic Archipelago. This is one of the most rapidly warming regions in Canada; although lakes there are being altered by ongoing climate change, little is known about many aspects of their functioning. In their sediments, these lakes also hold records of past climate change that will help us to understand whether the recent observed deterioration of Arctic Ocean ice is within ranges of natural variability. We will perform research to better understand processes in these coastal lakes, and also reconstruct regional Holocene climate history from sediment cores. These objectives will be accomplished through studies of limnological processes and analysis of the sedimentary records of lakes, using modern paleoecological techniques to infer past environmental conditions. Proxy indicators applied in the research will include inferences from hyperspectral core scans and analysis of diatoms, photosynthetic pigments, organic matter and geochemical markers. My research will help to understand the ecological effects of recent warming in Canada's Arctic, and provide insights into how the high Arctic's climate has changed over the past several millennia.