| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 16, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 16, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1824414 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Colleen Strawhacker
colstraw@nsf.gov (703)292-7432 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $899,732.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $899,732.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
75 LOWER COLLEGE RD RM 103 KINGSTON RI US 02881-1974 (401)874-2635 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
215 South Ferry Rd Narragansett RI US 02882-1197 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | ARCSS-Arctic System Science |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
The ecology of Central Arctic remains poorly described, especially the "who eats who" world of the microscopic animals that spend their lives drifting in the water, the zooplankton. Zooplankton are eaten by fish, seabirds, and baleen whales, such as the bowhead whale, and are important members of the ocean food chain. The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) project is a unique chance to investigate these understudied animals (zooplankton) over all four seasons of the year. Here is proposed to participate in the MOSAiC expedition with an international science team to study how the biology and environment of the Arctic affect the zooplankton, to understand their role in the ecosystem (for example, who do they eat and how much), and to describe how changes in the Arctic environment, such as loss of sea ice, may affect their survival. Broader Impacts: This understanding is needed to predict how environmental change might be changing the whole Arctic ecosystem from plankton to fish to seals to humans and if the unique ice-dependent ecosystem will still remain. There have been few year-long studies of the biology of the Arctic Ocean because it is very difficult to get there during the dark, long, cold winter. The PIs will reach out to some of our youngest audiences, K-3 students at North Falmouth MA Elementary, to share our fascination with the Arctic and to introduce the students to the planktonic world and to life and work on board a ship frozen into the ice. Substantial public outreach for the project will be led by the international MOSAiC team. A postdoctoral researcher and undergraduate students will also participate in the research.
This proposal focuses on the planktonic lower trophic levels and will quantify the role that the mesozooplankton play in biological transformation and cycling of important elements (C, N) in the central Arctic Ocean ecosystem. Working together with an international team of scientists, the PIs will determine seasonal patterns in abundance, biomass, vertical distribution, and life stage structure for the entire zooplankton community using plankton nets and acoustic and optical methods. Key biological rate processes of important species will be measured experimentally to determine seasonal changes in food web dynamics and to better understand life cycle and survival strategies and how they are linked to production cycle timing. Trophic linkages will be determined using both isotopic ratios and molecular techniques. These rate processes and linkages then will be interpreted in the context of the abundance and distribution patterns, of the physical ocean environment, of sea ice quality and extent, and of season. Greater temporal and spatial context will be quantified through collaborations with MOSAiC modeling efforts. This study is novel in that it would result in the first quantification of the planktonic food web dynamics in the central Arctic through direct measurement of the important biological rate processes and will utilize both traditional and modern techniques to describe and quantify trophic linkages and carbon cycling.
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.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Arctic Ocean remains a poorly understood region, especially during the winter months when access to the area is difficult and limits how we can study it. The International MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) focused on gaining fundamental insights of the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean, and ecosystem over a single year, including the dark, very cold winter, that are key to understanding the impacts of climate change in the Arctic. MOSAiC was the largest polar expedition ever undertaken, involving over 600 researchers from 20 countries who were organized into five disciplinary teams, including the Ecosystem Team. This project was part of the Ecosystem Team and focused on zooplankton - microscopic animals that consume algae and smaller animals and who in turn are prey for larger animals such as fish, jellyfish, squid, and even the bowhead whale. Our goals, together with our international collaborators, were to collect continuous, year-round data sets on zooplankton abundance, vertical distribution, size, condition, and grazing, reproduction, and respiration rates in the central Arctic.
We found seasonal differences in the body size (length, weight), respiration (consumption of oxygen which is higher when animals are more active), grazing rates, and diet of the dominant zooplankton. Some animals do not feed during winter, using stored reserves to survive, while others feed year round. Animals were heaviest in the fall, after feeding during the summer, and lightest in the spring after losing weight during winter when food was less available and no algae was present. Respiration and grazing was lowest during the winter and highest during the summer, when food was plentiful and the animals were feeding and active. Some animals reproduced during the winter using stored reserves while others reproduced during the summer using recently ingested food.. The DNA of material in the animals’ guts showed that the animals were grazing on algae during the summer and on gelatinous animals during the winter. These results will be combined with results from other MOSAiC studies to gain a better understanding of the Arctic ecosystem. The results also can inform models of the ecosystem that can be used to understand ecosystem behavior, both at the present and under future environmental changes.
Data sets are archived at the NSF Arctic Data Center or at the PANGEA Data Repository hosted by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the University of Bremen. Genetic sequences from the zooplankton gut DNA samples have been deposited into the NCBI Sequence Read Archive.
Broader Impacts: A female postdoc was supported and participated in field research, and three female undergraduate students assisted with sample analyses. Thus far 23 presentations of the results have been made at MOSAiC workshops and international meetings. Five papers have been published, three papers have been submitted and one paper is in final preparation and will be submitted shortly and several papers are still in various stages of development. Outreach talks were presented to local conservation and community groups including, Barrington (RI) Farm School, Barrington, the Lakes Region Chapter of NH Audubon, Cape Cod Cornell Club, and the AP Biology class at the Rye Country Day Upper School in Rye, NY. A presentation on Arctic science also was done for the 1st grade at North Falmouth MA School. Numerous articles about the expedition (and our participation) appeared in local, national, and international news including: Cape Cod Times, Boston Globe, NYT, Wash. Post, Bloomberg, BBC, PBS, NPR, AP, Spiegel, National Geographic, Nature, and Science. Many videos and several documentaries including, Expedition Arktis (German) and Arctic Drift (English) have been produced about the expedition and can be viewed on-line. This project will contribute to a better understanding of annual biological cycles in the central Arctic and the role of the coupled Atmosphere/Ice/Ocean system on Arctic climate and on the climate of the entire planet.
Last Modified: 01/01/2025
Modified by: Robert G Campbell
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