ABSTRACT

Nontechnical

Climate change is predicted to have a significant impact on marine food webs. This is especially true for polar systems where ocean biology and chemistry are strongly tied to the presence or absence of sea ice. The Palmer Long Term Ecological Research program is focused on developing a fundamental understanding of the ecology of the marine food web along the West Antarctic Peninsula. This region is undergoing some of the most rapid changes on the planet, including rapid warming of the atmosphere and ocean, large reductions in sea ice, and major retreats in glaciers. These changes are causing major changes in the food web. The program has been tracking how all parts of the food web, from single celled plants to penguins and whales, have been responding to these changes. Not all parts of the food web have been impacted equally. The changes have broad implications beyond ocean ecology, as polar marine systems play an over-sized role in the global cycling of carbon. The project also anchors an extensive education and outreach program promoting the global significance of Antarctic science and research. Using the recently developed Polar Literacy Principles as a foundation, the project will maintain and expand the virtual schoolyard program via virtual fieldtrips and dissemination of new polar instructional materials for K-12 educators to facilitate their professional development and curricula. The project will also leverage the development of Out of School Time materials for afterschool, 4-H, and summer camp programs; develop and implement an art and science exhibition designed for use in higher education focused on engaging lifelong learners; and produce high-quality science communication resources to build awareness of the National Science Foundation research directly to audiences in the cruise ship industry and indirectly through social media. The project is broadening participation through a coordinated diversity, equity, and inclusion plan leveraging both virtual and traditional Research Experience for Undergraduates programs aimed at underrepresented students.


Technical

Seasonal sea ice-influenced marine ecosystems are characterized by high productivity concentrated in space and time by local, regional, and remote physical forcing. The Palmer Long Term Ecological Research program seeks to build on three decades of long-term research along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula to gain a new mechanistic and predictive understanding of ecosystem changes in response to disturbances spanning long-term, sub-decadal, and higher-frequency ?pulses? driven by a range of processes, including long-term climate warming, natural climate variability, and storms. These disturbances alter food-web composition and ecological interactions across time and space scales that are not well understood. The research is guided by three multidisciplinary, interrelated research questions. 1) How does the near continuum of long-term ?press? (climate warming), sub-decadal (interannual changes in sea-ice cover), and shorter-term ?pulse? (storms) disturbance drive changes in the food web across the western Antarctic peninsula? 2) How do vertical and alongshore transport and mixing dynamics along the western Antarctic peninsula interact to modulate the distribution and variability of ocean physics, and in turn marine productivity, krill, and krill predators? 3) How will changes in the structure of the food web affect the cycling and export of carbon? Sampling, analyses, and modeling cover multiple time scales?from diel, seasonal, interannual, to decadal intervals, and space scales?from hemispheric scale investigated by remote sensing, regional scale covered by a summer oceanographic cruise along the western Antarctic peninsula, to local scale accessed by daily to biweekly small boat sampling at Palmer Station. Autonomous vehicles and moorings make it possible to expand and bridge time and space scales not covered by vessel-based sampling, thus providing a seasonal to annual context. Process studies that include manipulative experiments conducted during research cruise and at Palmer Station complement observations. An extensive modeling effort will improve the understanding of the mechanistic and dynamic processes driving change. The results of this research will contribute to a fundamental understanding of how population dynamics and biogeochemical processes are responding within a polar marine ecosystem undergoing profound change.

An education and outreach program promoting the global significance of Antarctic science and research is an important part of the project. Using the Polar Literacy Principles as a foundation, the project will maintain and expand the virtual schoolyard program via virtual fieldtrips and dissemination of new polar instructional materials for K-12 educators to facilitate their professional development and curricula. The project will also leverage the development of Out of School Time materials for afterschool, 4-H, and summer camp programs; develop and implement an art and science exhibition designed for use in higher education focused on engaging lifelong learners; and produce high-quality science communication resources to build awareness of the long-term research directly to audiences in the cruise ship industry and indirectly through social media. Participation will be broadened through a coordinated diversity, equity, and inclusion plan leveraging both virtual and traditional Research Experience for Undergraduates programs aimed at underrepresented students.

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.

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