Facilities Improvements for Ecological Research at Michigan Tech's Ford Center and Research Forest

密歇根理工大学福特中心和研究森林的生态研究设施改进

• 批准号: 1226627
• 负责人: Andrew Burton
• 金额: $ 34.36万
• 依托单位: Michigan Technological University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-01 至 2015-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1226627&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Facilities; Improvements; Ecological; Research; Michigan

Michigan Technological University has been awarded a grant to create a wet laboratory facility, establish short and long range Wi-Fi capability, and improve lodging facilities for cold-season use at the Ford Center and Research Forest (FCRF), located 42 miles south of the main campus. The entire range of forest community-soil associations common in the upper Great Lakes is available for research and instruction on the FCRF property. The wide-ranging research at the FCRF currently includes studies of climatic manipulations on forest ecosystem processes, genetic adaptation of oak and aspen to a changing environment, and the effects of wildlife and management on forest community composition and ecological function. These and other projects will benefit from the FCRF improvements, which will enable on-site processing and analysis of samples collected from ongoing and future ecological research conducted at the FCRF; real time remote access, via the internet, to field sensors located throughout the property; and on-site residency for winter research and outreach efforts. The wet lab facilities will improve the quality of research that can be performed at the FCRF by allowing rapid, efficient sample processing and will greatly expand the types of research those housed on site can perform. They also will allow analytical procedures to be integrated into lab activities conducted during courses offered at the FCRF by Michigan Tech and other universities. The FCRF hosts many K-12 field trip groups and day- to week-long outreach groups for topics related to ecology and environmental science. Wet lab facilities will enable these groups to incorporate hands-on analytical activities using samples collected in the field, which cannot be accomplished with current facilities. In addition the new Wi-Fi capability for accessing field research sites will allow teachers to incorporate real-time data and webcam images from FCRF research into teaching units they develop as part of teacher institutes hosted by Michigan Tech. More information on the Ford Center and Research Forest can be found at http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter/.

密歇根理工大学获得了一笔拨款，用于在位于密歇根州以南 42 英里的福特中心和研究森林 (FCRF) 创建潮湿实验室设施、建立短距离和长距离 Wi-Fi 功能，并改善寒冷季节使用的住宿设施。主校区。 五大湖上游常见的整个森林群落-土壤协会均可用于 FCRF 财产的研究和指导。 FCRF目前的广泛研究包括气候操纵对森林生态系统过程的研究、橡树和白杨对不断变化的环境的遗传适应，以及野生动物和管理对森林群落组成和生态功能的影响。 这些项目和其他项目将受益于 FCRF 的改进，从而能够对从 FCRF 正在进行和未来进行的生态研究中收集的样本进行现场处理和分析；通过互联网实时远程访问遍布整个酒店的现场传感器；以及冬季研究和推广工作的现场驻留。 湿实验室设施将通过允许快速、高效的样品处理来提高 FCRF 进行的研究质量，并将大大扩展现场可以进行的研究类型。 它们还将允许将分析程序整合到密歇根理工大学和其他大学在 FCRF 提供的课程期间进行的实验室活动中。 FCRF 举办许多 K-12 实地考察小组和为期一天到一周的外展小组，主题涉及生态和环境科学。 湿实验室设施将使这些小组能够利用现场收集的样品进行实践分析活动，这是现有设施无法完成的。 此外，用于访问实地研究站点的新 Wi-Fi 功能将使教师能够将来自 FCRF 研究的实时数据和网络摄像头图像合并到他们开发的教学单元中，这些教学单元是密歇根理工学院主办的教师学院的一部分。 有关福特中心和研究森林的更多信息，请访问 http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter/。