Research Infrastructure: Increasing Capacity at the University of Louisiana Lafayette Ecology Center

研究基础设施：增加路易斯安那大学拉斐特生态中心的能力

• 批准号: 2244712
• 负责人: Mark Genung
• 金额: $ 41.21万
• 依托单位: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2244712&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Infrastructure; Increasing; Capacity; University

The tall grass prairie and long leaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern United States are unique and biologically diverse ecosystems, but have limited representation in terms of number of active field stations. This project boosts the capacity, capabilities and profile of a field station at the intersections of these ecosystems – the Ecology Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (www.ecology.louisiana.edu) – by providing funds for a new farm tractor, analytical equipment, and replacement of greenhouse equipment. The location of the Ecology Center makes it an ideal place to study how these habitats, including plants, pollinator and wildlife, will respond to changing climate regimes. The equipment and improved facilities will support research and education on how climate change effects these native habitats and the species that use them. The facilities will be used by faculty, students, and community members. The project will purchase a new farm tractor that will be used to expand the current experimental field space of the Center from 6 ha to 18 ha of usable fields. These experimental fields will be used to conduct experiments on how changing rainfall regimes will alter the response of the tall grass prairie and long leaf pine habitat. The greenhouse renovations will be used to install heating and cooling capabilities as well as a state-of-the-art watering system that can be used to conduct controlled experiments. The elemental analyzer, microplate reader, and ultra-low freezer will be used to analyze and store chemical and genetic samples taken from the field plots and greenhouse experiments.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.

美国东南部的高大草原和长叶松树生态系统是独特且生物学上不同的生态系统，但在活动现场站的数量方面的代表性有限。该项目提高了这些生态系统交叉口的现场站的容量，能力和概况 - 路易斯安那大学的生态中心（www.ecology.louisiana.edu） - 通过为新的农场拖拉机，分析设备和温室设备的更换提供资金。生态中心的位置使其成为研究这些栖息地（包括植物，传粉媒介和野生动植物）如何应对气候制度不断变化的理想场所。设备和改进的设施将支持有关气候变化如何影响这些本地栖息地以及使用它们的物种的研究和教育。该设施将由教师，学生和社区成员使用。该项目将购买一种新的农场拖拉机，该拖拉机将用于将中心的当前实验场空间从6公顷的实验场所扩展到18公顷的可用场。这些实验场将用于进行实验，以了解变化的降雨状况将如何改变高大草原和长叶松树栖息地的反应。温室改革将用于安装供暖和冷却能力以及可用于进行受控实验的最先进的浇水系统。元素分析仪，微板读取器和超低冷冻室将用于分析和存储从现场图和温室实验中采集的化学和遗传样本。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的审查标准来通过评估来通过评估来获得的支持。