Postdoctoral Fellowship: EAR-PF: Reconstructing the role of beavers in driving Holocene landscape evolution and resilience in the Sierra Nevada range, California

博士后奖学金：EAR-PF：重建河狸在推动加州内华达山脉全新世景观演化和恢复力方面的作用

• 批准号: 2305572
• 负责人: Dorothy Baker
• 金额: $ 18万
• 依托单位: Baker, Dorothy N
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305572&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Postdoctoral; Fellowship; EAR; PF; Reconstructing

Dr. D. Nevé Baker has been awarded an NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and professional development activities under the mentorship of Dr. Emily Fairfax at the University of Minnesota and Dr. Ellen Wohl at Colorado State University. Environmental engineering by beavers can profoundly alter a local landscape and provide resilience to drought and wildfire, which are of increasing concern in California. There is recent interest in beaver reintroduction as a low-cost method to restore degraded watersheds and buffer the local effects of climate change, however little is known about the historical distribution of beavers and their impact on the landscape over long time scales. This project aims to fill this gap by investigating the interaction between beavers, vegetation, and sedimentation over the last 12 thousand years in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The study employs a combination of sedimentary analyses and DNA of plants and animals isolated from ancient sediments (sedaDNA) to understand how beaver engineering contributed to landscape evolution, ecosystem characteristics, and environmental resilience over century to millennial timescales. The results of this study will provide a critical basis for restoring beavers to California and validate a useful sedaDNA tool for identifying the past presence of beavers. This project will provide critical data for managers and policy makers interested in restoring beavers to California and validate a useful sedaDNA tool for identifying the past presence of beavers that can be widely applied for future restoration efforts. Furthermore, this project will broaden participation in the Earth sciences by providing field and lab work opportunities for undergraduate students from backgrounds historically excluded from the geosciences. The natural appeal of beavers as a charismatic megafauna and their wide-ranging environmental effects will provide an excellent framework for engagement of K-12 students and the general public to learn about ecological and geomorphological interactions. Baker will collaborate with the University of Minnesota SciSpark Scholars program to develop a hands-on learning module on beavers in the environment for young learners, conduct bioblitzes at beaver pond sites for public engagement, and share her research through public presentations.The goal of this project is to apply sedaDNA and sedimentary analyses to understand the role of beavers as drivers of coupled ecological and geomorphic processes across the Holocene in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. This research will analyze catchment lake cores over the last 12 ka in order to test the central hypothesis that continuous environmental engineering by beavers over hundreds to thousands of years created characteristic ecogeomorphic stable states within watersheds in the Sierra Nevada that were resilient to environmental disturbance. This study will provide direct evidence of past presence of beavers without relying on physical remains, allowing for the investigation of how beavers contributed to geomorphic dynamics and landscape resilience. By coupling sedimentary analyses with vegetation data (via sedaDNA), the study will investigate the effects of beaver engineering both directly and indirectly through their role in structuring the ecological community, providing a comprehensive picture of how beaver-engineered landscapes may have evolved over thousands of years. The results of this project will contribute to a fundamental understanding of Holocene landscape dynamics and provide timely evidence of how beavers may help buffer the effects of drought and wildfire, informing future restoration efforts.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.

D. Nevé Baker 博士获得了 NSF 地球科学博士后奖学金，在明尼苏达大学 Emily Fairfax 博士和科罗拉多州立大学 Beaver 环境工程学院 Ellen Wohl 博士的指导下开展研究和专业发展活动。可以深刻地改变当地的景观，并提供抵御干旱和野火的能力，这在加利福尼亚州越来越受到关注。然而，最近人们对重新引入海狸作为一种恢复退化流域和缓冲气候变化对当地影响的低成本方法产生了兴趣。人们对河狸的历史分布及其长期对景观的影响知之甚少，该项目旨在通过调查内华达山脉过去 12000 年河狸、植被和沉积物之间的相互作用来填补这一空白。该研究结合了沉积分析和从古代沉积物中分离出的植物和动物 DNA (sedaDNA)，以了解海狸工程如何在一个世纪到千年的时间尺度上对景观演变、生态系统特征和环境恢复能力做出贡献。这项研究的结果将提供。为将海狸恢复到加利福尼亚州奠定了重要基础，并验证了一种有用的 sedaDNA 工具，用于识别海狸过去的存在，该工具可广泛应用于未来的恢复工作。此外，该项目将通过提供现场和实验室来扩大对地球科学的参与。为历史上被排除在地球科学背景之外的本科生提供工作机会 海狸的天然吸引力。作为一种魅力十足的巨型动物群，其广泛的环境影响将为 K-12 学生和公众提供一个了解生态和地貌相互作用的绝佳框架。贝克将与明尼苏达大学 SciSpark 学者计划合作开发一个双手。 - 为年轻学习者提供有关环境中海狸的学习模块，在海狸池塘地点进行生物闪电战以供公众参与，并通过公开演讲分享她的研究成果。该项目的目标是应用 sedaDNA 和沉积分析来了解海狸的作用海狸作为加利福尼亚州内华达山脉全新世耦合生态和地貌过程的驱动因素这项研究将分析过去 12 ka 的集水湖核心，以检验河狸对数百至数千个连续环境工程的中心假设。多年来，内华达山脉流域内形成了具有抵御环境干扰的特征性生态地貌稳定状态。这项研究将在不依赖物理遗骸的情况下提供河狸过去存在的直接证据，从而可以调查河狸如何对环境干扰做出贡献。通过将沉积分析与植被数据（通过sedaDNA）结合起来，该研究将直接和间接地研究海狸工程在构建生态群落中的作用，从而全面了解海狸工程如何改造景观。该项目的结果将有助于对全新世景观动态的基本了解，并为海狸如何帮助缓冲干旱和野火的影响提供及时的证据，为未来的恢复工作提供信息。该奖项反映了通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，NSF 的法定使命被认为值得支持。