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MSB-FRA: The influence of biological diversity on land-atmosphere exchange in forests: confronting theory with data NSF, MacroSystems Biology, $1,244,070, 11/2016-10/2021 Co-PI, PI Scott Ollinger, with Co-PIs Michael Palace and Bobby Braswell Biological diversity is important to human well-being and to the maintenance of a healthy environment. Without an array of species inhabiting a range of environments, the cycles of water, nutrients and biomass on which life depends would be severely compromised. Despite this, understanding exactly how diversity influences specific environmental processes is challenging. Although there are theories describing the influence of plant species diversity on environmental processes, they?ve primarily been tested in grasslands and other systems dominated by small plants, where diversity can be manipulated through planting and weeding. Forests present a challenge because the size and lifespans of trees make it difficult to conduct manipulative diversity experiments and because natural diversity gradients also vary in climate, making results difficult to interpret. Overcoming this hurdle is critical given the importance of forests to many environmental processes and the degree to which forest diversity is declining. This award will examine whether theories of biological diversity and environmental processes that have been largely tested in small-statured ecosystems also apply to macro-scale processes over North American forests. By integrating data on carbon, water, and energy exchanges between forests and the atmosphere, remote sensing of forest diversity, and field measurements, will enable the development of forest diversity for the US and the relationship to land-atmosphere exchange of carbon and water. It will quantify the important role of forests in the Earth system and the degree to which forest diversity is declining. The award will involve undergraduate and graduate students in all phases of the project, and through additional activities that bring new methods of remote sensing to private citizens, teachers and students at multiple levels. This will be accomplished through workshops and through development of focused activities that can be adopted by teachers and used in the classroom. The undergraduates working on the project will participate in the University of New Hampshire?s Undergraduate Research Conference (URC), one of the largest undergraduate research events in the country. |