Upgrading of Operations of the National Phytotron

杜克大学申请资金来加强国家人工气候室。要获得对调节工厂活动和交换的过程的基本理解和开发预测模型，需要接触到复杂的受控环境条件。人工气候室是美国国家科学基金会于1968年建立的一个国家研究设施，由40个人工照明的CE生长室和6个温室组成，为环境植物生物学的高级研究提供了超过477平方米的受控环境空间。人工气候室接待了学生、博士后科学家和资深科学家，他们中的大多数人都是校外用户。CE单元用于复制不同类型的环境--从北极到沙漠再到热带。这使研究人员能够精确控制环境条件，例如空气温度、辐照度、二氧化碳、相对湿度和营养浓度，从而能够研究植物与环境之间的复杂相互作用，这在自然不受控制的田间条件下几乎是不可能的。这项提案将为CE单位提供新的监测设备、新的增殖室以满足对环境控制的新需求、升级温室材料和控制装置，以及支付技术和监督所需的工资。国家人工气候室的持续支持增加了国家科学基金会S在包括研究生和研究生教育在内的生态研究方面的投资，并将使国家人工气候室继续成为美国最重要的生态学控制环境研究中心之一。

Duke University requests funds to enhance the National Phytotron. To obtain fundamental understanding and to develop predictive models of the processes that mediate plant activities and exchanges requires access to sophisticated controlled environment conditions. The Phytotron, an NSF-supported national research facility established in 1968, consists of 40 artificially lighted CE growth chambers and 6 glasshouses that provide more than 477 M2 of controlled environmental space for advanced research in environmental plant biology. The Phytotron hosts students, postdoctoral scientists, and senior scientists, most of whom are off - campus users. The CE units are used to reproduce different types of environments -- ranging from the arctic to the desert to the tropics. This allows researchers to have precise control over environmental conditions, e.g., air temperature, irradiance, carbon dioxide, relative humidity, and nutrient concentration, thereby allowing for research on the complex interactions between plants and their environment, which is virtually impossible to do under natur al uncontrolled field conditions. This proposal would provide for new monitoring equipment for the CE units, new growth chambers to meet newer demands for environmental controls, upgraded glasshouse materials and control units, and salaries for technical and oversight needs. The continued support of the National Phytotron enhances NSF s investment in ecological research, including graduate and postgraduate education, and will allow the National Phytotron to remain one of the most important centers for controlled environment research in ecology in the United States.