Environmental Data Acquisition and Communications Improvements at Sargent Center, New Hampshire

摘要- NSF提案0224822 （Phillips, Kunz, Rubendall, Woodcock）在Phillips博士、Kunz博士、Rubendall先生和Woodcock博士的指导下，波士顿大学获得了一笔拨款，用于改善萨金特户外教育中心（SCOE）的环境数据采集和通信基础设施，SCOE是波士顿大学位于新罕布什尔州南部的一个野外站。SCOE是进行实地研究的一个独特环境，包含广泛的陆地和水生生境，但是这个实地站目前在研究和教育方面没有得到充分利用。该项目的目标是利用数据采集和通信改进来加强SCOE的生态研究和教育机会。该项目的范围是广泛的，既可以提供四种不同的陆地和水生栖息地的数据覆盖，也可以将这些数据提供给来自新英格兰地区和世界各地的大量不同的学生、教育工作者和研究人员。该项目将极大地促进SCOE的中心目标，即促进对人类与环境关系的更好理解和认识，并为世界社会和环境的未来做出贡献。具体要做的工作如下。主要研究人员将指导安装一个最先进的空间分布式系统，用于自动收集和传输来自各种栖息地的环境数据到SCOE的中央基地接收站。该基站将连接到互联网，用于远程数据访问和显示，用于非现场教育和研究。该系统的主要组成部分是：(1)环境传感器和数据记录器，用于收集SCOE四个主要栖息地（森林、草甸、水生和小型哺乳动物栖息地）的数据；(2)无线电遥测装置，将所有生境的数据发送到中央基站；以及(3)无线基站和联网计算机服务器，用于接收、管理和传播局域网内的数据以及向互联网发送数据。此外，为了提供进入森林冠层的物理通道，以支持自动化数据采集、原位研究和教育活动，NSF基金将支持建造一个安全的无电梯冠层通道塔。这个树冠通道塔将为SCOE提供一个独特的设施，从广泛的学术角度研究森林生态系统的空间和功能复杂性。有了这项提案的资助，波士顿大学的科学家和外部合作者将能够在SCOE进行生态研究和综合生态教育。这些活动将包括研究生的研究培训，本科生的研究经验，以及来自不同背景的学童的教育推广。在研究生一级，SCOE最近开发的一门题为“测量和监测生物多样性”的跨部门实地课程将从提议的改进中获益匪浅。在本科阶段，所要求的设备和基础设施将直接受益于波士顿大学环境科学专业的16门课程。拟议的改进还将用于改善对参加目前在环境评价中心开设的五门具体环境研究课程的学童的教育推广。在上述所有教育和研究应用中，所要求的设备将用于调查关键的环境变量如何控制各种生态过程，包括小型哺乳动物的功能和庇护所生境的繁殖；森林生境中对陆地-大气相互作用重要的环境和生物物理变量，包括光、温度、湿度及其从冠层顶部到土壤的梯度；控制森林碳增益的森林结构变量，包括叶面积和物候；土壤科学与生物地球化学；以及对水生和两栖动物物种生存、繁殖和保护至关重要的环境变量。

Abstract - NSF Proposal 0224822 (Phillips, Kunz, Rubendall, Woodcock) A grant has been awarded to Boston University, under the direction of Dr. Phillips, Dr. Kunz, Mr. Rubendall, and Dr. Woodcock, to make physical improvements in environmental data acquisition and communications infrastructure at Sargent Center for Outdoor Education (SCOE), a field station of Boston University located in southern New Hampshire. SCOE is a unique environment for field studies, containing a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic habitats, but this field station is currently under-exploited for research and education. The goal of this project is to utilize data acquisition and communications improvements to enhance ecological research and education opportunities at SCOE. The scope of the project is broad both in terms of providing data coverage from four distinct terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and in terms of making these data available to a large and diverse range of students, educators, and researchers from the New England region and around the world. This project will greatly further the central goal of SCOE, to facilitate greater understanding and appreciation of the human relationship to the environment, and contribute to making a difference in the world's social and environmental future.The exact work to be done is as follows. The principal investigators will direct the installation of a state of the art, spatially distributed system for automatically collecting and transmitting environmental data from a wide variety of habitats to a central base receiving station at SCOE. The base station will be linked to the Internet for remote data access and display for off-site education and research. The main elements of this system are: (1) environmental sensors and data loggers for data collection from four major habitats at SCOE (forest, meadow, aquatic, and small mammal habitats); (2) radio telemetry units to send data from all habitats to a central base station; and (3) a radio base station and a web-connected computer server to receive, manage and disseminate data both within a local area network and to the Internet. In addition, to provide physical access to the forest canopy in support of automated data acquisition, in situ research, and educational activities, NSF funds will support the construction of a secure walk-up canopy access tower. This canopy access tower will provide a unique facility at SCOE to study the spatial and functional complexity of forest ecosystems from a wide range of academic perspectives.With funding for this proposal, scientists from Boston University and outside collaborators will be able to pursue ecological research and integrated ecological education at SCOE. These activities will include research training for graduate students, research experiences for undergraduate students, and educational outreach for school children from diverse backgrounds. At the graduate level, a recently developed, interdepartmental field course at SCOE, entitled "Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity", will benefit greatly from the proposed improvements. At the undergraduate level, the requested equipment and infrastructure will directly benefit 16 courses within the Environmental Science major at Boston University. The proposed improvements will also be used to improve educational outreach to school children participating in five specific Environmental Studies courses currently offered at SCOE. In all of the above educational and research applications, the equipment requested will be used to investigate how critical environmental variables control a diversity of ecological processes, including small mammal function and reproduction in shelter habitat; environmental and biophysical variables important for land-atmosphere interactions in forest habitat, including light, temperature, humidity, and their gradients from canopy top to soil; forest structural variables that control forest carbon gain, including leaf area and phenology; soil science and biogeochemistry; and environmental variables critical to aquatic and amphibian species survival, reproduction, and conservation.