U.S.-Argentina Planning VIsit: Stream Responses to Bioclimatic Change in Grasslands of the Americas

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03028912BettisThis U.S.-Argentina award will support Dr. E. Arthur Bettis of the University of Iowa, for a planning visit to meet with Dr. A. Prieto, Laboratorio de Paleoecologia y Palinologia, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, to collect data and finalize plans for an international collaboration on the study of landscape response to bioclimatic change in temperate grasslands of North and South America. The object of this research is to integrate the Argentine Pampas' existing stratigraphic and palynological data and to collect new plant-macrofossil and stable isotope data to develop a detailed history of Holocene environmental change and the response of stream systems to that change. The long-term goal is to use the record of past environments preserved in valley sediments of the Argentine Pampas and the North American Midcontinent to investigate the response of stream systems in temperate grasslands to past bioclimatic change. Understanding the consequences of climate change on vegetation and on the behavior of streams in these areas is essential for maintaining and protecting nationally and internationally significant soil resources, agricultural production systems, and infrastructure. These are critical to the long-term economic and social well-being of countries in which grasslands are located.