FSML: Enabling Forest Canopy Access and Analytical Capacity at the University of Michigan Biological Station

该奖项支持密歇根大学生物站（UMBS）获得研究设备。该设备将改善综合研究和教育工作，以分析关键和研究不足的生境（森林冠层和生根区），并将扩大研究这些生境中的生物、生物群落和生物地球化学过程的能力。这一要求建立在现有研究和教育项目的坚实基础之上。所申请的项目将提高UMBS师生研究团队的研究能力，包括参加NSF本科生研究经验（REU- Sites）项目的本科生在不断变化的全球环境中的生物圈-大气研究。设备也将被研究生研究人员使用，他们是BART（生物圈-大气研究和训练NSF IGERT项目）、UMBS碳通量项目和其他各种学生-教师研究团队的研究员。该设备包括一个零排放树冠通道车辆（ZECAV），它将为教职员工和学生研究人员提供更广泛的树冠和森林树冠环境，而不是使用现有的固定塔，修剪杆和攀爬装置进行调查。总有机碳（TOC）分析仪将用于测量森林土壤溶液中的溶解无机碳（DIC）和溶解有机碳（DOC）。这两个项目将共同为不同的学生、教师和访问研究人员提供服务，研究大湖区北部森林变化中的生物地球化学、生态生理、有机体、大气和社区过程。这些项目将极大地增加对未充分研究的森林冠层和森林根部环境的访问，并将为我们的学生和教师研究人员提供有关生物，生物群落和生态过程的关键信息。他们还将提高学生的实地课程经验，增加UMBS研究和教育活动的广度和深度。UMBS位于密歇根州北部的道格拉斯湖上，自1909年以来一直持续运作，为动植物生态学、动物行为、湖沼学、寄生虫学、系统学、生物地球化学和大气科学的基础研究做出了重要贡献。自开办以来，已培训学员8000余人；在过去的20年里，它平均每年接待近30名高级研究人员。UMBS积极招募来自不同背景的个人，包括那些来自代表性不足的少数群体的人，参与其实地环境研究和教育项目。由于在其边界内存在多种受保护的栖息地，UMBS站被联合国人与生物圈计划指定为生物圈保护区。

This award supports acquisition of research equipment by the University of Michigan Biological station (UMBS). The equipment will improve integrated research and education efforts in analysis of critical and understudied habitats (forest canopies and rooting zones), and will expand capacities for study of organisms, biotic communities, and biogeochemical processes in these habitats. This request builds upon a strong foundation of existing research and education programs. The requested items will improve research capabilities of faculty-student research teams based at UMBS, including undergraduates participating in an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU- Sites) program in Biosphere-Atmosphere Studies in a Changing Global Environment. Equipment will also be used by graduate student researchers who are fellows in the BART (Biosphere-Atmosphere Research and Training NSF IGERT program), the UMBS Carbon Flux Project, and various other student-faculty research teams. The equipment includes a Zero Emission Canopy Access Vehicle (ZECAV), which will provide faculty and student researchers access to a wider range of tree crown and forest canopy environments than can be investigated with existing fixed towers, pruning poles and climbing gear. A Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analyzer will be used for measurement of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in forest soil solutions. Together, these two items will serve a diverse set of student, faculty, and visiting researchers studying biogeochemical, eco-physiological, organismal, atmospheric, and community processes in the changing forests of the northern Great Lakes region. These items will dramatically increase access to understudied forest canopy and forest-root environments, and will provide critical information about organisms, biotic communities, and ecological processes to our student and faculty researchers. They will also enhance student field class experiences and increase the breadth and depth of UMBS research and education activities. The UMBS, located on Douglas Lake in Northern Michigan, has operated continuously since 1909 with important contributions to fundamental studies of plant and animal ecology, animal behavior, limnology, parasitology, systematics, biogeochemistryand atmospheric science. Since its beginning, the station has trained over 8000 students; over the last 20 years it has hosted a average of nearly 30 senior researchers annually. The UMBS actively recruits individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from under-represented minority groups, for its programs of field-based environmental research and education.Because of the presence of diverse, protected habitats within its boundaries, the UMBS Station is designated a Biosphere Reserve by the U.N. Man and the Biosphere Program.