MRI: Acquisition of a Distributed Environmental Sensor Network by the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

这项提议将为安装分布式环境传感器网络(DESN)提供资金，该网络由沿海拔梯度部署的永久性和便携式气象站组成。DESN将能够测量重要的环境参数，如降雨量、土壤湿度、温度、辐射和土壤二氧化碳，这将从根本上提高科学家研究生物如何与环境相互作用的能力。传感器网络的安装将使RMBL的科学家能够研究一些具体的问题，包括气候变化如何影响水收支、生态系统碳通量和物种分布；测试关于物种杂交区的生理基础的假设；确定环境参数如何与社会动态相互作用以影响旱獭种群数量、影响蝴蝶物种入侵以及植物、两栖动物和溪流/池塘昆虫种群动态。RMBL一直是实地研究培训的重要中心，获得DESN将是本科生和研究生培训的重要组成部分。此外，DESN将向自然资源保护局提供数据，使他们能够改进他们用来管理水资源的模型。关于从大坝释放多少水以及何时释放水的决定，对于维持农业和确保家庭生活用水的可用性至关重要。

This proposal will fund installation of a Distributed Environmental Sensor Network (DESN) consisting of permanent and portable weather stations deployed along an elevational gradient. The DESN will enable measurement of important environmental parameters such as rainfall, soil moisture, temperature, radiation, and soil CO2 that will fundamentally improve the ability of scientists to study how organisms interact with the environment. Installation of a sensor network will allow RMBL scientists to pursue a number of specific questions, including how climate variability affects water budgets, ecosystem carbon fluxes, and species distributions; to test hypotheses concerning the physiological underpinnings of species hybrid zones; to identify how environmental parameters interact with social dynamics to influence marmot population demography, influence butterfly species invasions, and plant, amphibian, and stream/pond insect population dynamics. The RMBL has been an important center for training in field research and access to a DESN will be an important component of both undergraduate and graduate training. Additionally, the DESN will provide data to the Natural Resource Conservation Service that will allow them to improve the models they use to manage water resources. Decisions about how much water and when to release it from dams is critical to maintaining agriculture as well as ensuring availability of water for domestic consumption.