Biofuels and the Hydrologic Cycle

生态旅游- 0829023 r。随着美国生物燃料生产的急剧增加，由于对水资源利用、土壤侵蚀、养分运输和温室气体排放的担忧，一系列研究提出了关于生物质原料生产的环境影响和可持续性的问题。这个跨学科项目的重点是对未来生物燃料生产系统中土地利用、气候变化和环境的相互作用进行建模。理解生物燃料在水循环中的作用是理解生物燃料对环境影响的关键。本研究将探讨由生物质原料生产驱动的水文循环变化的影响，如产量可靠性、土壤侵蚀、河流流量和河流流量可靠性的变化。将使用一套相互关联的模型来评估生物燃料生产情景对水驱动的环境影响。MM5气候模拟和诺亚陆地表面模型将用于预测天气模式和生物燃料原料种植模式之间的相互作用。土壤和水评估工具（SWAT）将使用MM5/Noah系统产生的天气情景来分析对密西西比河上游流域营养物质和沉积物运输以及地表水质量的影响。爱荷华州每日侵蚀项目（IDEP）模型也将使用MM5输出来预测爱荷华州的野外侵蚀。这些高度发达的模型的整合将为人类对景观和系统的气候-土壤-植被动态影响的水文循环的动态相互作用提供新的见解。该项目包括四项活动，旨在增加不同教育层次的多样性和学习。这些活动包括：指导来自爱荷华州AGEP项目的本科生暑期实习生，该项目面向未被充分代表的少数民族；指导通过科学与工程女性项目招募的本科生研究助理；开发和实施基于生物燃料和水文循环的探究式学习活动；并指导研究生。

CBET-0829023R. Anex, Iowa State UniversityAs the U.S is embarking on a dramatic increase in biofuel production, a series of studies have raised questions about the environmental impacts and sustainability of biomass feedstock production due to concerns about water use, soil erosion, nutrient transport, and greenhouse gas emissions. The focus of this interdisciplinary project is on modeling the interplay of land use, climate change, and the environment in future biofuel production systems. Understanding the role of biofuels in the water cycle is key to understanding many of the environmental impacts of biofuels. This research will address impacts of alterations in the hydrologic cycle driven by biomass feedstock production, such as changes in yield reliability, soil erosion, stream flow, and stream flow reliability. Water-driven environmental impacts of biofuel production scenarios will be assessed using a set of interconnected models. The MM5 climate simulation and Noah land surface model will be used to predict interactions between weather patterns and biofuel feedstock cropping patterns. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) will be used to analyze impacts on nutrient and sediment transport and surface water quality in the Upper Mississippi River Basin using weather scenarios produced by the MM5/Noah system. The Iowa Daily Erosion Project (IDEP) model will also use MM5 outputs to predict erosion across Iowa at the field scale. The integration of these highly developed models will provide new insight into dynamic interactions through the hydrologic cycle as influenced by human manipulation of the landscape and climate-soil-vegetation dynamics of the system. The project includes four activities designed to increase diversity and learning at different levels of education. These activities are: mentoring undergraduate summer interns from the Iowa AGEP program for underrepresented minorities; mentoring of undergraduate research associates recruited through the Program for Women in Science and Engineering; developing and implementing an inquiry-based learning activity based on biofuels and the hydrologic cycle; and mentoring graduate students.