Collaborative Research: Quantifying Feedbacks between Groundwater Decline, Wind Erosion, and Ecological Change in Desert Vegetation

合作研究：量化地下水减少、风蚀和沙漠植被生态变化之间的反馈

• 批准号: 0855628
• 负责人: James Kaste
• 金额: $ 14.91万
• 依托单位: College of William and Mary
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-12 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0855628&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Quantifying; Feedbacks; between

This award will fund an analysis of the interactions between groundwater, soil and vegetation properties, and desert dust generation. Wind erosion of desert soils is thought to cause irreversible change to ecosystems, and the mobilized particulate matter can seriously degrade air quality. In deserts globally, regions that produce the most dust are characterized by low elevation depressions where wind erodible material has been and continues to be deposited fluvially. Shallow groundwater is often pumped from these regions for agricultural and municipal use. Since water demands are rapidly increasingly in many desert regions, there is increasing need to understand of how groundwater management might influence dust generation. Ideally, information could be attained that would guide groundwater management with the goal of promoting soil stability. This project will utilize measurements of vegetation and soil conditions and wind velocities to model wind erosion at a range of sites that experienced successively greater groundwater fluctuation over the past 20 years. Model results will be compared to direct measurements of recent soil loss using radiogenic fallout isotopes and dust traps. Finally, measurements of soil resource availability (nutrients and soil moisture) will be used to understand feedback processes between groundwater decline, soil loss, and ecosystem changes that might promote continued soil instability. Broader Impacts: The project will have a broad impact on our understanding of the role water management has on dust and air quality in deserts. The work will form collaborations between academic institutions and regulatory groups in the proposed study region, near Bishop, California. Both the Inyo County Water Department and the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District will provide necessary data to the project and gain important information on how their vegetation and air quality management activities could be tailored to gain long-term sustainability.

该奖项将资助地下水，土壤和植被特性以及沙漠尘埃之间的相互作用的分析。人们认为，沙漠土壤的风侵蚀会导致生态系统的不可逆转变化，动员的颗粒物可能会严重降低空气质量。在全球沙漠中，产生最多灰尘的区域的特征是高海拔凹陷处，在这些区域已经易生的材料并继续在河流上沉积。浅地下水通常是从这些地区抽出农业和市政的。由于许多沙漠地区的水需求越来越迅速，因此越来越需要了解地下水管理如何影响灰尘的产生。理想情况下，可以获得将指导地下水管理以促进土壤稳定性的信息。该项目将利用植被，土壤条件和风速的测量值来模拟在过去20年中经常经历了更大地下水波动的一系列场所中的风侵蚀。将模型结果与使用放射性辐射同位素和防尘陷阱直接测量最近的土壤损失进行比较。最后，将使用土壤资源可用性（养分和土壤水分）的测量来了解地下水衰落，土壤流失和生态系统变化之间的反馈过程，这些变化可能会促进持续的土壤不稳定。更广泛的影响：该项目将对我们对水管理对沙漠中灰尘和空气质量的作用的理解产生广泛的影响。这项工作将在加利福尼亚州毕晓普附近的拟议研究区域的学术机构和监管小组之间进行合作。 Inyo County水局和大盆地统一空气污染控制区都将为项目提供必要的数据，并获得有关如何量身定制其植被和空气质量管理活动以获得长期可持续性的重要信息。