IRES US-Botswana: Research Opportunities to Investigate Carbon Cycling in the Okavango River Delta, Botswana for US Undergraduate & Graduate Geoscience Students

IRES 美国-博茨瓦纳：为美国本科生提供研究博茨瓦纳奥卡万戈河三角洲碳循环的研究机会

• 批准号: 0927841
• 负责人: Eliot Atekwana
• 金额: $ 14.99万
• 依托单位: Oklahoma State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0927841&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; US; Botswana; Research; Opportunities

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Professor Eliot Atekwana of Oklahoma State University will conduct an International Research and Experience for Students (IRES) program to support research and educational activities over 3 years for 6 undergraduate and 3 MS students to investigate carbon cycling in the Okavango River delta, Botswana, Africa. The University of Botswana (UB) and the UB Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Center (HOORC) will be partners, and 3 undergraduate and 3 graduate students from UB will participate in the project. The student activities will be supervised by PIs from OSU (Atekwana - Aqueous geochemistry, stable isotopes; Cruse - Organic geochemistry, trace elements), and collaborators from UB (Molwalefhe - Hydrogeology), and HOORC (Ringrose - Soils; Masamba - Hydrology, water quality) with complimentary expertise. The work plan ensures effective mentoring of all students, and full and equal participation of Botswanan collaborators and students. The proposed research and educational activities will engage students in field-oriented, hypotheses-driven research on carbon cycling. The Okavango River delta is the ideal setting for this project because (1) river water transit time through the delta is 5-6 months and (2) the delta is in a semi-arid climate where 96% of the water is lost through evapotranspiration. The Okavango River is unique in that it is the only river system in the world where long water transit time and evapotranspiration enhance solute mass transfer from the river to sediments via evapo-concentration driven by terrestrial vegetation. On a global scale, the Okavango River delta is one of the largest riverine wetland systems, yet its role in carbon cycling is unknown. Students will conduct field experiments to test three hypotheses: (1) Vegetative evapo-concentration plays a critical role in carbon mass transfer of riverine dissolved inorganic carbon; (2) Carbon sequestered as carbonate minerals in sediment and surfaces of islands and floodplain by evapoconcentration of groundwater is cycled to the river during flooding; and (3) Carbon in groundwater in the Okavango delta is derived from river water. Intellectual Merit: Quantifying carbon cycling in large riverine systems such as the Okavango is critical for assessing the role of biogeochemical and physical processes on CO2 evasion to the atmosphere. Evapotranspiration and evapo-concentration in the Okavango delta likely plays an important role in coupled solute and carbon cycling. How evapo-concentration affects the cycling of carbon between river water, sediments, and groundwater is not well documented nor understood. Therefore the results of the student research activities will fulfill fundamental knowledge gaps in overall understanding of the role of vegetation on carbon cycling. In addition, this research experience will provide students the opportunity to explore answers to other basic science questions related to the important topic of carbon cycling. The research activity proposed is potentially transformative because it will be shown for the first time that vegetative evapotranspiration affects carbon cycling. This concept has not been previously associated with the role of vegetation in carbon cycling.Broader Impact: The proposed research and educational activities have three broader impacts: (1) Reciprocal understanding of academic and social culture between US and Botswanan students and scientists. US students will gain an international perspective to their education and an enriching cultural experience. They will also acquire personal contacts to build relationships that will form a core for future international collaborations and learn the logistics associated with international research. This international collaboration will contribute to the continued development of a diverse, globally-engaged, science and engineering workforce. Two early career faculty (Cruse and Molwalefhe) will be mentored on international collaboration by senior PI?s as part of this program. (2) Broaden participation of underrepresented groups by targeting students in the Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation for this project. (3) Results from the proposed research will be widely disseminated to enhance scientific and technological understanding by scientists and policy-makers. Students participating in this project will make several presentations at scientific meetings, as well as prepare manuscripts to be published in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, data from the proposed research will be used for teaching several geochemistry courses at OSU and UB.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。俄克拉荷马州州立大学的艾略特Atekwana教授将开展一项国际研究和学生经验（IRES）计划，支持6名本科生和3名MS学生在3年内开展研究和教育活动，以调查非洲博茨瓦纳奥卡万戈河三角洲的碳循环。博茨瓦纳大学（UB）和UB Harry Oppenheimer Okavango研究中心（HOORC）将成为合作伙伴，来自UB的3名本科生和3名研究生将参与该项目。学生活动将由OSU的PI（Atekwana -水地球化学，稳定同位素; Cruse -有机地球化学，微量元素）以及UB（Molwalefhe -水文地质学）和HOORC（Ringrose -土壤; Masamba -水文学，水质）的合作者进行监督，并提供免费的专业知识。该工作计划确保对所有学生进行有效的指导，并确保博茨瓦纳合作者和学生的充分和平等参与。拟议的研究和教育活动将使学生参与以实地为导向、以假设为驱动的碳循环研究。奥卡万戈河三角洲是该项目的理想环境，因为（1）河水通过三角洲的运输时间为5-6个月，（2）三角洲处于半干旱气候，96%的水通过蒸散损失。奥卡万戈河的独特之处在于，它是世界上唯一的河流系统，其中较长的输水时间和蒸散量通过陆地植被驱动的蒸散浓缩增强了从河流到沉积物的溶质质量转移。在全球范围内，奥卡万戈河三角洲是最大的河流湿地系统之一，但其在碳循环中的作用尚不清楚。学生将进行实地实验，以测试三个假设：（1）植被蒸发浓缩在河流溶解无机碳的碳质量转移中起着关键作用;（2）通过地下水蒸发浓缩在沉积物和岛屿表面和洪泛平原中作为碳酸盐矿物隔离的碳在洪水期间循环到河流中;（3）奥卡万戈三角洲地下水中的碳来自河水。智力优势：量化奥卡万戈等大型河流系统中的碳循环对于评估生态地球化学和物理过程对CO2逃逸到大气中的作用至关重要。在奥卡万戈三角洲的蒸散和蒸散浓度可能在耦合溶质和碳循环中起着重要的作用。蒸发浓缩如何影响河水，沉积物和地下水之间的碳循环没有很好的记录，也不清楚。因此，学生的研究活动的结果将填补基本的知识差距，在整体了解植被对碳循环的作用。此外，这项研究经验将为学生提供探索与碳循环的重要主题相关的其他基础科学问题的答案的机会。拟议的研究活动具有潜在的变革性，因为它将首次表明植被蒸散影响碳循环。更广泛的影响：拟议的研究和教育活动有三个更广泛的影响：（1）美国和博茨瓦纳学生和科学家之间对学术和社会文化的相互理解。美国学生将获得国际视野，他们的教育和丰富的文化体验。他们还将获得个人联系，以建立关系，这将成为未来国际合作的核心，并学习与国际研究相关的物流。这种国际合作将有助于持续发展多元化，全球参与，科学和工程劳动力。两个早期职业教师（克鲁斯和Molwalefhe）将指导国际合作的高级PI？作为这个项目的一部分。(2)通过针对俄克拉荷马州路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟的学生，扩大代表性不足的群体的参与。(3)将广泛传播拟议研究的结果，以提高科学家和决策者对科学和技术的理解。参加该项目的学生将在科学会议上做几次演讲，并准备在同行评审期刊上发表的手稿。此外，从拟议的研究数据将被用于在俄勒冈州立大学和UB几个地球化学课程的教学。