Collaborative Research: FSML-Enhanced Cooperative Research and Education at Flathead Lake Biological Station and Taylor Wilderness Research Station.

历史：蒙大拿州的平头湖生物站(FLBS)的科学家在许多地点都有生态系统动力学的研究记录：冰川-黄石，不列颠哥伦比亚省北部，阿拉斯加和堪察加。LOBS和爱达荷州泰勒荒野研究站(TWRS)之间的合作工作已经协同发展：FLBS受益于访问另一个在景观和气候驱动因素背景下进行河流生态合作研究的站点，而TWRS受益于访问先进的生态系统模型、新颖的遥感工具和产品以及先进的数据管理工具和协议。项目计划：蒙大拿大学和爱达荷大学被授予合作研究FSML赠款，以促进外勤站基础设施和机构间合作，建立在个别项目和机构的优势基础上。蒙大拿州的平头湖生物站和爱达荷州的泰勒荒野研究站，以及怀俄明州的黄石生态系统研究中心(YERC)，是该地区的关键站，可以解决影响景观连通性和生物多样性的陆地和水生过程中的气候和土地利用变化问题。主要安装将是在Flathead(中Flathead River)和Taylor(Big Creek)站的河流和河岸系统中安装分布式传感器阵列(RiverNet)，收集展示气候和景观变化影响所需的实时数据。该仪器将补充YERC现有的基础设施。水生传感器将收集水深、溶解氧、电导率、N03和水温的实时数据。河岸传感器将收集20厘米和50厘米深处的空气温度、湿度、太阳总辐射、PAR和土壤湿度和温度的数据。分布式传感器网络的设计是大学研究人员、工程师和思科系统公司仪器专家的成果，思科系统公司是该项目的合作伙伴。泰勒荒野研究站将增强其电力基础设施，通过新的太阳能阵列(43千瓦时/天)和微型水轮机(50千瓦时/天)的组合，促进从仪器、传感器阵列和计算机操作中获取数据。平头湖生物站将改造其淡水研究实验室，通过重新改造现有的入口区，为河网分析师创造办公室和实验室空间，构建安全的服务器机房，并将照明和服务器连接到现有的应急发电机，以方便河网阵列的分析和数据管理。所有的改建包括节能照明和供暖系统。这一基础设施代表着该地区朝着发展研究协调网络迈出的第一步，该网络的特点是大片联邦保护区(国家公园和荒野)嵌入复杂的山脉和山脉生境马赛克中，海拔和纬度温度和降水梯度陡峭。大片无路区域，加上北美三大河流(哥伦比亚、密苏里州和萨斯喀彻温省)上游河段的大部分未开发的河底，提供了具有重要生态和经济功能的连接走廊，保持了该地区景观的自然和文化属性。然而，整个区域正在经历环境和经济变化，农业和林地转变为城郊用途，气候变暖减少了积雪，延长了生长季。由获奖基础设施支持的协调研究将增加对自然过程在这个不断变化的世界中如何受到影响的理解，并有助于为关于社会应如何应对潜在威胁的不可避免的辩论提供信息。所涉及的野外观测站有很强的教育项目，作为荒野和荒野地区的代表，公众对此非常感兴趣。通过该奖项提高空间站的能力将有助于招收学生，并提供教育课程所需的环境变化知识。此外，该电台的合作项目将当地印第安人部落的学生与非部落学生混合在一起。这些节目将扩大对传统生态知识(TEK)的欣赏，因为泰勒站靠近一个古老的肖肖尼部落村庄(食羊人)。它还将使学生接触到尖端的高科技研究。

History: The Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS) scientists in Montana have a record of research on ecosystem dynamics in many sites: Glacier-Yellowstone, northern British Columbia, Alaska and Kamchatka. Cooperative work between FLBS and Taylor Wilderness Research Stations in Idaho (TWRS) has developed synergistically: FLBS benefits by access to another site for cooperative studies of river ecology in context of landscape and climate drivers and TWRS benefits by access to advanced ecosystem models, novel remote sensing tools and products and advanced data management tools and protocols. Project plans: The University of Montana and University of Idaho are awarded a Collaborative Research FSML grant to facilitate field station infrastructure and interinstitutional collaboration building on the strengths of the individual programs and institutions. The Flathead Lake Biological Station in Montana and the Taylor Wilderness Research Station in Idaho, along with the Yellowstone Ecosystem Research Center (YERC) in Wyoming, are key stations in the region that can address issues of climate and land-use changes on terrestrial and aquatic processes that influence landscape connectivity and biodiversity. A primary installation will be a distributed-sensor array (RiverNet) in river and riparian systems at the Flathead (Middle Flathead River) and Taylor (Big Creek) Stations that will collect real-time data needed for demonstrating influences of climate and landscape change. This instrumentation will complement existing infrastructure at YERC. Aquatic sensors will collect real-time data on water depth, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, NO3 and water temperature. Riparian sensors will collect data on air temperature, humidity, total solar radiation, PAR and soil moisture and temperature at 20 cm and 50 cm depths. The design of the distributed sensor networks is the result of university researchers and engineers and instrument specialists at Cisco Systems Inc., a partner in this program.The Taylor Wilderness Research Station will augment its power infrastructure to facilitate data acquisition from instruments, sensor arrays and computer operations through a combination of new solar arrays (43 kWh/day) and a microhydro turbine (50 kWh/day).The Flathead Lake Biological Station will remodel its Freshwater Research Lab to facilitate analyses and data management from the RiverNet arrays by reworking the existing entrance areas to create office and lab space for RiverNet analysts, construct a secure server room, and connect lighting and servers to an existing emergency generator. All remodeling includes energy-efficient lighting and heating systems. This infrastructure represents the first step toward development of a research coordination network in the region that is characterized by large federally protected areas (National Parks and wildernesses) embedded in complex mosaics of mountain and range habitats with steep elevational and latitudinal gradients of temperature and precipitation. Large blocks of roadless areas, coupled with largely undeveloped river bottoms of the upstream segments of three great rivers of North America (Columbia, Missouri, Saskatchewan), provide linkage corridors that have important ecological and economic functions that maintain the natural and cultural attributes of the regional landscape. However, the entire region is undergoing environmental and economic change as agricultural and forest lands convert to exurban uses and climate warming reduces snowpacks and lengthens growing seasons. The coordinated research empowered by the awarded infrastructure will add to an understanding of how natural processes are affected in this changing world and help inform the inevitable debate on how society should react to the potential threats. The field stations involved have strong educational programs and are of great interest to the general public as representative of wilderness and wildland areas. Increasing station capabilities with this award will help recruit students and provide knowledge on environmental change needed in educational curricula. In addition, the cooperative programs of the station mix students from local Indian tribes with nontribal students. The programs will broaden appreciation of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) as the Taylor Station is in close proximity to an ancient Shoshone tribal village (Sheep eaters). It will also expose students to cutting-edge, high-tech research.