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

历史：蒙大拿州弗拉黑德湖生物站（FLBS）的科学家们对许多地点的生态系统动力学进行了研究，包括黄石冰川、不列颠哥伦比亚省北部、阿拉斯加和堪察加半岛。FLBS与爱达荷州泰勒荒野研究站（TWRS）之间的合作取得了协同发展：FLBS受益于在景观和气候驱动因素背景下进行河流生态合作研究的另一个站点，而TWRS受益于获得先进的生态系统模型，新型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拨款，以促进实地站基础设施和机构间的合作，建立在各自项目和机构的优势之上。蒙大拿州的弗拉黑德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）是该地区的关键站点，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的气候和土地利用变化问题。主要装置将是一个分布式传感器阵列（RiverNet），安装在Flathead（中间平顶河）和Taylor（大溪）站的河流和河岸系统中，收集实时数据，以展示气候和景观变化的影响。该仪器将补充YERC现有的基础设施。水生传感器将收集有关水深、溶解氧、电导率、NO3和水温的实时数据。河岸传感器将收集20厘米和50厘米深度的空气温度、湿度、太阳总辐射、PAR和土壤湿度和温度数据。分布式传感器网络的设计是该项目的合作伙伴思科系统公司的大学研究人员、工程师和仪器专家的成果。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）和微型水力涡轮机（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。弗拉黑德湖生物站将改造其淡水研究实验室，通过改造现有的入口区域，为RiverNet分析人员创建办公室和实验室空间，从而促进RiverNet阵列的分析和数据管理，建造一个安全的服务器室，并将照明和服务器连接到现有的应急发电机。所有的改造都包括节能照明和供暖系统。该基础设施代表了该地区研究协调网络发展的第一步，该地区的特点是大型联邦保护区（国家公园和荒野）嵌入复杂的山脉和山脉栖息地，具有陡峭的海拔和纬度梯度的温度和降水。大片没有道路的地区，加上北美三大河流（哥伦比亚、密苏里、萨斯喀彻温）上游部分大部分未开发的河底，提供了连接走廊，具有重要的生态和经济功能，保持了区域景观的自然和文化属性。然而，整个地区正在经历环境和经济变化，因为农业和森林用地转向郊区用途，气候变暖减少了积雪，延长了生长季节。由获奖基础设施授权的协调研究将有助于了解自然过程在这个不断变化的世界中是如何受到影响的，并有助于为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具有很强的教育计划，作为荒野和荒地地区的代表，对公众有很大的兴趣。通过这一奖项提高台站的能力将有助于招收学生，并提供教育课程中所需的环境变化知识。此外，该站的合作项目将来自当地印第安部落的学生与非部落学生混合在一起。这些项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（食羊者）。它还将让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.