Center of Forest Ecosystem Assessment (CFEA)

亚拉巴马A M大学在正常，亚拉巴马将启动一个中心森林生态系统评估（CFEA）作为一个5年的中心卓越的科学和技术（CREST：第二阶段）。 该中心更新了以前的一个项目，作为HRD-0420541供资。Al-AMU是为数不多的历史上黑人学院和大学（HBCU）与自然资源和环境科学博士课程之一，这CREST计划的更新将有助于最大限度地提高NSF？美国对长期生态研究的投资以及增加少数族裔在自然资源行业的参与。CFEA第二阶段的目标是加强和扩大Al-AMU的努力，使其成为南部坎伯兰地区森林生态系统生态学和评估的领先研究中心，教育未来的自然资源科学家，特别是来自目前科学界代表性不足的群体，扩大长期气候变化研究的时空数据库，提高教师的能力和内部和机构间的合作，使CFEA在未来自我维持。长期的森林生态系统研究和评估可以提供重要的生态见解，对于改善生态系统和自然资源的管理至关重要。其基本研究主题是系统地和协同地研究森林干扰与森林生态系统动态之间的关系，在时间尺度上从即时到长期响应，在空间尺度上从个体遗传组成到景观格局和过程，在非生物水平上从碳，氮和磷到生态系统过程，如碳平衡和储存，在生物学层面，从野生动物个体行为到生物多样性、群落动态和生态系统服务。该中心分为三个子项目：（1）生态社区响应和动态，（2）生态系统功能和过程，（3）人与景观的耦合动态。与会者将强调跨学科和跨学科的协同作用，并继续提高个别教师的研究生产力，并扩大历史上在自然资源科学中代表性不足的学生的存在。该中心将建立在第一个CFEA资助期的成就，以研究森林干扰和生态系统动态之间的关系，发生在从分子到区域的尺度。 该研究将提高对变化环境和气候下干扰生态学的认识，并将对森林管理，恢复生态学和保护生物学学科做出重大贡献。这项工作将涉及从联邦到地方社区的许多机构。 研究人员和他们的学生将有机会获得一个不寻常的大规模实地生态实验，其结果将对森林生态系统管理实践产生直接影响。更广泛的影响Al AMU在为代表性不足的少数民族学生，特别是非洲裔美国人，准备STEM职业，包括高级学位教育方面有着良好的记录。在过去的5年多的CFEA，25名教师（超过60%的少数民族），35名毕业生（授予20个MS和7个博士，超过70%的少数民族），100名本科生和35名高中生参与了研究。该项目的继续将大大有助于增加为社会服务的自然资源科学家的种族多样性。该项目将支持历史上黑人学院或大学的第一个专业认证的林业项目，以及HBCU自然资源和环境科学的少数博士课程之一。 更新项目将涉及到社区和高中的重大推广，以提高招聘和公众对环境问题的认识，特别是在南部坎伯兰高原地区，包括部分亚拉巴马，格鲁吉亚和田纳西州。 与联邦和地方机构以及私人土地所有者的合作将有利于研究工作，为CFEA建立未来的可持续性，并有助于促进生态可持续的资源管理实践。

Alabama A&M University in Normal, Alabama will initiate a Center for Forest Ecosystem Assessment (CFEA) as a 5-year Center for Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST: Phase II). The Center renews a previous project, funded as HRD-0420541. Al-AMU is one of the few Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) with a doctoral program in natural resources and environmental sciences, and the renewal of this CREST program will serve to maximize NSF?s investment in long term ecological research and for increasing minority presence in natural resource professions. The goal for the Phase II of the CFEA is to enhance and expand the effort at Al-AMU to be the leading research Center in forest ecosystem ecology and assessment in the southern Cumberland region, educating future natural resource scientists, particularly from groups that are currently underrepresented in the sciences, expanding the temporal and spatial database for long-term climate change study, and enhancing faculty capacity and intra-and inter-institutional collaborations to make CFEA self-sustaining in the future. Long-term forest ecosystem research and assessment can provide important ecological insights and are crucial for improving management of ecosystems and natural resources. The underlying research theme is to systematically and synergistically examine the relationship between forest disturbances and the forest ecosystem dynamics, at the temporal scale from immediate to long-term responses, at a spatial scale from individual genetic makeup to landscape patterns and process, at non-living level from carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus to ecosystem processes such as carbon balance and storage, and at the biological level from individual wildlife behavior to biodiversity, community dynamics, and ecosystem services. The Center is organized into three subprojects: (1) Ecological Community Responses and Dynamics, (2) Ecosystem Functions and Processes, and (3) Coupled Dynamics of Human and Landscapes. The participants will emphasize inter- and trans-disciplinary synergies and continue to enhance the research productivity of individual faculty and expand the presence of students historically underrepresented in natural resource sciences. Intellectual MeritThe proposed Center will build upon the accomplishments of the first CFEA funding period to examine the relationships between forest disturbances and the ecosystem dynamics that occur over scales from the molecular to the regional. The research will improve the knowledge of disturbance ecology under changing environment and climate, and will contribute significantly to the disciplines of forest management, restoration ecology and conservation biology. The work will involve a number of agencies, from federal through local communities. The investigators and their students will have access to an uncommonly large scale field ecological experiment, and the results will have direct impact on forest ecosystem management practices.Broader ImpactAl AMU has a strong record of preparing underrepresented minority students, particularly African Americans, for STEM careers, including advanced degree education. During the previous 5-plus years of the CFEA, 25 faculty members (more than 60% minorities), 35 graduates (awarded 20 MS and 7 PhD, more than 70% minority), 100 undergraduates and 35 high school students have been involved in the research. Continuation of the project will contribute substantially to increase the ethnic diversity of natural resource scientists serving society. The project will support the first professionally accredited Forestry Program at a Historically Black College or University as well as one of the few doctoral programs in natural resources and environmental sciences at an HBCU. The renewal project will involve significant outreach into communities and high schools to enhance recruitment and public awareness of environmental issues, especially in the Southern Cumberland Plateau Region that comprises parts of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The collaborations with federal and local agencies, as well as private landowners, will benefit the research efforts, establish future sustainability for the CFEA, and help to promote ecologically sustainable resource management practices.