Research Experience for Undergraduates Site on Sustainable Land and Water Resources

可持续土地和水资源本科生研究经验

• 批准号: 1156984
• 负责人: Diana Dalbotten
• 金额: $ 67.5万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-05-01 至 2015-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1156984&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Experience; Undergraduates; Site; Sustainable

Global climate change and associated impacts on our national inland waters have led to new pressures for better land and water resource management. This is true to an even greater extent on native reservations, which deal with complicated resource management issues and lack young native scientists to meet current needs. A better understanding of biological, chemical, ecological and physical processes is needed to form a solid foundation for predictive approaches to resource management. The Research Experience for Undergraduates Site on Sustainable Land and Water Resources will engage 14 undergraduate students per year for three years in the key elements of sustainable land and water resources research that are essential to improving management practices. Resource management is interdisciplinary in nature requiring knowledge of biological, chemical, ecological and physical processes that continuously shape and alter the Earth's near-surface environment. Improving resource management practices is socially relevant and of acknowledged national importance. Students in this REU program will be engaged in research projects that have immediate social relevance to US communities, including native reservations. Students will work on one of three teams on projects that integrate Earth-surface dynamics, ecology, geology, hydrology, neolimnology (study of inland waters) and paleolimnology principles and techniques. The program takes an interdisciplinary team-oriented approach that emphasizes quantitative and predictive methods. One team will focus on an experimental approach to one of two problems at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory: (1) improving stream restoration practices for ecosystem health and fish habitat or (2) debris flow hazards; one team will examine the effects of surface water management practice on groundwater resources in Montana; and one team will investigate past and present habitat conditions of wild rice lakes in northern Minnesota. An All-Team Gathering at the conclusion of the program will expose all students to an ethics program that considers student research in the context of the community and students will present their research to a large group of faculty and students.

全球气候变化及其对我国内陆水域的相关影响为更好地管理土地和水资源带来了新的压力。在土著保留地方面更是如此，这些保留地处理复杂的资源管理问题，缺乏年轻的土著科学家来满足当前的需求。需要更好地了解生物、化学、生态和物理过程，以便为资源管理的预测性办法奠定坚实的基础。本科生可持续土地和水资源研究体验网站将在三年内每年吸引14名本科生参与可持续土地和水资源研究的关键要素，这些要素对改进管理做法至关重要。资源管理在性质上是跨学科的，需要不断塑造和改变地球近地表环境的生物、化学、生态和物理过程的知识。改进资源管理做法具有社会相关性和公认的国家重要性。这个REU项目的学生将从事与美国社区有直接社会相关性的研究项目，包括原住民保留地。学生们将在三个项目中的一个团队中工作，这些项目结合了地球表面动力学、生态学、地质学、水文学、新湖沼学(内陆水域的研究)和古湖沼学的原理和技术。该项目采取跨学科团队导向的方法，强调定量和预测方法。一个小组将专注于以实验方法解决圣安东尼瀑布实验室的两个问题之一：(1)改善溪流恢复做法以促进生态系统健康和鱼类栖息地，或(2)泥石流危害；一个小组将研究地表水管理做法对蒙大拿州地下水资源的影响；以及一个小组将调查明尼苏达州北部野生稻米湖过去和现在的栖息地条件。在项目结束时，所有的团队都将聚集在一起，让所有学生接触到一个伦理项目，该项目将把学生的研究放在社区的背景下考虑，学生将向一大群教师和学生展示他们的研究。