Facilities Improvements for Ecological Research at Michigan Tech's Ford Center and Research Forest

密歇根理工大学获得了一笔赠款，用于在位于主校区以南42英里的福特中心和研究森林(FCRF)创建潮湿实验室设施，建立短距离和远程Wi-Fi功能，并改善供冷季使用的住宿设施。五大湖上游常见的所有森林社区-土壤协会都可用于研究和指导森林复垦森林论坛的财产。FCRF目前的广泛研究包括气候对森林生态系统过程的调控，橡树和杨树对不断变化的环境的遗传适应，以及野生动物和管理对森林群落组成和生态功能的影响。这些项目和其他项目将受益于FCRF的改进，这将使FCRF能够现场处理和分析从FCRF正在进行的和未来的生态研究中收集的样本；通过互联网实时远程访问整个物业内的田间传感器；以及冬季研究和外联工作的现场派驻。湿实验室设施将通过允许快速、高效的样品处理来提高可以在FCRF进行的研究的质量，并将极大地扩展现场安置的研究的类型。它们还将允许将分析方法整合到密歇根理工大学和其他大学在FCRF提供的课程期间进行的实验室活动中。FCRF主办了许多K-12实地考察小组和为期一周的与生态和环境科学有关的主题的外展小组。潮湿的实验室设施将使这些小组能够利用现场收集的样本进行实际分析活动，这是目前的设施无法完成的。此外，用于访问实地研究网站的新Wi-Fi功能将允许教师将来自FCRF研究的实时数据和网络摄像头图像纳入他们作为密歇根理工大学主办的教师学院的一部分而开发的教学单元。有关福特中心和研究森林的更多信息，请访问http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter/.。

Michigan Technological University has been awarded a grant to create a wet laboratory facility, establish short and long range Wi-Fi capability, and improve lodging facilities for cold-season use at the Ford Center and Research Forest (FCRF), located 42 miles south of the main campus. The entire range of forest community-soil associations common in the upper Great Lakes is available for research and instruction on the FCRF property. The wide-ranging research at the FCRF currently includes studies of climatic manipulations on forest ecosystem processes, genetic adaptation of oak and aspen to a changing environment, and the effects of wildlife and management on forest community composition and ecological function. These and other projects will benefit from the FCRF improvements, which will enable on-site processing and analysis of samples collected from ongoing and future ecological research conducted at the FCRF; real time remote access, via the internet, to field sensors located throughout the property; and on-site residency for winter research and outreach efforts. The wet lab facilities will improve the quality of research that can be performed at the FCRF by allowing rapid, efficient sample processing and will greatly expand the types of research those housed on site can perform. They also will allow analytical procedures to be integrated into lab activities conducted during courses offered at the FCRF by Michigan Tech and other universities. The FCRF hosts many K-12 field trip groups and day- to week-long outreach groups for topics related to ecology and environmental science. Wet lab facilities will enable these groups to incorporate hands-on analytical activities using samples collected in the field, which cannot be accomplished with current facilities. In addition the new Wi-Fi capability for accessing field research sites will allow teachers to incorporate real-time data and webcam images from FCRF research into teaching units they develop as part of teacher institutes hosted by Michigan Tech. More information on the Ford Center and Research Forest can be found at http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter/.