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

密歇根理工大学福特中心和研究森林的生态研究设施改进

• 批准号: 1226627
• 负责人: Andrew Burton
• 金额: $ 34.36万
• 依托单位: Michigan Technological University
• 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: 2012-08-01 至 2015-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1226627&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Facilities; Improvements; Ecological; Research; Michigan

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/.

密歇根理工大学获得了一笔赠款，用于创建一个湿实验室设施，建立短距离和长距离Wi-Fi能力，并改善位于主校区以南42英里的福特中心和研究森林（FCRF）的寒冷季节使用的住宿设施。 在五大湖上游常见的森林群落土壤协会的整个范围可用于研究和指导的FCRF财产。 目前，森林研究基金会的研究范围广泛，包括对森林生态系统过程的气候操纵、橡树和白杨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。 这些和其他项目将受益于FCRF的改进，这将使现场处理和分析从正在进行的和未来的生态研究中收集的样本在FCRF进行;真实的远程访问，通过互联网，以现场传感器位于整个财产;和现场居住的冬季研究和推广工作。 湿实验室设施将通过允许快速，高效的样品处理来提高在FCRF进行的研究质量，并将大大扩展现场可以进行的研究类型。 他们还将允许分析程序被整合到实验室活动期间提供的课程在FCRF由密歇根理工大学和其他大学进行。 FCRF举办了许多K-12实地考察小组和为期一天至一周的外展小组，主题与生态和环境科学有关。 湿实验室设施将使这些小组能够利用在实地收集的样品进行实际分析活动，这是现有设施无法完成的。 此外，访问实地研究站点的新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研究所的一部分开发的教学单元。 关于福特中心和研究森林的更多信息可以在http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter/上找到。