REU Site: The Value of Snow: Summer Research Experiences in Natural Resource Issues in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin Region

REU 网站：雪的价值：内华达山脉和大盆地地区自然资源问题的夏季研究经验

• 批准号: 1263352
• 负责人: Scott Mensing
• 金额: $ 34.97万
• 依托单位: Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-11-15 至 2016-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1263352&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Value; Snow; Summer

Intellectual Merit: The Academy for the Environment REU program enables students to explore the intersection of socioeconomic and natural sciences in ways that inform adaptive watershed management in the eastern Sierra Nevada region of Nevada, specifically within the Lake Tahoe Basin and the surrounding northwestern Great Basin high desert. This program is a continuation of a previous NSF REU Site award that supported research in the Lake Tahoe-Truckee River-Pyramid Lake watershed; information on that REU program can be found on the undergraduate research website (http://environment.unr.edu/undergraduateresearch/opportunities/reu.html). The current REU program encompasses a wide range of interdisciplinary research which examines various approaches to assessing, modeling, and managing water resources in the context of climate change and diminishing snowpack in the region. The research group has framed its overall research theme in the context of the "value of snow", in order to promote the integration of a wide range of socioeconomic and environmental research activities, ranging from shore zone studies of water quality and invasive species at Lake Tahoe, to the effects of habitat disturbance (e.g., mining, energy development, fire, vegetation change) on critical habitat for sensitive species in the Great Basin. Students are involved in on-going research that identifies communities and groups that are affected by changes in snowpack, consider alternative outcomes where mitigation strategies and policies assist in adaptation, and quantify impacts in biophysical as well as dollar terms. The research projects are situated within a biologically diverse region, a unique area that joins the high desert with subalpine ecological systems. This confluence of systems provides varied and compelling research opportunities in mountain, desert, and riparian biotic communities. Broader Impacts: Through this team-oriented research experience, students are gaining exposure to diverse scientific inquiries and technologies, and learning how the socioeconomic and natural sciences inform land use policy and adaptive management when faced with changing economic and natural resources. More broadly, the program exposes students to integrated research questions that connect these ecosystems to larger questions of how snow levels influence water availability, usage and conservation in the West. Advanced technologies used in data collection and analysis allow students to gain experience in state-of-the-art research software. Nationally-recruited students examine how these technologies influence the production of knowledge as they refine their scope of research. This program emphasizes team building, creating a positive work environment, and the role students play in these processes. As a result, the REU program is expanding student understanding of, and participation in, effective research programs while also producing research that makes meaningful contributions to the field. This REU Site project is successfully linking students, faculty, and natural resource managers through a collective effort aimed at enhancing our scientific understanding of regional watersheds in an applied research context.

智力优势：环境学院REU计划使学生能够探索社会经济和自然科学的交叉点，以告知内华达州东部塞拉内华达州地区的适应性流域管理，特别是在太浩湖盆地和周围的西北大盆地高沙漠。该计划是之前NSF REU网站奖的延续，该奖项支持了Tahoe湖-Truckee河-金字塔湖流域的研究;有关REU计划的信息可以在本科研究网站上找到（http：//environment.unr.edu/undergraduateresearch/opportunities/reu.html）。目前的REU计划包括广泛的跨学科研究，研究在气候变化和该地区积雪减少的背景下评估，建模和管理水资源的各种方法。该研究小组在“雪的价值”的背景下制定了其总体研究主题，以促进广泛的社会经济和环境研究活动的整合，从太浩湖水质和入侵物种的海岸区研究到栖息地干扰的影响（例如，采矿、能源开发、火灾、植被变化）对大盆地敏感物种的关键栖息地造成了影响。学生参与正在进行的研究，确定受积雪变化影响的社区和群体，考虑缓解战略和政策有助于适应的替代结果，并量化生物物理和美元方面的影响。这些研究项目位于一个生物多样性地区，这是一个独特的地区，将高沙漠与亚高山生态系统连接起来。这种系统的融合提供了多样的和引人注目的研究机会，在山区，沙漠和河岸生物群落。更广泛的影响：通过这种以团队为导向的研究经验，学生们接触到不同的科学探究和技术，并学习社会经济和自然科学如何在面对不断变化的经济和自然资源时为土地利用政策和适应性管理提供信息。更广泛地说，该计划让学生接触到综合研究问题，将这些生态系统与雪水平如何影响西部水资源的可用性，使用和保护的更大问题联系起来。在数据收集和分析中使用的先进技术使学生能够获得最先进的研究软件的经验。国家招收的学生研究这些技术如何影响知识的生产，因为他们完善他们的研究范围。该计划强调团队建设，创造积极的工作环境，以及学生在这些过程中发挥的作用。因此，REU计划正在扩大学生对有效研究计划的理解和参与，同时也产生了对该领域做出有意义贡献的研究。这个REU网站项目是成功地连接学生，教师和自然资源管理人员通过集体努力，旨在提高我们的科学认识区域流域的应用研究背景下。