CAREER: Soil organic carbon dynamics in response to long-term ecological changes in drylands: an integrated program for carbon cycle research and enhancing climate change literacy

职业：响应旱地长期生态变化的土壤有机碳动态：碳循环研究和提高气候变化素养的综合计划

• 批准号: 1620476
• 负责人: Heather Throop
• 金额: $ 25.94万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2017-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1620476&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Soil; organic; carbon; dynamics

Understanding the consequences and controls of changes in the global carbon cycle is critical to both science and society. Equally crucial to society is an informed public that is able to respond to the societal challenges of climate change with sound scientific knowledge. This project is an integrated research and teaching program that will enhance understanding of the controls over the storage of carbon in dryland soils, and implement educational initiatives to enhance ecological and climate literacy in rural southern New Mexico. Drylands are extremely important in the global carbon cycle: they account for a large proportion of global land area, and widespread changes in land cover and disturbances in these areas may strongly affect soil carbon pools. Soil carbon dynamics are particularly poorly understood in drylands, where controls may be distinctly different from those in better-studied, less dry systems due to differences in plant inputs, vegetation cover, disturbance regimes, and climate. A suite of new analytical techniques will be used to assess the sources and stability of soil carbon pools in drylands. These techniques will be used to address three questions: 1) How do changes in above- and belowground plant inputs affect dryland soil carbon content and stability? 2) How do differences in historical land management and vegetation affect soil carbon? 3) How do soil disturbances and vegetation change caused by desert rodents affect soil carbon content and stability? Together, these studies will provide important information about current and future soil carbon dynamics and their feedback to the climate system. Educational outreach is a central focus of this project. Early exposure to scientific ideas in children is vital for stimulating interest in science and laying the foundation for scientific literacy. As such, educational initiatives in this project will focus on enhancing ecological and climate literacy in elementary-level students and teachers. An inquiry based elementary curriculum focused on desert ecology and climate change will be developed, field-tested, and disseminated. To further enhance elementary education, courses will be developed for teachers on the use of innovative technological tools to engage students in ecosystem science. Elementary curriculum development and field testing will provide support to an after-school program in a high-poverty school district with high minority enrollment. Climate change literacy in the local community will be enhanced through curriculum dissemination and teacher education courses and workshops.

了解全球碳循环变化的后果和控制对科学和社会都至关重要。对社会同样至关重要的是，一个知情的公众能够用可靠的科学知识应对气候变化带来的社会挑战。该项目是一个综合研究和教学计划，将加强对旱地土壤碳储存控制的理解，并实施教育举措，以提高新墨西哥州南部农村地区的生态和气候素养。旱地在全球碳循环中极为重要：它们占全球陆地面积的很大比例，这些地区土地覆盖的广泛变化和干扰可能强烈影响土壤碳库。由于植物投入、植被覆盖、干扰机制和气候的差异，旱地的土壤碳动态对土壤碳的控制可能与那些研究得更好、干旱程度较低的系统明显不同。一套新的分析技术将用于评估旱地土壤碳库的来源和稳定性。这些技术将用于解决三个问题：1)地上和地下植物输入的变化如何影响旱地土壤碳含量和稳定性？2)历史土地管理和植被差异如何影响土壤碳？3)沙漠啮齿动物对土壤的干扰和植被变化对土壤碳含量和稳定性的影响？总之，这些研究将提供有关当前和未来土壤碳动态及其对气候系统反馈的重要信息。教育外展是这个项目的中心焦点。儿童早期接触科学思想对于激发对科学的兴趣和为科学素养奠定基础至关重要。因此，该项目的教育举措将侧重于提高小学学生和教师的生态和气候素养。将编制以沙漠生态和气候变化为重点的以探究为基础的小学课程，进行实地测试和传播。为了进一步加强基础教育，将为教师开发有关使用创新技术工具使学生参与生态系统科学的课程。小学课程开发和实地测试将为一个少数族裔入学率高的高度贫困学区的课后项目提供支持。将通过课程传播和教师教育课程和讲习班，提高当地社区对气候变化的认识。