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

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，知情的公众能够以健全的科学知识应对气候变化的社会挑战。该项目是一个综合的研究和教学计划，将提高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的生态和气候知识。 旱地在全球碳循环中极为重要：旱地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会严重影响土壤碳库。 对旱地土壤碳动态的了解特别少，由于植物投入、植被覆盖、干扰状况和气候的差异，旱地的控制可能与研究较好、不太干旱的系统的控制明显不同。 将使用一套新的分析技术来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）地上和地下植物投入的变化如何影响旱地土壤碳含量和稳定性？ 2)历史上土地管理和植被的差异如何影响土壤碳？ 3)荒漠啮齿动物引起的土壤扰动和植被变化如何影响土壤碳含量和稳定性？ 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的反馈的重要信息。 教育推广是该项目的中心重点。 儿童早期接触科学思想对于激发对科学的兴趣和奠定科学素养的基础至关重要。 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。 将开发、实地测试和传播以沙漠生态和气候变化为重点的探究式基础课程。 为进一步加强初等教育，将为教师编制关于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少数民族入学率高的高度贫困学区的课后计划提供支持。将通过课程传播和教师教育课程及讲习班，加强地方社区的气候变化知识。

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.