Collaborative Research: IRES Track 1: Empowering students to bridge the gap between hydrologic science and community resilience: A case study in post-glacial Perú

水资源管理和水安全的解决方案不仅需要基本的健全科学，而且还需要一个由训练有素的科学家组成的多元化联盟，承认并了解当地社区的需求和知识。通过我们的IRES奖，我们将培训三批10名美国学生来自洪堡州立大学（HSU）和罗格斯大学，纽瓦克（RUN）的西班牙裔服务机构应用，跨学科和以社区为基础的水资源开发。每个队列将参加为期一年的计划，包括三个组成部分：（1）春季预科课程，将通过视频会议将HSU和RUN的学生与秘鲁同行联系起来;（2）为期五周的水文地球物理实地活动，以秘鲁库斯科地区的两个社区为中心，由美国和秘鲁学者的跨学科团队领导;和（3）独立研究的秋季学期。这些经验将使不同的学生群体成为跨学科和具有社区意识的科学家，并培训当地社区成员收集水文数据，以指导水资源管理的最佳做法，并提高当地的水安全和复原力。普纳生物群落是位于安第斯山脉中部植物生长高度极限的季节性干旱草地和灌木生态系统，为许多小型农业社区和库斯科等大城市提供主要水源。尽管它对水资源的重要性，然而，普纳的水文学知之甚少，特别是在存储能力和季节性径流动态。因此，依赖普纳水源的社区可能容易受到供水变化和不知情的水管理决定的影响。我们将指导学生进行水文，地质和地球物理调查，以量化两个小（~ 2.2平方公里）“端元”普纳流域的水资源和流动路径。在一个集水区，泥炭形成的湿地（当地称为bofedales）的缓慢排水维持着支持社区农业的常年径流。在另一个集水区，没有bofedales，溪流是短暂的，但社区通过一个140米长的隧道收获裂缝流用于农业和市政用水。我们的研究结果将量化普纳景观的水资源，并没有bofedales的影响，通知模型预测未来的水资源变化，并指导以社区为基础的土地和水资源管理的最佳实践。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Solutions to water resources management and water security require not only fundamentally sound science, but also a diverse coalition of trained scientists that recognizes and is aware of the needs and knowledge of local communities. Through our IRES award, we will train three cohorts of ten U.S. students from the Hispanic Serving Institutions of Humboldt State University (HSU) and Rutgers University, Newark (RUN) in applied, interdisciplinary and community-based water development. Each cohort will participate in a yearlong program consisting of three components: (1) a spring preparatory course which will link students from HSU and RUN via videoconferencing to their Peruvian peers; (2) a five-week hydrogeophysical field campaign centered in two communities in the Cusco region of Perú and led by an interdisciplinary team of U.S. and Peruvian scholars; and (3) a fall semester of independent research. The experience will empower a diverse cohort of students to be interdisciplinary and community-minded scientists as well as train members of the local communities to collect hydrologic data in order to guide best practices in water management and increase local water security and resiliency. The puna biome, a seasonally dry grass and shrub ecosystem at the altitudinal limits of plant growth in the central Andes, provides the primary source of water to many small agrarian communities and large cities, such as Cusco. Despite its importance for water resources, however, the hydrology of the puna is poorly understood, especially with regard to storage capacity and seasonal runoff dynamics. Communities relying on puna derived water sources are thus potentially vulnerable to changes in water supply and uninformed water management decisions. We will guide students in a hydrologic, geologic and geophysical investigation to quantify water resources and flow pathways in two small (~ 2.2 km2) ‘end-member’ puna catchments. In one catchment, slow drainage from peat forming wetlands, known locally as bofedales, sustains perennial streamflow which supports community agriculture. In the other catchment, devoid of bofedales, stream flow is ephemeral, however the community harvests fracture flow for agricultural and municipal water use via a 140 m long tunnel. Our results will quantify water resources in puna landscapes with and without the influence of bofedales, inform model predictions of future changes in water resources, and guide community-based best practices in land and water management.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.