NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Habitat suitability: ecocultural restoration in the Klamath Basin

该行动资助2021财年美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大生物学中代表性不足群体的参与。该奖学金支持该研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与，特别是卡鲁克青年和华盛顿大学的土著学生。该研究员将利用生境适宜性模型来描述文化关键物种柳树和鲑鱼的丰度和分布，以应对生态文化恢复和生态干扰。该项目将评估土著消防管理对气候适应的影响，以了解火灾如何促进不同景观价值（例如，文化食品和篮子）和恢复生态功能（例如，溪流温度）。本研究将提供对生态恢复力的深入了解，并确定干扰对景观的影响，包括洪水和火灾。随着美国历史上最大的大坝拆除工程定于2023年在克拉马斯河上开始，这项研究是及时的。该研究员将调查大坝拆除前的条件，部落可以利用这些条件来确定优先级，并确定在共同管理的景观中进行生态文化恢复的最佳途径。该研究员将评估栖息地适宜性模型框架，结合基于地点的科学，在加利福尼亚州克拉马斯盆地中部的Karuk部落确定的选定栖息地区内，描述栖息地丧失和文化关键物种、植物和鲑鱼的物种多样性。该模型将使用空间上明确的数据和已知的焦点物种发生情况，包括细尺度和宽尺度生态相关变量（例如，地形、土壤、地质、气候）的组合。该研究员将使用地理空间方法、航空图像和无人机镜头来量化森林的构成。物种的出现将通过实地调查来确认，不同分辨率的独立测试地点将确定局部尺度模型的准确性。该研究员将评估a)生境适宜性模型的效用，以确定生态文化恢复活动，文化燃烧，增加焦点物种的生境多样性；b)探索粮食和程度对不同地点环境适宜性的局部到大尺度模型预测的影响。代际知识交流、共同指导和社区参与将加强研究的解释和成果。研究员将通过暑期实习计划作为部落青年的导师，并与Karuk部落共同开发研究材料和出版物。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology, particularly Karuk youth and Indigenous students at the University of Washington. The Fellow will utilize habitat suitability models to characterize the abundance and distribution of cultural keystone species, willow and salmon, in response to ecocultural restoration and ecological disturbance. The project will assess the effects of Indigenous fire stewardship on climate adaptation to understand how fire promotes diverse landscape values (e.g., cultural foods and basketry) and restores ecological function (e.g., stream temperature). This research will provide insight to ecological resilience and ascertain the effects of disturbance on the landscape, including floods and fire. With the largest dam removal project in U.S. history slated to begin on the Klamath River in 2023, this research is timely. The Fellow will survey pre-dam removal conditions that Tribes can use to prioritize and identify optimal pathways for ecocultural restoration across co-managed landscapes. The Fellow will assess a habitat suitability model framework coupled with place-based science to characterize habitat loss and species diversity of cultural keystone species, plants and salmon, within selected habitat zones identified by the Karuk Tribe in the mid-Klamath basin, California. Spatially explicit data and known occurrences of focal species will be used in the model, including a combination of fine-scale and broad-scale ecologically relevant variables (e.g., topography, soils, geology, climate). The Fellow will use geospatial methods, aerial imagery and drone footage to quantify standing forest composition. Species occurrences will be confirmed with field surveys and independent test locations at different resolutions will determine local-scale model accuracy. The Fellow will assess a) the utility of habitat suitability models to determine that ecocultural restoration activities, cultural burns, increase habitat diversity of focal species, and b) explore the influence of grain and extent in local to broad-scale model predictions of environmental suitability at different site locations. An intergenerational knowledge exchange, co-mentorship and community participation will enhance research interpretation and outcomes. The Fellow will serve as a mentor to tribal youth through a summer internship program and co-develop research materials and publications from this research with the Karuk tribe.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.