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

这一行动资助了NSF 2021财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究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，特别是华盛顿大学的Karuk青年和土著学生。该研究员将利用栖息地适宜性模型来表征养殖的关键物种柳树和鲑鱼的丰度和分布，以响应生态文化恢复和生态干扰。该项目将评估土著火管理对气候适应的影响，以了解火如何促进不同的景观价值(例如，文化食物和篮子)和恢复生态功能(例如，溪流温度)。这项研究将提供对生态弹性的洞察，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计划于2023年在克拉马斯河上开始，这项研究是及时的。这位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优先考虑和确定跨共同管理的景观的生态文化恢复的最佳路径。该研究员将评估栖息地适宜性模型框架，并结合基于地点的科学，以确定加利福尼亚州克拉马斯盆地中部Karuk部落确定的选定栖息区内养殖关键物种、植物和三文鱼的栖息地损失和物种多样性的特征。该模型将使用空间上明确的数据和已知的局部物种出现情况，包括精细和广泛的生态相关变量(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垂直森林的构成。物种的出现将通过实地调查得到确认，不同分辨率的独立测试地点将决定局部尺度模型的准确性。该研究员将评估a)栖息地适宜性模型的用途，以确定生态文化恢复活动、文化燃烧、增加重点物种的栖息地多样性，以及b)探索谷物和范围对不同地点环境适宜性的局部和广泛模型预测的影响。代际知识交流、共同指导和社区参与将加强研究解释和成果。该研究员将通过暑期实习计划担任部落青年的导师，并与Karuk部落共同开发这项研究的研究材料和出版物。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.