Collaborative Research: RUI: Hydrology of the vegetation on vegetation: Comparison and scaling of rainfall interception and solute alteration by common arboreal epiphytes.

森林覆盖可以显著减少到达地面的降雨量并改变其化学成分。这一过程被称为“截流”，影响着水路、土壤侵蚀和雨水管理成本。森林树冠有三个主要部分：树皮、树叶和附生植物（生活在树冠上的植物）。附生植物对降雨截留的影响尚不清楚，但它们可以生活在任何森林生态系统中，是地球上吸水性最强的陆地生物之一。本研究通过监测美国东南部森林的拦截变量来解决这一知识差距，该森林拥有3种主要类型的附生植物，这些附生植物的拦截降雨方式不同（地衣、复活蕨和西班牙苔藓）。这项研究将包括对水和附生植物的多重测量，以及对天气条件的监测。研究结果将为水资源和森林管理者提供有关丰富附生植物森林保护工作的信息。这项研究将主要由本科院校领导，并将在前沿科学方面培养本科生。该项目的成果将纳入教育推广工作，惠及数千名K-12（幼儿园至12年级）和本科生、高中教师和社区成员。它还将为代表性不足的群体成员提供研究经验，包括与非洲裔美国人经济弱势群体和军事社区有关的群体。植被生态系统降雨-排水水文流动路径的第一个过程是森林冠层对雨水的分配。雨冠之间的相互作用影响了雨水径流和基础设施成本，每年每公顷向土壤提供数百公斤的溶解溶质，并减缓了区域变暖。在这个话题上，一个被忽视的主要过程是附生植物（结构上生活在树冠上的植物）的作用。由于附生植物在森林生态系统中无处不在，许多附生植物可以将其干重的1000%储存在水中，因此排除这些生物会显著影响冠层水平衡和相关的溶质交换。本研究解决了这一主要的知识缺口，该森林具有3种常见类型的真菌（地衣、蕨类和凤梨科植物）的高生物量，它们代表了一个水控制连续体，从双水（无内部水控制，如地衣）到同水（存在内部水控制，如凤梨科植物、西班牙苔藓）。主要目标是：(1)评估这些附生植物的储存、蒸发和排水动态；(2)评价附生植物水分平衡的生态水文特征，确定其对预估气候变化的脆弱性；(3)量化附生植物变化对降雨无机溶质特征的影响；(4)估算当前和未来相对林分水平对附生植物影响的尺度研究结果。实现这些目标可能会改变与气候相关的能量交换和生态临界质量交换有关的主要水文过程的估计和预测。该项目将支持1名博士后学者和6名本科生在生态水文学和水文气象学交叉的关键子领域获得大量的研究经验（野外工作，仪器仪表，数据收集和处理，建模和模型评估，手稿准备和结果展示）。该项目还将通过网站、讲习班、在研究森林地区安装的解释性标志、连续艺术，包括图画中篇小说和人物设计，以及将在国际观众收看的YouTube主要教育频道（MinuteEarth）上播放的定时录像，向广大受众传播信息。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。

Forests cover can significantly reduce the amount of rainfall reaching the ground and alter its chemistry. This process, called "interception," impacts water paths, soil erosion, and stormwater management costs. There are three major parts of the forest canopy: bark, leaves and epiphytes (the plants that live on the canopy). The effect of epiphytes on rainfall interception is not well understood, yet they can live in any forest ecosystem and represent some of Earth’s most water-absorbent land organisms. This study addresses this knowledge gap by monitoring interception variables for a southeastern US forest that hosts 3 major types of epiphytes that differ in how the intercept rainfall (lichen, resurrection fern, and Spanish moss). The study will involve multiple measurements in water and epiphytes, as well as monitoring weather conditions. Results will inform water and forest managers about conservation efforts for epiphyte-rich forests. The research will be led by primarily Undergraduate Institutions and will train undergraduate students in cutting-edge science. Outcomes of the project will be incorporated into educational outreach efforts reaching thousands of K-12 (kinder to twelfth grade) and undergraduate students, high school teachers, and community members. It will also provide research experiences to members of underrepresented groups, including those associated with African American economically disadvantaged, and military communities.The first process in the rainfall-to-discharge hydrologic flow path in vegetated ecosystems is the partitioning of rain by forest canopies. Rain-canopy interactions have been documented to impact stormwater runoff and infrastructure costs, supply hundreds of kilograms of dissolved solutes per ha per year to soils and mitigate regional warming. A major process that has been overlooked on this topic is the role of epiphytes (plants that structurally live on canopies). Since epiphytes are ubiquitous across forest ecosystems and many can store 1000% of their dry weight in water, excluding these organisms significantly impacts canopy water balances and related solute exchanges. This study addresses this major knowledge gap at a forest with high biomass of 3 common types of epiphytes (lichens, ferns and bromeliads) that represent a water-control continuum, from poikilohydric (no internal water control, like lichens) to homoiohydric (presence of internal water controls, like the bromeliad, Spanish moss). Principal objectives are to: (1) assess storage, evaporation and drainage dynamics for these epiphytes; (2) evaluate ecohydrological traits that underlie epiphyte’s water balance and determine their vulnerability to projected changes in climate; (3) quantify epiphyte alterations to rainfall inorganic solute characteristics; and (4) scale findings to estimate current and future relative stand-level influence of epiphytes. Addressing these objectives may alter estimates and predictions of major hydrological processes linked to climatologically relevant energy exchanges and ecologically critical mass exchanges. The project will support 1 post-doctoral scholar and 6 undergraduate students to receive substantial research experiences (field work, instrumentation, data collection and processing, modeling and model evaluation, manuscript preparation, and results presentation) in a timely & critical subfield at the intersection of eco-hydrology and hydrometeorology. The project will also disseminate information to broad audiences through websites, workshops, interpretative signs installed in the study forest area, sequential art, including graphic novellas and character designs, and a time-lapsed video to be featured in a leading educational YouTube channel with international viewership (MinuteEarth).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.