BRC-BIO: Carbon sequestration potential and drought resilience with wet meadow restoration under a changing climate

自工业革命以来，全球气温上升了1摄氏度以上，到2041年将达到2摄氏度。这种情况将对社会和生态系统造成毁灭性的影响。美国西部受到的打击尤其严重。该地区正在经历广泛的变暖、降水减少和积雪减少，导致更频繁和更严重的干旱。土地恢复措施可以通过影响土壤有效蓄水的能力来影响生态系统对干旱条件的恢复能力。此外，恢复有可能通过增加植物生长和腐烂来增加土壤碳。然而，在大的空间尺度上，人们对恢复工作如何影响土壤水分和土壤碳储量知之甚少。此外，土地恢复工程可能会影响土壤有效蓄水的能力。本研究将采用综合方法，从景观尺度上研究土地恢复项目和土壤条件的变化。它将为利用遥感工具的数据量化生态系统变化提供新的见解。这项工作还将为本科生提供身临其境的研究和教育体验。这些经历包括参加暑期实地课程，学生将有机会与各种非学术合作伙伴建立联系。恢复项目覆盖大面积景观，使得地面测量在大空间尺度上无法准确量化碳储量和恢复力。该项目将评估利用遥感工具量化不同景观土壤湿度变化的有效性。这项工作将评估恢复科罗拉多州甘尼森盆地湿润草甸的碳封存潜力。遥感土壤湿度数据将使用Sentinel-1卫星和无人机Black Swift S2的委托飞行在恢复的流域内收集，并将与原位土壤湿度数据进行验证，以检查检索精度。碳固存潜力将通过测量恢复和未恢复流域的土壤碳储量来评估。到目前为止，来自这些不同来源的数据还没有被结合起来量化生态背景下的土壤湿度。这项研究将是第一个这样做的研究。因此，这项研究不仅为解决重要的土地管理问题提供了机会，而且还将探索一种创新的方法。这项研究的结果将有助于评估恢复工作的影响，以及它们作为甘尼森盆地和其他地区气候缓解工具的潜力，因为类似的湿草甸恢复项目正在美国西部近危大鼠尾草（Centrocercus urophasianus）所占地区进行。帮助恢复该地区水文的恢复措施，科罗拉多河的源头，有可能影响数百万依赖科罗拉多河供水的人。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。

Global air temperature has increased by over one degree Celsius since the industrial revolution and is on its way to reaching two degrees Celsius by 2041. This scenario will cause devasting impacts on both social and ecological systems. Particularly hit hard is the western United States. That region is experiencing widespread warming, decrease in precipitation, and decline in snowpack resulting in more frequent and severe droughts. Land restoration practices can impact ecosystem resilience to drought conditions by affecting the ability for soils to effectively store water. In addition, restoration has the potential to increase soil carbon through increased plant growth and decay. However, how restoration efforts influence the amount of soil water and carbon stored in soils is poorly understood over large spatial scales. In addition, land restoration projects may affect the ability for soils to effectively store water. By taking an integrative approach, this research will study what can be learned about land restoration projects and changes in soil conditions at a landscape scale. It will provide new insights into the use of data from remote sensing tools to quantify ecosystems changes. The work will also provide immersive research and education experiences for undergraduate students. These experiences included participation in a summer field course where students will have opportunities to connect with a variety of non-academic partners. Restoration projects cover large landscapes, making on the ground measurements inadequate in accurately quantifying carbon storage and resilience at broad spatial scales. This project will assess the effectiveness of using remote sensing tools to quantify changes in soil moisture across landscapes. The work will evaluate the carbon sequestration potential of restoring wet meadows within the Gunnison Basin of Colorado. Remote sensing soil moisture data will be collected within restored watersheds using Sentinel-1 satellites and commissioned flights with the UAV, Black Swift S2 and will be validated with in situ soil moisture data to check retrieval accuracies. Carbon sequestration potential will be evaluated by measuring soil carbon stocks in restored and unrestored watersheds. Until now, data from these different sources have not been combined to quantify soil moisture in an ecological context. This study will be the first to do so. So, not only does this research provide an opportunity to address important land management questions, it will also explore an innovative methodology. Results from this study will help assess the impact of restoration efforts and their potential to serve as a climate mitigation tool within the Gunnison Basin and beyond as similar wet meadow restoration projects are occurring across the western United States in regions where the near threatened greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) occupy. Restoration practices that help restore hydrology within this region, the headwaters of the Colorado River, have the potential to impact the millions of people reliant on the Colorado River water supply.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.