Research Infrastructure: Increasing Capacity at the University of Louisiana Lafayette Ecology Center

美国东南部的高草草原和长叶松生态系统是独特的、生物多样性的生态系统，但在活跃的野外站点数量方面代表性有限。该项目通过提供资金购买新的农用拖拉机、分析设备和更换温室设备，提高了位于这些生态系统交叉点的一个野外站的容量、能力和形象——路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校的生态中心（www.ecology.louisiana.edu）。生态中心的地理位置使其成为研究这些栖息地（包括植物、传粉媒介和野生动物）如何应对气候变化的理想场所。这些设备和经过改进的设施将支持有关气候变化如何影响这些原生栖息地和利用这些栖息地的物种的研究和教育。这些设施将供教师、学生和社区成员使用。该项目将购买一台新的农用拖拉机，用于将该中心目前的试验田面积从6公顷扩大到18公顷。这些试验田将用于进行降雨制度变化如何改变高草草原和长叶松栖息地的反应的实验。温室改造将用于安装加热和冷却设备，以及可用于进行受控实验的最先进的浇水系统。元素分析仪、微孔板读取仪和超低温冷冻机将用于分析和储存从田间地块和温室实验中采集的化学和遗传样本。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。

The tall grass prairie and long leaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern United States are unique and biologically diverse ecosystems, but have limited representation in terms of number of active field stations. This project boosts the capacity, capabilities and profile of a field station at the intersections of these ecosystems – the Ecology Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (www.ecology.louisiana.edu) – by providing funds for a new farm tractor, analytical equipment, and replacement of greenhouse equipment. The location of the Ecology Center makes it an ideal place to study how these habitats, including plants, pollinator and wildlife, will respond to changing climate regimes. The equipment and improved facilities will support research and education on how climate change effects these native habitats and the species that use them. The facilities will be used by faculty, students, and community members. The project will purchase a new farm tractor that will be used to expand the current experimental field space of the Center from 6 ha to 18 ha of usable fields. These experimental fields will be used to conduct experiments on how changing rainfall regimes will alter the response of the tall grass prairie and long leaf pine habitat. The greenhouse renovations will be used to install heating and cooling capabilities as well as a state-of-the-art watering system that can be used to conduct controlled experiments. The elemental analyzer, microplate reader, and ultra-low freezer will be used to analyze and store chemical and genetic samples taken from the field plots and greenhouse experiments.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.