Automated-Minirhizotron and Arrayed Rhizosphere-Soil Sensors [A-MARSS]

该奖项支持开发机器人迷你加速器系统，并将其与现有技术集成到环境监测探头(硝酸盐、二氧化碳、水、温度、微生物组成)网络中，该网络既可以接收指令，也可以使用新的无线技术远程传输数据和图像。土壤生态学通常由单个静态或收获测量组成，缺乏足够的小规模、快速复制。新的仪器和集成方法应该在监测和描述小尺度现象的能力方面实现巨大飞跃，并将大量空间和时间上的测量整合到土壤生态的综合复杂力学中。该项目团队由生态学家、环境科学家、工程师和计算机科学家组成，他们都致力于开发新的仪器并整合测量的参数阵列。所有测量都设计为远程测量，允许在事件发生时进行观察。该项目整合了土壤生物复杂性、技术开发和无线工程技术等项目的先前工作。该项目将在三个地点进行(1)詹姆斯保护区，这是加州大学自然保护区系统的一个地点，现有网站和远程控制数据访问系统，供全国学校使用；(2)加利福尼亚州棕榈谷附近的一个农业技术试验台，正在测试污染传感器；(3)阿尔伯克基附近的一个长期生态研究(LTER)地点，重点是使用雨棚进行干旱研究。

This award supports the development of a robotic minirhizotron system and its integration with existing technologies into a network of environmental monitoring probes (nitrate, carbon dioxide, water, temperature, microbial composition) that can both receive instructions and transmit data and images remotely using new wireless technologies. Soil ecology has generally consisted of individual static or harvest measurements that lack adequate small-scale, rapid replication. The new instrumentation and integration approaches should provide a quantum leap in the ability to monitor and describe small-scale phenomena and integrate a large number of measurements both spatially and temporally into integrated complex mechanics of soil ecology. The project team consists of ecologists, environmental scientists, engineers, and computer scientists all working to develop the new instruments and integrate the array of parameters measured. All measurements are being designed to measure remotely, allowing for the observation of events as they occur. This project integrates prior work from programs in soil biocomplexity, technique development, and wireless engineering technologies. The project will take place at three locations (1) the James Reserve, a University of California Natural Reserve System site with an existing website and remote-controlled data access system used by schools nationally, (2) an agricultural technology testbed near Palmdale, CA, where pollution sensors are being tested, and (3) a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, near Albuquerque, focused on drought studies using the rain-out shelters.