Acquisition of GIS and GPS Equipment by the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in order to Enable High Resolution Spatially Explicit Research and Training

该奖项支持获取仪器，使科学家能够进行空间明确的研究并分析空间明确的数据。具体而言，落基山生物实验室（RMBL）将购买GPS系统、GIS软件和强大的商业数据库软件。RMBL是一个促进研究和培训的生物野外工作站。研究项目的例子包括鸟类和哺乳动物对高海拔的适应、动物行为、植物与传粉者的相互作用、蝴蝶种群生态学和遗传学、溪流生态学、全球变暖对山地生态系统的影响、植物人口统计学、高山野花的开花物候学和昆虫捕食-猎物系统。许多研究项目持续时间为15年至30年，覆盖从米到公里的空间尺度。集成的GPS/GIS仪器系统将增加研究人员可以提出的问题范围，并提高现有研究的质量。更具体地说，GPS站将使科学家能够以毫米的精度定位研究地块，并对植物种群进行详细和长期的人口调查。地理信息系统软件将允许科学家进行空间分析，以检测非生物和生物变量之间的关系。此外，通过将GIS环境与强大的数据库相结合，该实验室将通过促进历史和当前研究项目的空间整合来提高研究人员的协作能力。这些增强的能力将在广泛的研究活动中帮助科学家。这台仪器也将大大提高我们课程的质量，我们提供广泛的野外课程，包括保护生物学、野外生态学、分子生态学、哺乳学、植物学、溪流生态学、鸟类学、地质学和独立研究。该实验室还主持了nsf资助的本科生研究体验项目。研究和教学紧密结合在一起。

\This award supports the acquisition of instrumentation that will allow scientists to conduct spatially explicit research and to analyze spatially explicit data. Specifically, the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL) will purchase a GPS system, GIS software, and robust commercial database software. The RMBL is a biological field station that facilitates research and training. Examples of research projects include avian and mammalian adaptations to high elevation, animal behavior, plant-pollinator interactions, butterfly population ecology and genetics, stream ecology, effects of global warming on montane ecosystems, plant demography, flowering phenology of alpine wildflowers, and insect predator-prey systems. Many research projects are of fifteen to thirty years in duration and cover spatial scales from meters to kilometers. An integrated GPS/GIS instrumentation system will increase the range of questions researchers can ask and improve the quality of existing studies. More specifically, the GPS station will allow scientists to locate research plots with a precision of millimeters as well as conduct detailed and long-term demographic surveys of plant populations. The GIS software will allow scientists to perform spatial analyses to detect relationships between abiotic and biotic variables. Additionally, by integrating the GIS environment with a robust database, the Lab will increase the ability of researchers to collaborate by facilitating spatial integration of historical and current research projects. These enhanced capabilities will aid scientists in a wide range of research activities. This instrumentation will also considerably improve the quality of our coursework program, which offers a wide range of field courses including conservation biology, field ecology, molecular ecology, mammology, botany, stream ecology, ornithology, geology, and independent research. The Lab also hosts a NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates Program. Research and education are tightly integrated at RMBL.