NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2010

这一行动为2010财年的NSF少数民族博士后研究奖学金提供资金。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。为丽贝卡科尔提供的研究和培训计划的标题是“了解极端潮湿热带森林的碳储存。“这项研究的主办机构是位于博尔德的科罗拉多大学，赞助科学家是艾伦汤森博士。热带森林在陆地碳预算中发挥着关键作用。全球为减少热带森林砍伐和退化造成的碳排放所作的努力正在沿着新的市场手段的实施，如环境服务付费，以加强碳固存。然而，缺乏关于完整热带森林和正在迅速取代它们的退化森林类型的碳动态的信息，特别是在热带生物群落最潮湿的部分，那里的生物圈-大气碳交换率非常高。这项研究正在生成关于目前生态系统服务付费系统倡议下的极端湿润局部森林和森林类型的碳储存和通量的基线数据：完整的雨林，选择性砍伐和演替的森林，以及林业种植园。培训目标包括发展生态地球化学领域的实地和实验室技术专业知识，扩大研究员对雨林生态地球化学和生态系统对气候变化的反应的知识，并提高赠款写作，指导和推广技能。该项目的结果使得能够对碳储存进行评估，这将为哥斯达黎加和其他热带国家的碳抵消计划提供信息。这项研究将为森林的高空间分辨率航空成像光谱学提供关键的地面实况测量，从而可以绘制广泛地理区域的碳储存图。该项目还为哥斯达黎加和美国本科生提供研究经验，并与当地社区和学校进行外联。该项目的成果正在通过在主要研究期刊上发表、在国家会议上介绍以及向哥斯达黎加的保护、政府和大学团体传播。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2010. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Rebecca Cole is "Understanding carbon storage in extremely wet tropical forests." The host institution for this research is the University of Colorado at Boulder and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Alan Townsend. Tropical forests play a critical role in the terrestrial carbon budget. Global efforts to reduce carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and degradation are increasing along with implementation of novel market instruments, such as Payments for Environmental Services (PES), to enhance carbon sequestration. Yet information on the carbon dynamics of intact tropical forests and the degraded forest types that are rapidly replacing them is lacking, particularly in the wettest portions of the tropical biome where rates of biosphere-atmosphere carbon exchange are exceptionally high. This research is generating baseline data on the carbon stocks and fluxes in extremely wet topical forest and forest types currently under PES initiatives: intact rainforest, selectively logged and successional forests, and forestry plantations.The training objectives include developing expertise in field and laboratory-based techniques in biogeochemistry, broadening the Fellow's knowledge of rainforest biogeochemistry and ecosystem responses to climate change, and improving grant writing, mentorship, and outreach skills. The results of this project enable an evaluation of carbon storage that will inform carbon offset programs in Costa Rica and other tropical countries. The research will produce key ground-truthing measures for high spatial resolution airborne imaging spectroscopy of forests allowing for mapping of carbon storage over a broad geographic region. The project also provides research experience for Costa Rica and US undergraduate students and outreach to local communities and schools. The results of this project are being disseminated through publication in major research journals, presentation at national meetings, and to Costa Rican conservation, government, and university groups.