NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology for FY 2011

本行动资助2011年度美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后研究奖学金，生物学与数学和物理科学交叉。该奖学金为生物学、物理学和工程学交叉领域的研究员提供在宿主实验室的研究和培训计划。丹尼尔·艾伦奖学金的研究和培训计划的标题是“生物多样性和工程功能：将物理过程整合到生物多样性和生态系统功能研究中”。该奖学金的主办机构是密歇根大学和弗吉尼亚理工大学，赞助科学家是dr。布拉德利·卡迪纳尔和特蕾莎·韦恩。一些紧迫的环境问题正因人类引起的河岸生态系统变化而加剧，这些变化导致侵蚀，并共同影响着蒸汽库的流体动力学和物质运输。人们还不完全了解植物是如何通过根部加固土壤来改变控制侵蚀的物理过程的。然而，过去在这一领域的研究一直持有狭隘的生物学观点，限制了生物群。属于单一物种或功能群的植物。一个完全独立的研究领域表明，植物生物多样性可以增加植物群落产生的根的密度和生物量。本研究的目标是合并这两个研究领域，以调查生物多样性如何影响物理过程，并进行实验室和实地实验，以测试植物生物多样性是否减少了河岸侵蚀。培训目标包括流体力学和泥沙运输，以及生物多样性和物种共存理论。职业发展活动包括学习熟练地出版，特别是在生物学和物理学的界面；指导本科生；提高教学技能。这项研究的一个实际成果是确定哪些植物最能稳定河岸，因为河岸侵蚀是影响北美河流的最紧迫的环境问题之一。对大学生的教育推广和与公立高中学生一起组织河流恢复项目也在进行中。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2011, Intersections of Biology and Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow at the intersection of biology with physics and engineering. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Daniel Allen is "Biodiversity and engineering function: integrating physical processes into biodiversity and ecosystem function research." The host institutions for the fellowship are the University of Michigan and Virginia Tech, and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Bradley Cardinale and Theresa Wynn.Some pressing environmental problems are being exacerbated by human-induced changes to riparian ecosystems that result in erosion and jointly influence fluid dynamics and materials transport along steam banks. It is not fully understood how plants modify the physical processes that control erosion by reinforcing soil with their roots. However, past research in this area has held a narrow view of biology, limiting ?biota? to a single species or functional group of plants. A completely separate area of research has shown that plant biodiversity can increase the density and biomass of roots produced by plant communities. The goal of this research is to merge these two areas of research to investigate how biodiversity influences physical processes and to conduct laboratory and field experiments to test if plant biodiversity reduces stream bank erosion.Training objectives include fluid mechanics and sediment transport and, in biology, biodiversity and species coexistence theory. Career development activities include learning to publish proficiently, especially at the interface of biology and physics; mentor undergraduate students; and improve teaching skills. A practical outcome of the research is determining which plants best stabilize stream banks, as stream bank erosion is one of the most pressing environmental problems affecting North American streams. Educational outreach to undergraduate students and organizing a stream restoration project with public high school students are also being conducted.