Facilities Improvements for Ecological Research at Michigan Tech's Ford Center and Research Forest

密歇根理工大学获得了一笔拨款，用于在位于主校区以南42英里的福特中心和研究森林（FCRF）建立一个潮湿的实验室设施，建立短距离和远程Wi-Fi功能，并改善寒冷季节使用的住宿设施。五大湖上游常见的森林群落-土壤关联的整个范围可用于FCRF性质的研究和指导。FCRF目前的广泛研究包括气候对森林生态系统过程的影响，橡树和白杨对变化环境的遗传适应，以及野生动物和管理对森林群落组成和生态功能的影响。这些项目及其他项目将受惠于生态研究中心的改善措施，可在现场处理和分析从生态研究中心正在进行和未来进行的生态研究所收集的样本；通过互联网实时远程访问位于整个物业的现场传感器；还有冬季研究和推广工作的现场实习。湿实验室设施将通过允许快速，有效的样品处理来提高可以在FCRF进行的研究的质量，并将大大扩展现场可以执行的研究类型。他们还将允许分析程序整合到由密歇根理工大学和其他大学在FCRF提供的课程中进行的实验室活动中。FCRF举办了许多K-12的实地考察小组和为期一天到一周的与生态和环境科学相关的主题外展小组。湿实验室设施将使这些小组能够使用在现场收集的样品进行动手分析活动，这是现有设施无法完成的。此外，访问实地研究站点的新Wi-Fi功能将允许教师将FCRF研究的实时数据和网络摄像头图像整合到他们开发的教学单元中，作为密歇根理工大学主办的教师学院的一部分。有关福特中心和研究森林的更多信息可在http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter/上找到。

Michigan Technological University has been awarded a grant to create a wet laboratory facility, establish short and long range Wi-Fi capability, and improve lodging facilities for cold-season use at the Ford Center and Research Forest (FCRF), located 42 miles south of the main campus. The entire range of forest community-soil associations common in the upper Great Lakes is available for research and instruction on the FCRF property. The wide-ranging research at the FCRF currently includes studies of climatic manipulations on forest ecosystem processes, genetic adaptation of oak and aspen to a changing environment, and the effects of wildlife and management on forest community composition and ecological function. These and other projects will benefit from the FCRF improvements, which will enable on-site processing and analysis of samples collected from ongoing and future ecological research conducted at the FCRF; real time remote access, via the internet, to field sensors located throughout the property; and on-site residency for winter research and outreach efforts. The wet lab facilities will improve the quality of research that can be performed at the FCRF by allowing rapid, efficient sample processing and will greatly expand the types of research those housed on site can perform. They also will allow analytical procedures to be integrated into lab activities conducted during courses offered at the FCRF by Michigan Tech and other universities. The FCRF hosts many K-12 field trip groups and day- to week-long outreach groups for topics related to ecology and environmental science. Wet lab facilities will enable these groups to incorporate hands-on analytical activities using samples collected in the field, which cannot be accomplished with current facilities. In addition the new Wi-Fi capability for accessing field research sites will allow teachers to incorporate real-time data and webcam images from FCRF research into teaching units they develop as part of teacher institutes hosted by Michigan Tech. More information on the Ford Center and Research Forest can be found at http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter/.