Collaborative Research: MSA: Development and Validation of a Continuous Soil Respiration Product at Core Terrestrial NEON Sites

土壤含有大量的地球碳。这种碳以二氧化碳（CO2）形式释放的速率取决于许多因素，包括土壤微生物活性和环境特征的变化。 测量从土壤到大气的CO2排放速率是建模和理解全球环境变化所需的重要组成部分。NSF支持的国家生态观测网络（氖）对所有必要的组成部分进行连续测量，以确定给定地点的土壤碳通量（碳积累率与CO2排放率之间的平衡）。该项目的研究人员将计算美国大陆20个核心氖站点的土壤通量，并将其与其他现有数据库进行交叉引用。 研究人员还将在主要的本科院校（PUI）招募五名教师，用于一系列教学，同伴指导和教育者发展活动的教师培训队列。 这一队列将导致教师和本科生与现有的氖数据和生态学研究更大的参与。 研究人员将与招募的教师合作，开发一系列生物学教育模块，估计每年将影响数百名本科生。 教师队伍还将从事专业发展，重点是扩大不同的本科生和研究人员之间的参与。氖基础设施包括土壤传感器阵列，记录所有必要的组件计算连续土壤CO2通量。交付计算土壤CO2通量值作为一个更高层次的数据产品是一个广泛寻求的应用氖数据。该项目将通过开发和现场验证一个免费提供的R包来填补这一数据空白，以方便快速地计算任何核心陆地氖站点的土壤CO2通量。 研究人员将通过直接测量验证结果，对现有的土壤呼吸数据库进行地面实况测量，并将土壤通量数据产品应用于建模和数据同化，以参数化土壤地球化学模型，在焦点核心氖站点。在该项目的第三年，研究人员将从主要的本科院校（PUI）招募五名教师，从事教师指导队列。参与的教师将：（1）加入一个指导小组，为本科生完善和试点宏观系统环境科学的教育模块，从而建立宏观系统生态学教学的实践网络;（2）为土壤CO2通量数据产品的验证做出贡献，从而建立他们在仪器仪表、数据分析和氖站点和数据产品设施方面的技术技能;以及（3）发展他们的跨文化能力技能，提高他们指导来自代表性不足背景的本科研究人员的能力，从而努力实现环境科学及其STEM劳动力的多样化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Soils contain a large amount of the Earth's carbon. The rate at which this carbon gets released as carbon dioxide (CO2) depends on a number of factors, including changes in soil microbial activity and environmental characteristics. Measuring the rates of CO2 emission from the soil to the atmosphere is an essential component needed to model and understand global environmental change. The NSF-supported National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) makes continuous measurements of all the required components to determine soil carbon flux (the balance between the rate of carbon buildup vs. discharge as CO2) at a given site. The researchers in this project will compute soil flux at each of the twenty core NEON sites across the continental U.S. and cross-reference them with other existing databases. The researchers will also recruit five faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) for a faculty training cohort in a suite of instruction, peer mentorship, and educator development activities. This cohort will result in greater engagement of faculty and undergraduate students with existing NEON data and ecology research. In collaboration with the recruited faculty, the researchers will develop a series of education modules in biology that is estimated to impact several hundred undergraduate students annually. The faculty cohort will also engage in professional development focused on broadening participation among diverse undergraduate students and researchers.NEON infrastructure includes soil sensor arrays that record all the necessary components for calculating continuous soil CO2 flux. The delivery of computed soil CO2 flux values as a higher-level data product is a widely-sought application of NEON data. This project will fill this data gap by developing and field-validating a freely available R package to easily and rapidly calculate soil CO2 flux at any core terrestrial NEON site. The researchers will validate the results through direct measurements, ground-truthing the measurements against existing soil respiration databases, and apply the soil flux data product in modeling and data assimilation to parameterize soil biogeochemical models at a focal core NEON site. During the third year of this project, the researchers will recruit five faculty from primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) to engage in a faculty mentoring cohort. Participating faculty will: (1) join together in a mentoring cohort to refine and pilot education modules in macrosystems environmental science for undergraduate students, thus building networks of practice in the teaching of macrosystems ecology; (2) contribute to the validation of the soil CO2 flux data product, thus building their technical skills in instrumentation, data analysis, and facility with NEON sites and data products; and (3) develop their intercultural competency skills, increasing their ability to mentor undergraduate researchers from underrepresented backgrounds, thus working towards diversifying environmental science and its STEM workforce.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.