EAR-Climate: Geomorphic controls on soil organic carbon in fire-prone erosional landscapes

来自有机物质的土壤碳是全球碳循环的重要组成部分，是一种日益受到管理关注的资源。在非农业环境中，如美国西部的丘陵和山区，缺乏显示野火后土壤有机碳分布和变化的准确数据。该项目将收集俄勒冈州西南部最近被烧毁的山区研究地点的土壤有机碳的范围、深度和年龄的数据，并将研究影响这些景观中土壤有机碳变化的因素。这项研究将有助于为土壤管理计划提供信息，包括在土壤中固碳以应对气候变化的努力。该项目团队还将积极参与俄勒冈州大学的体验式学习计划，该计划旨在使历史上代表性不足的学生能够追求科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的兴趣，并将支持对女性研究生的培训。该项目将量化地形，土壤性质和土壤有机碳之间的功能关系，它可以应用于世界各地的一系列侵蚀，土壤覆盖的景观。通过结合土壤生成和迁移的地貌理论、机载激光雷达生成的高分辨率地形以及实地获得的生态和地球化学数据，该项目将跟踪各种侵蚀速率和形态特征的山坡上土壤有机碳库的变化。此外，利用来自俄勒冈州西南部研究地点的数据，该项目将确定干扰和森林演替如何影响土壤有机碳量和持久性，通过碳储量的量化与放射性测年相结合进行评估，从而确定过去和未来野火的遗产。该项目的综合框架可以在不同的生态区进行校准和应用，以快速准确地扩大规模的方式绘制土壤碳图。该项目将推进关键区科学的潜力，以改善全球环境变化下的碳循环预测。提高对土壤有机碳的认识将有助于在土地管理和全球气候模型开发中的实际应用。此外，该项目还将帮助推动俄勒冈州大学的三项旨在扩大STEM参与的举措，并将支持对一名女研究生的培训。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。

Soil carbon from organic material constitutes a substantial component of the global carbon cycle and is a resource of increasing management interest. In non-agricultural settings, such as hilly and mountainous terrain that dominates the western United States, accurate data showing how soil organic carbon is distributed and changes following wildfire is lacking. This project will collect data on the extent, depth, and age of soil organic carbon at recently-burned mountainous study sites in southwest Oregon, and it will examine the factors that affect soil organic carbon changes in such landscapes. This research will help to inform soil management schemes, including efforts to sequester carbon in soils to combat climate change. The project team will also actively contribute to experiential learning initiatives at the University of Oregon, which seek to empower students from historically underrepresented groups toward pursuing interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and it will support training for a female graduate student.This project will quantify the functional relationships between topography, soil properties, and soil organic carbon, which can be applied to an array of eroding, soil-mantled landscapes across the world. Through the coupling of geomorphic theory for soil production and transport, high-resolution topography generated from airborne lidar, and field-derived ecological and biogeochemical data, this project will track changes in soil organic carbon pools on hillslopes that span a range of erosion rates and morphologic characteristics. In addition, using data from study sites in southwest Oregon, this project will determine how disturbance and forest succession affect soil organic carbon amounts and permanence, assessed through the quantification of carbon stocks combined with radiometric dating, and thus determine the legacy of past and future wildfires. The project's integrative framework can be calibrated and applied in different ecoregions to map soil carbon in a fashion that allows for rapid and accurate upscaling. This project will advance the potential of critical zone science to improve carbon cycling predictions under global environmental change. Improved understanding of soil organic carbon will contribute to practical applications in land management and global climate model development. In addition, the project will help to advance three initiatives at the University of Oregon toward broadening participation in STEM, and it will support training for a female graduate student.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.