Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU

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Research and technical advice through computer modeling of high latitude soils and carbon cycling in order to advance research on the viability and sustainability of ecosystems within the Yukon River Basin, Alaska. The modeling research will help assess carbon cycling , freeze-thaw physics, and biogeochemical cycling in a way that helps define which field measurements are most effective at detecting changes and most effective at discerning linkages between water, carbon, and nutrient cycles of these northern environments. The future role of northern latitudes in global carbon cycling is highly uncertain because of understudied processes that link soils to vegetation and hydrology. Specific questions that are unresolved must be addressed through computer-based modeling of plant-soil-hydrological systems USGS will make one award for site or plot-scale, computer-based modeling research on high latitude soils and ecosystems.. Specifically, the role of water state and water availability and the role of soil microbial ecology must be discerned in a number of environments that range from wet lowlands to well drained, rocky uplands. This opportunity seeks research that will help constrain uncertainties about soil carbon cycling and trace gas emissions in northern systems; help determine the most useful and pertinent types of measurements in constraining these uncertainties; and help provide likely scenarios for future change, based on expectations regarding regional climate change. It is anticipated that the total amount of funding available for the project is not to exceed $30,000 in the first year, with a total of not more than $180,000 over a 4 year periodFour years are anticipated to complete the research, and applicants are encouraged to write their proposals accordingly. Proposals should clearly define the work to be completed within the four year period.

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