Research Challenge Award ($30K)

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Research Challenge Award (30K)
Chen, J.1, J. Gottgens1, K. Czajkowski2, A.
Heydinger3, D-S. Kim4, S. Heckathorn1, C. Mayer1,
5, D. Moorhead1, C. Stepien1, 5, D. Reiber6, S.
Gordon7, D. Zheng1, E. Lin8, T. Bridgeman5, J.
Frantz9, J. Bossenbroek1 1 Department of Earth,
Ecological and Environmental Sciences, College of
Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Toledo. 2
Department of Geography and Planning, College of
Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Toledo. 3
Department of Civil Engineering, College of
Engineering, University of Toledo. 4 Department
of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
College of Engineering, Univ. of Toledo. 5 Lake
Erie Center, College of Arts and Sciences,
University of Toledo. 6 Department of
Communications, College of Arts and Sciences,
Univ. of Toledo. 7 Ohio Supercomputer Center,
Ohio State University. 8 Department of
Mathematics, University of Toledo 9
USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
http//research.eeescience.utoledo.edu/lees/neon/
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Research Challenge Award (30K)

• Goal Build and train an interdisciplinary team
  of researchers, associates, graduate students and
  undergraduate students at the University of
  Toledo to participate fully in new initiatives in
  NSF-NEON
• Task 1 Participate in NEON workshops
• Task 2 Organize workshops at UT with NEON
  representatives
• Task 3 Develop NSF proposals for NEON that
  coincide with National Research Council (NRC)
  priorities

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Toledos NEON-listed Facilities

• Carbon flux towers at the Oak Openings
• Stranahan Arboretum
• Lake Erie Research Center
• USDA Agricultural Researc Service

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Oak Openings Region
Land use impact on water quality
Invasive species
Carbon flux tower
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University of Toledo Lake Erie Center
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Facilities USDA-ARS

• Elemental analysis by ICP emission spectroscopy
• 2. Leasing over 8,000 sq ft of greenhouse space
  from the Toledo Botanical Gardens

• Plant Pathologist, Plant Physiologist
• and support staff

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Working Group 1 A Mobile Ecosystem Lab for
GLACEO-NEON.
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A Mobile Lab for GLACEO

• Jiquan Chen (P.I.) Landscape Ecology Ecosystem
  Science
• Kevin Czajkowski Daolan Zheng remote sensing
• Scott Heckthorn Asko Noormets ecophysiology
• En-Bing Lin Data archive at math department, UT
• Steve Gordon Ohio Supercomputer Center
• Don Reiber Associates Media Services Studio

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A Mobile Lab for GLACEO
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A Mobile Lab for GLACEO
The expansion of the NEON network must find a
compromise between covering diverse ecoregions
and understanding the within region variability
of ecosystems, partly caused by human activities
and active ecosystem management. While it is
clear that field observations cannot be made
everywhere all the time, an alternative is to
utilize clusters of mobile units or a mobile
ecosystem lab for intensive field campaigns.
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A Mobile Lab for GLACEO
Wireless Access
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A Mobile Lab for GLACEO
Purposes Fill gaps within grids and
time Validate measurements at NEON
grids Respond rapidly to ecological
catastrophes Cover diverse ecosystems Serve
as education center (e.g., summer
camps) Promote for public outreach
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Working Group 2 Global Change Biology.
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Global-change biology at

• Jonathan Bossenbroek-
• landscape and invasion ecology
• Tom Bridgeman-
• limnology
• Jiquan Chen-
• landscape, ecosystem, community ecology
• Jonathan Frantz-
• plant physiology
• Tim Fisher-
• glacial quaternary geology
• Scott Heckathorn (P.I.)-
• plant algal ecological physiology
  biochemistry
• Christine Mayer-
• aquatic ecology and invasive species
• Daryl Moorhead-
• ecological modeling
• Michael Weintraub-
• soil ecology biogeochemistry

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Global-change biology at UT

• Our research spans the range from
• molecules cells-to-ecosystems landscapes
• terrestrial-to-aquatic
• experimental-to-monitoring-to-modeling
• geologic past-to-present-to-future

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Global-change biology at UT

• Using tools that include
• genomics, proteonomics molecular biology
• stable isotopes
• flux towers and FACE sites
• remote sensing, GIS, and modeling

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Global-change biology at UT

• Our research includes the major GCB factors
• CO2 fluxes effects
• nutrient fluxes effects
• temperature
• water
• ozone
• In a number of ecosystems regions, especially
• Great Lakes Midwest,
• Antarctic and Arctic,
• forests, fields, tundra, streams, wetlands,
  lakes

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Global-change biology at UT

• Though modest in number (9), our group is
  productive
• all publish regularly in high-quality journals
• (gt120 from 2000-present)
• all (excluding brand new hires) have external
  support
• (e.g., NSF, USDA, Sea Grant, USFS currently
  gt1,000,000 for GCB research alone)
• all have graduate students
• (gt24 10 PhD, 14 MS)
• We are also a young, new, growing group
• six are assistant professors
• seven started in last two years
• two faculty searches this year

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Global-change biology at UT

• Team goals for the near future
• -submit 2-3 proposals (before including
• NEON), with emphases on
• interactions among major GCB factors
• watershed-based investigations
• mechanistic predictive approaches
• -First proposal target date is Jan 2006.

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Working Group 3 Advanced Technologies and
Real-Time Data for Wetlands Monitoring.
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Sensor technology Tracking water quality and
quality in coastal marshes and riparian zones

• Hans Gottgens (P.I.) Wetlands ecology and
  management
• Andrew Heydinger Hydrologic modeling
• Defne Apul Contaminant transport modeling
• Dongshik Kim Development of Biochemical Sensors
• Daolan Zheng remote sensing
• New Hire (August 2006) Land-water margin
  processes
• Steve Gordon Ohio Supercomputer Center
• Don Reiber Media and studio services

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Wetland monitoring

• All team members are active in publishing, funded
  research and supervising graduate students
• New hires (August 2006) anticipated in the areas
  of environmental sustainability and land-water
  margin processes

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Wetland monitoring

• Current research foci
• Ecological engineering of wetlands
• Pulse stability in wetlands
• Hydrological modeling (surface/subsurface)
• Contaminant transport modeling
• Sensor development, installation and monitoring
• Remote sensing

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Wetland Monitoring
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Wetland monitoring

• Example research direction

The use of wetlands as treatment systems for
farm, industrial, and urban runoff. Sensors,
data loggers and wireless remote access play an
important role in systematic monitoring of
chemical, biological and hydrological properties
of inflow and outflow in these systems over a
large region, particularly if all partner
institutions apply the same technology and allow
for open, shared web access of data.
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Wetland monitoring

• Team goals for the near future
• Collaborate with other wetland teams (scientists,
  educators, sensor experts) in NEON-GLACEO and
  formulate fundamental questions that require an
  integrated observing system
• Focus on key physical, chemical and biological
  sensor data that should be collected on a
  standard and comparable basis throughout the
  Great Lakes basin
• Decide on sites, capabilities, design, costs,
  maintenance and operations for a network to be
  proposed for the first round of NEON
  infrastructure proposals.

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Working Group 4 Land use and ecological impacts
(including urban sprawl, habitat change,
real-time RS products).
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Ecological Impacts of Land Use

• Kevin Czajkowski (P.I.)-
• remote sensing, land use/land cover change
• Jiquan Chen-
• landscape, ecosystem, community ecology
• Daolan Zheng
• remote sensing
• Jonathan Bossenbroek-
• landscape and watershed ecology
• Daryl Moorhead-
• ecological modeling
• Weigong Liu-
• remote sensing and carbon studies

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Local, Regional and Global Carbon Uptake
Linking Remote Sensing scaling from Ground
Observations to high resolution imagery to coarse
imagery. Energy and water cycles
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Wetlands/Habitat Dynamics
Where are they? How do they function? Can
constructed wetlands clean contaminants?
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Real Time Application of Geospatial Technologies
Real-time access to geospatial databases
including remotely sensed images can help in
rapid response to environmental changes.
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Habitat Fragmentation
Land use/land cover changes Urban sprawl Edge
effects Riparian zones Migration corridors
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Land Water Interface
Integrating terrestrial and aquatic disciplines
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Land Impacts on Water Quality Non-point Source
Pollution
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• UT scientists are working with K-16 students and
  teachers around the world.
• GLOBE has 24,000 teachers in 14,000 schools, 100
  countries.
• weather, climate, water quality, plants, soils,
  ecosystems.
• Inquiry-based science student investigations.
• Linking K-16 students with real science.
• Encouraging students to pursue careers in science.

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Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

• Established in 1999
• Interdisciplinary program - Geography, Public
  Policy, Biology, Ecology, Geology, Environmental
  Engineering, Remote Sensing, and Environmental
  Law
• Work with research groups to solve
  environmental problems
• Encourage students to pursue graduate degrees in
  environmental sciences.

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Working Group 5 Invasive species, ecological
change, and management.
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Invasive species research at

• -Jonathan Bossenbroek (EEES LEC)
• landscape and watershed ecology
• -Thomas Bridgeman (LEC)
• limnology
• -Hans Gottgens (EEES)
• wetland ecology
• -Christine Mayer (EEES LEC)
• aquatic ecology
• -Carol Stepien (LEC)
• population genetics

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Invasive species research
Approaches Population genetics Quantify
ecosystem impacts Predict spread across
landscapes
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Group Capabilities
Expertise DNA analysis Species
identification Spatial modeling Experimental
design Senior (2) and entry-level faculty (3)

• Productivity
• Active graduate educators (11 students)
• Publications (16 for 2004-05)
• Grant writing (US EPA, Lake Erie Protection
  Fund,
• NY Sea Grant, OH Sea Grant, NOAA, NSF)

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Group Capabilities Instrumentation
Deployed instruments for water chemistry
observation
DNA analysis
automated sequencer
nutrients
Temperature oxygen
PCR machine
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Group Capabilities Instrumentation
Lake Erie Observation Buoy continuous real-time
data
Lake Erie Center
Continuous Temp Profile (1m intervals)
9 m
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Education and Outreach
Current graduate students 11 3-5 R.E.U.
students per year Monthly public seminars (Lake
Erie Center) Educational displays for public
(Lake Erie Center) New hire of communications
specialist (Lake Erie Center)
REU student measures changes in primary
production due to zebra mussels
Display aquarium open to public
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Group directions
Current focus on invasive species in Great
Lakes and at land-water interface New
(watershed ecologist) and future hires (insect
ecologist limnologist) will interface to
increase breadth of habitat types
http//www.invasiveplants.net/phragmites/Default.h
tm
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Team goals for the near future
-Submit 2 multi-investigator proposals (NEON or
other) with emphases on Linkages between
genetic diversity and ecological function
Interactions between invasive species and
watershed level factors (e.g. dispersal and
habitat connectivity) Mechanistic approaches
to impacts of invasive species
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NEON Team _at_ Univ of Toledo