Interacting Responses of C and N Cycles to Altered Biodiversity, Elevated CO2, and N Enrichment

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research addresses the integrated effects of several global change factors on interactions among ecosystem processes in a temperate grassland ecosystem. The complex interactions and feedbacks among organisms, various chemical elements and the physical environment will be studied using the BioCON controlled environment facility at the Cedar Creek Natural History Area, Minnesota, where atmospheric CO2, nitrogen (N) deposition, and plant diversity are simultaneously manipulated. The are to determine: (1) the interacting effects of elevated CO2, N enrichment, and plant diversity on the dynamics of coupled carbon-nitrogen cycles as they influence community and ecosystem properties and processes, including primary productivity, plant composition, carbon storage, and soil N dynamics; and (2) how these interactions are mediated by microbial mutualists, pathogens, decomposers, and other taxa of the soil food web. Hence the focus is explicitly on the interactions between plant and microbial biodiversity and processes that influence ecosystem C and N cycling. The broader impacts of the proposed research include the fact that this will address issues of major importance to society regarding the potential impacts of human activities on environmental processes at local to global scales. BioCON will also enhance the infrastructure for research and education, representing a unique facility open to and encouraging new initiatives from interested scientists and students. Students will be from all levels, undergraduate, graduate student, and postdoctoral researchers and includes undergraduates summer internships. There are links to the University of Wisconsin's Center of Excellence for Faculty and Undergraduate Student Research Collaboration and the Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology Program at Northern Arizona University that involves Native American and Hispanic undergraduates. The project also will both build on and contribute to ongoing partnerships with local public schools through the Cedar Creek LTER Schoolyard program. Finally, the senior personnel include four women (including three early-career scientists) and one minority.