An Ecohydrology Monitoring Array for Water Sustainability, Biological Diversity and Integrated Research/Education Programs at the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

The University of California Irvine is awarded a grant to improve the environmental sensing capacity supporting research, education, and outreach at the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center (SBABDRC), a site within the University of California Natural Reserve System (UCNRS) administered by the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Funds will be used to build an eco-hydrology array measuring environmental and water balance characteristics over the diverse settings and landforms within the Borrego Springs Valley and sites within Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP; a cooperating partner in administering SBABDRC) along a 1300 m elevation gradient through installation of seven small stature remote automated weather stations. Data communication and connectivity at the Research Center will be upgraded and linked to campus based resources. This infrastructure enhancement is targeting research areas recently prioritized by NSF, which are motivated by contemporary grand challenges facing society (such as the future of water resources and impact of non-native species invasions). The eco-hydrology array supported by this grant will enable measurement of environmental and water balance characteristics for users of the facility and the diverse projects centered at our site. The eco-hydrology array will connect specifically to four program areas: (1) academic research focused on understanding water sustainability in the context of global change, (2) community engaged research evaluating the impacts of non-native species on local biodiversity, (3) undergraduate and graduate field experiences in ecology and evolution, and (4) outreach and engagement activities associated with teacher training and K-12 curricular enhancement. The integration of data to our existing environmental portal and server locations at UCI, along with common collection/portal facilities will provide broad access to the enhancements. This project will encourage research that integrates many potential disciplines utilizing the field station and we will connect and compliment the growing networks of eco hydrological assessments throughout the southwestern U.S. (including two Critical Zone Observatories (criticalzone.org), a number of AmeriFlux sites (Ameriflux.ornl.gov), elevational arrays such as NevCAM (sensor.nevada.edu), and vegetation change transects such as the Semiarid Ecohydrological Array, or SECA. This project will not only serve UCI faculty and students but will also make data available nationally to entice new users from other universities and the surrounding community.