OUR PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE PERENNIAL BIOENERGY CROP MISCANTHUS (MISCANTHUS &TIMES; GIGANTEUS GREEF ET DEU.) IMPROVES NUTRIENT CYCLING AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES COMPARED TO ANNUAL CROPS GROWN IN FARMED POTHOLES. POTHOLES ARE AGROECOLOGICAL 'HOT SPOTS' CHARACTERIZED BY LOW-LYING, POORLY DRAINED, SUB-FIELD REGIONS THAT ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY VULNERABLE TO POOR CROP PRODUCTION AND IMPAIRED ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (ZEDLER, 2003). ANNUAL CROPS TYPICALLY PLANTED IN POTHOLES ARE HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO EXCESS MOISTURE STRESS, WHICH LEADS TO POOR YIELDS, FINANCIAL LOSS, AND ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS (BONNER ET AL., 2016; BRANDES ET AL., 2016). AS CLIMATE PATTERNS BECOME INCREASINGLY VARIABLE, FARMED POTHOLES WILL BECOME EVEN MORE EXPOSED TO RISK (MOORE ET AL., 2014).FARMERS REQUIRE MANAGEMENT OPTIONS IN ADDITION TO ANNUAL ROW CROPS TO REDUCE VULNERABILITY AND IMPROVE THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICE PERFORMANCE ASSOCIATED WITH SENSITIVE PORTIONS OF THEIR FIELDS (MOORE ET AL., 2014; BONNER ET AL., 2016). NUMEROUS STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT TARGETED INTEGRATION OF PERENNIALS INTO A WORKING LANDSCAPE CAN DISPROPORTIONALLY ENHANCE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (E.G., ZEDLER, 2003; BOODY ET AL., 2005; WALTER ET AL., 2007 ASBJORNSEN ET AL., 2014; SCHULTE ET AL., IN REVISION), BUT NONE HAVE EXPLICITLY ADDRESSED POTHOLE WETLANDS. WETLANDS ARE GENERALLY RECOGNIZED AS IMPORTANT LOCATIONS FOR HYDROLOGIC CYCLING AND THE PROVISION OF MULTIPLE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, INCLUDING FLOOD MITIGATION, GROUNDWATER RECHARGE, WATER PURIFICATION, CARBON SEQUESTRATION, AND WILDLIFE HABITAT (E.G., BATZER ET AL., 1999; DETENBECK ET AL., 2002; GLEASON ET AL., 2004; ZEDLER AND KERCHER, 2005). WHILE THE BENEFITS OF CONNECTED WETLAND SYSTEMS ARE ACKNOWLEDGED, COMPARATIVELY LESS IS KNOWN ABOUT POTHOLES, WHICH ARE ENCLOSED DEPRESSIONS FOUND OVER A WIDE RANGE OF GEOLOGIC AREAS AND CLIMATES, PARTICULARLY THOSE IN HETEROGENOUS LANDSCAPES OF THE US MIDWEST CORN BELT. WE PROPOSE PERENNIAL BIOENERGY GRASSES AS AN INNOVATIVE HIGH RISK/HIGH REWARD LAND MANAGEMENT OPTION THAT COULD POTENTIALLY REDUCE VULNERABILITY AND IMPROVE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN CORN/SOYBEAN SYSTEMS BY STRATEGICALLY PLACING MORE FLOOD TOLERANT PERENNIAL BIOENERGY GRASS IN FARMED POTHOLES. WE CHOSE MISCANTHUS AS THE FOCAL PERENNIAL BIOENERGY CROP OPTION FOR THIS PROPOSAL BECAUSE OF PRIOR RESEARCH THAT SUPPORTS IMPROVED ECOSYSTEM SERVICE PERFORMANCE (TABLE 1), EXTREME MOISTURE STRESS TOLERANCE (MANN ET AL., 2013), AND MAJOR ROLE AS A CANDIDATE BIOENERGY CROP IN THE US (LANGHOLTZ ET AL., 2016; VANLOOCKE ET AL., 2017).USING A SPATIALLY EXPLICIT INTEGRATED MEASUREMENT AND MODELING APPROACH, WE PROPOSE TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT INCORPORATING THE PERENNIAL BIOENERGY CROP MISCANTHUS INTO THE RAIN-FED MIDWEST US COULD SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE OUTPUT OF THREE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES COMPARED WITH THE CURRENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE REGION (AFRI RFA, P. 34), SPECIFICALLY BY INCREASING BIOMASS PRODUCTION, DECREASING NITRATE LEACHING, ANDIMPROVING THE GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) BALANCE RELATIVE TO THE CURRENT CORN/SOY CROPPING SYSTEMS IN THE REGION (TABLE 1). WE PROPOSE TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS BY ESTABLISHING A NEW MANIPULATIVE AND REPLICATED FIELD EXPERIMENT; EXTENDING EXISTING FIELD TRIAL DATA; AND INTEGRATING ASSOCIATED DATA WITHIN AN ESTABLISHED, PROCESS-BASED AGROECOSYSTEM MODEL (INTEGRATED BIOSPHERE SIMULATOR - AGRICULTURAL VERSION (AGROIBIS; KUCHARIK ET AL., 2003; ZIPPER ET AL., 2015). WE ALSO PROPOSE TO EXTEND OUR RESEARCH TO THE PUBLIC BY INTEGRATING OUR NEW FINDINGS INTO AN EXISTING EDUCATIONAL AND OUTREACH LEARNING PLATFORM: PEOPLE IN ECOSYSTEMS/WATERSHED INTEGRATION (PEWI; CHENNAULT ET AL., 2016).