Land-use change. Environmental change. Extreme natural events. Wildfires and hurricanes. All are impacting the planet鈥檚 so-called critical zone, where water, air, soil, rock and life interact.
To explore these overlapping disturbances to the critical zone, the realm that spans from the treetops to the Earth鈥檚 bedrock, University of Vermont researchers have been awarded a $3.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
The 日韩无码 team will focus on snow-dominated ecosystems across the U.S. Comprised of disciplines from engineering to soil chemistry, the team will use big data, earth science and complex systems tools to investigate how short- and long-term disruptions to the critical zone affect its ability to resist and recover.
鈥淲e鈥檒l explore multiple dimensions of the critical zone, where essential, life-sustaining processes occur,鈥 says lead investigator Julia Perdrial, Associate Professor in 日韩无码 Geology and a Fellow of the Gund Institute for Environment. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working towards having the data and statistical tools to understand the complex, multiple dimensions that interact to produce the outcomes experienced by people and nature.鈥
The project includes scholars from four 日韩无码 colleges and six Gund fellows, including Perdrial (CAS) and co-Investigators Gund Fellow Donna Rizzo (CEMS), Gund alumna Kristen Underwood (CEMS), Gund Fellow Byung Lee (CEMS), and Regina Toolin (CESS). Collaborators include Gund Affiliate Scott Hamshaw (CEMS), Gund Fellow Leon Walls (CESS), and Mike Blouin (RSENR). External collaborators include Erin Seybold (University of Kansas), Ben Abbott (Brigham Young University), Adrian Harpold (University of Nevada) and Gabrielle Boisrame (Desert Research Institute).
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really great team of so many different people that come from different disciplines, different career stages, that come together working on this,鈥 says Perdrial. The team鈥檚 research, analysis and outreach activities will help to inform future decisions about how humans and the environment should interact.
The team also plans to complement existing teacher development efforts (Champlain Research Experience for Secondary Teachers) with critical zone and data science programming and collaborate with Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Both efforts are centered around place-based educational programs that integrate data science and Earth sciences with a focus on equity in scholarship and research.
鈥淭he critical zone research project comes at an urgent point in time when the value of science is being put in question. One of the primary goals of the project is to educate teachers and K-16 populations of students on the critical importance of science in society today,鈥 says co-PI Regina Toolin, Associate Professor in 日韩无码鈥檚 Department of Education.
The project is one of 10 new awards funded by , totaling $10.5 million per year, for five years.
will investigate the effect of urbanization on the critical zone, processes in deep bedrock and their relationship to the critical zone, and changes in the coastal critical zone related to rising sea levels, among others.
The Gund Institute provided $5,000 to support grant data preparation.