NREL NEWS NOTES

No. 12 April & May 1995

• Announcements
• Meetings
• NREL Seminars
• Visitors
• Graduate Student News
• Grants Funded
• Proposals Submitted
• Manuscripts Published
• Personals
• Open Positions
• Previous NREL News Notes

Announcements

The NREL Brochure was completed the end of April and is being distributed locally, nationally and internationally. We are extremely proud of our brochure, it is both attractive and infomative. A mailing list is being compiled and will be maintained for all future updates. If you have not received a copy of the brochure, please contact Arlene (Phone: 491-1982 or email: arlene@nrel.colostate.edu) or Kay

(Phone: 491-1991 or email: kay@nrel.colostate.edu).

Diana has requested that the Scientific Staff register ALL VISITORS to NREL (in advance of the visit) and also provide information on any WORKSHOPS being organized by our Scientific Staff. For Visitors, we need the name, dates, purpose for the visit and who is sponsoring this visitor. For the Workshops we need names of people attending, dates, location of the event, scope of the event, and who is organizing the workshop.

A calendar of these events will be posted on the bulletin board located in the hallway next to the elevator. FORMS labeled Visitors Information, Meeting/Conference Information and Information for NREL News Notes are available in a stacked file hanging on the end of the large automated file in Kayþs office for your convenience. PLEASE FILL OUT THESE FORMS (or if it is more convenient, email your information to kay) AND RETURN THEM TO KAY (place them in the top slot of the hanging stack file).

The Great Outdoors Colorado Board of Trust and the Colorado Wildlife Commission visited NREL on April 12 to learn more about habitat and species protection efforts, specifically three projects--the Colorado Heritage Program Biological Conservation Database, the System for Conservation Planning (ScoP) project, and aquatic species protection research and management. All are funded by GoCo.

Dave Schimel has been appointed to the Committee on Global Change for the National Academy of Sciences and will be doing a review of the EOS program.

Ted Elliott has been appointed as Director of the CSU Office of Ecosystem Research and Mangement (OERM). The office is the result of the Colorado Agricultural Res. Station-Plant Sci. Strategic Planning review and external evaluation, for which Ted was chair. OERM was established to investigate the development of a University-wide Program of ecosystem research and management. It is being supported for an initial two years by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, the Office of the Vice- President for Research, the College of Natural Resources and the College of Agriculture. The Office is working towards identifying the Program's organizational structure, defining expectations and clarifying it's relation to departments, colleges and organized research laboratories, centers and institutes. Potential clientele are being identified within Colorado, the region and the nation. Initially, the Office is extending the reach of ecosystem efforts both within and beyond campus to assist driving research agenda-setting processes. In this regard, OERM has coordinated the submission of a proposal to establish the National Center for Environmental Decision-Making Research (NCEDMR) at CSU, to be funded by the National Science Foundation. An embellished version of the NCEDMR proposal is contained within the OERM homepage (see NREL homepage under Ted's name for directions!).

At the National ASTM Committee meeting held in Denver in April, Dave Bigelow received an Award of Appreciation for leadership as Chairman of Subcommittee D22.06 on Atmospheric Deposition from 1990- 1994 and active roles in Subcommittee D22.01 on Quality Control and D22.09, the International Standards Organization Technical Advisory Group. Dave also served as a member of a Poudre R-1 Task Group on Media and Technology. This task group has reviewed and suggested goals and implementation strategies for teaching technology in Poudre R-1.

Geneva Chong, Mohammed Kalkhan, Lisa Schell and Tom Stohlgren produced a beautiful color brochure on the þLandscape-Scale Gap Analysis Research Program".

Tom Stohlgren, Lisa Schell and Geneva Chong trained the field crew of the Central Plains Ecological Research (LTER) site in the use of the Modified- Whittaker vegetation sampling design. They are helping with the assessment of the long-term effects of grazing in prairie vegetation. The group is also helping Larimer County and the City of Fort Collins to inventory the Cathy Fromme Prairie (Open space): a joint project with the U.S. Forest Service þecosystem management" research team. Tom and Lisa are assisting two graduate students, one from Vermont and the other from Germany in botanical research in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The NBS-willow project involving Frank Singer, Mike Coughenour, Dave Valentine, Ted Elliott and Jeff Welker have hired Mr. Steve Williams as a Research Associate on the project.

Karrin Alstad will be an MS student in RES working with Jeff Welker on water and carbon relations of willow as part of the NBS willow project.

Krista Alper and April Owen completed an automated bibliographic database for Rocky Mountain National Park, and the team is preparing to do Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park in June.

Indy Burke was awarded the Colorado State Univeristy Honors Professor Award for 1995-1996. This award comes with a nice plaque and $1000. This is the only CSU Faculty Award which is awarded by the students. Indy will present a special honors lecture next fall.

Ted Elliott, Dave Schimel and Jill Baron will be serving on the NSF/DOE/NASA/USDA panel for a Joint Program on Terrestrial Ecology and Global Change June 7-9. Nearly 150 proposals were submitted.

LTER projects have been cut by $40K for next year, for all sites except the arctic and antarctic sites. This represents a significant change for the CPER-LTER program.

The National Atmospheric Deposition Programþs Coordination Office was audited by representatives of the Networksþ sponsoring agencies May 23-25, 1995. Audit team members included: Mary Ann Allen, Electric Power Research Institute; Paul Kapinois, U.S. Geological Survey; Dr. Warren Knapp, Cornell University; Dr. Jim Lynch, Pennsylvania State University; Mark Peden, Illinois State Water Survey; and Col. John Robertson, U.S. Military Academy. Biennial reviews are a part of the NADP/NTNþs quality assurance program. They provide a means for determining how well the coordination, documentation, data management and quality assurance goals of the program are being met and provide an independent venue for identifying and resolving real or emerging problems in implementing the desires of the cooperating agencies who compose the NADP/NTN monitoring program.

Andy Parsons is doing field work in Toolik Field Station, Alaska (his annual spell in solitary confinement). He will return to NREL in September but hopes to keep everyone informed of his progress with an occasional e-mail letter. All mail, electronic or written, and care parcels will be gratefully received by Andy at: Toolik Field Station, Institute of Arctic Biology, UAF PO Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000, email address: andy@nrel.colostate.edu.

On April 24, Jill Baron gave a guest lecture to Will Clementþs Ecotoxicology class.

Don Cline, a Ph.D. student working on the NBS-funded Colorado Rockies Global Change Project, successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation on April 25. Cline, who is at the University of Colorado, studied snow accumulation and melt processes by using remote sensing, intensive ground measurements, and simulations.

Mike Coughenour will be going to Canberra, Australia on June 3 for two months. He will be on a working leave at CSIRO with Ken Hodgkinson, John Ludwig, et al. They are interested in spatial modeling and scaling up their studies to paddocks, landscapes and regions. Mikeþs family will join him for a vacation while he is there and they plan to include a visit to the Great Barrier Reef.

Meetings

Geneva Chong presented a paper titled þLandscape-scale Gap Analysis: A Complementary Geographic Approach for Land Managers" at the 10th Annual U.S. Landscape Ecology Symposium on April 22-26 at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. The paper was authored by Tom Stohlgren, Mike Coughenour, Geneva Chong, Dan Binkley, Mohammed Kalkhan, Lisa Schell, David Buckley, and Joseph Berry.

Tim Kittel presented a paper titled þSpatial and temporal GIS capabilities for global and regional modeling of terrestrial ecosystems" at the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) Specialist Meeting on Multiple Roles for GIS in U.S. Global Change Research (Initiative-15) in Santa Barbara, CA, March 8-11. He attend a seminar titled þEcosystem Sensitivity to Climate and CO2 Change: The VEMAP Model Intercomparison at the Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie on March 17.

Mohammed Kalkhan attended the Annual Convention and Exposition of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) and American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) on Feb. 27-March 3 in Charlotte, N.C. Mohammed was moderator for the session titled þRemote Sensing Environment" and presented 2 papers, þStatistical Properties of Five Indices in Assessing the Accuracy of Remotely Sensed Data Using Simple Random Sampling", and þEvaluation of the Statistical Properties of the Inverse Estimators for Remotely Sensed Areal Estimates Using Simple Random Sampling". His coauthors were Robin Reich (Dept. Forest Sciences, CSU) and Raymond Czaplewski (USDA Forest Service, RMFand RES).

Keith Paustian traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to meet with Rob Parmelee, Clive Edwards, Peter Groffman and other investigators involved in an NSF-sponsored project to study earthworm ecology in arable land. The project is based at Ohio State U. and Keith is a consultant on modeling in the project.

Bill Parton attended the GCTE-LUCC-GAIM-DIS Workshop "Incorporating Land-Use Change Projections in Dynamic Global Vegetation Models" held May 1-3 in Manchester, UK.

Dennis Ojima attended a VEMAP collaborators meeting in Washington, DC, May 8-11 and then traveled to Athens, GA to attend a BOREAS PI meeting on May 15-17.

Bill Pulliam attended an EPA Workshop "A Workshop on Regional Assessment of Climate Change Impacts in the Southeast: Vulnerable Resources and Predictive Capabilities" held in Charleston, SC, April 17-19.

On May 15, Keith Paustian presented results from an ongoing analysis of C sequestration on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands to the NRCS (Natural Resources Convervation Service) in Washington, D.C. The project findings are being used by NRCS in preparing recommendations in the 1995 Farm Bill legislation.

Larry Band and Richard Lammers (University of Toronto) spend May 21-23 at NREL installing a new version of RHESSys, and making a series of model runs for Loch Vale Watershed and the Big Thompson River as part of the NBS-funded Colorado Rockies Global Change Project. Lammers will be presenting some of these results at the American Geophysical Union spring meeting in Baltimore, MD, May 30-June 3.

The 4th Periodic LVWS/WEBB Meeting was held March 9, 1995 in the NREL Conference Room. Those attending and contributing were: Jill Baron, Don Cline, Melannie Hartman, Dave Clow, Julie Sueker, Paul Brooks, Don Campbell, Dan Binkley, Diane McKnight, Peter Kiffney, Mark Williams and Tom Chase.

A paper authored by Mohammed Kalkhan, Tom Stohlgren and Mike Coughenour and titled þAn investigation of biodiversity and landscape-scale gap patterns using double sampling: A GIS approach" was presented by Mohammed at the 9th International Symposium on GIS for Environmental, Natural Resource and Land Information Management in Vancouver, Canada on March 27-April 3. While in Canada, he also visited Forestry Canada, Center of Remote Sensing and GIS.

Mike Coughenour presented a paper titled þStress Effects on Future Terrestrial Carbon Fluxes" on May 17 at the IGBP-GCTE Workshop at Lake Tahoe. He will be presenting a paper in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in July at the World Resource Modeling Conference. After the conference Mike will participate in a workshop on þSustainability of Herbivbore-Vegetation Interactions in Semi-arid Environments" at Ilala Game Reserve near Durbin, South Africa. Jim Ellis will also be attending the conference and workshop.

Melannie Hartmann presented þSimulations of Snow Distribution and Hydrology in a Mountain Basin" at the GPAC Workshop on Computer Applications in Water Management in Fort Collins on May 24.

Jeff Welker attended the 1995 Science Workshop for the NSF Arctic System Science, Land-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions research program at Orcus Island, Washington. An overview of his studies on tundra ecosystem responses to changes in winter and summer climates was presented including plans for CO2 flux work in 1995 and isotopic measures of water sources in tundra plants.

Rob Kremer presented a talk titled þSpatial Data Resolution Compatibility for Regional to Global Modeling Input" on May 30 in Boulder at the Intþl Workshop on Global Databases & Global Land 1-km Base (GLOBE) Project Coordinated Meetings.

Jeff Welker attended an NSF-Office of Polar Prgrams sponsored workshop at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, CA in March 1995 to discuss future logistic and scientific research activities at the Toolik Lake Field Station in Alaska. Based on the workshop the US arctic research community has produced a document recomending expanded NSF investment in the field station's infrastructure and continued support of interdisciplinary studies.

Keith Paustian attended a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Evaluation of Soil Organic Matter Models Using Existing, Long-term Datasets", at Rothamsted Experiment Station, UK.

Keith presented a paper on "The North American long-term site network". Keith and Ted Elliott were on the organizing committee for the workshop.

Jeff Welker and Andy Parsons helped organize and attended the 6th International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) workshop in April, 1995 in Ottawa, Canada. Jeff presented a paper titled þComparative responses of Dyras to ITEX environmental manipulations: A synthesis with circumpolar comparisons." Andy and Jeff presented a poster titled þComparative growth responses of Vaccinium species to ITEX environmental manipulations in Sweden and Alaska" and they presented a paper titled þExperimental snowdepth manipulations: Effects on plant nutrients and implications for caribouþ . All three papers are to be published in a special issue of Arctic and Alpine Research (AAR) based on the ITEX meeting.

Chuulun presented a paper for Dennis at the Workshop on Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in Europe and Northern Asia in Laxenburg, Austria April 3-5. Due to an over zealous customs agent in Frankfurt he was sent back to Austria for a couple more days while his visa problems were straightened out! Glad you made it back Chuulun!

NREL Seminars

March 17. Dr. Lucas Bouwman, DLO Research Inst. for Agrobiol. and Soil Fertil., Haren, The Netherlands - "Effects of Bacterivorous Nematodes on C- and N-Mineralization as Measured in Microcosms with Arable Soil Under Absence and Presence of Competition for Food by Protozoa and Preation by Nematophagous Fungi."

March 24. Dave Valentine - "Methane Uptake and Nitrous Oxide Emissions at the CPER: A Four Year Data Series and One Year Modeling Effort."

March 31. Tom Hobbs - "ScoP: A System for Conservation Planning."

April 7. Robin Reich (Dept. Forest Sci.) - "A New Procedure for Analyzing the Spatial Relationship Between Two Independent Response Surfaces."

April 21. Bill Lauenroth - "Seasonality of Water Availability and the Effects of Climate Change on the Distribution of C3 and C4 Grasses in the Great Plains."

April 27. Jeffrey S. Kahl (Environ. Chem. Lab, Dept. Geological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME) - "A Catchment-scale Experiment of Artificially Enhanced Atmospheric Deposition: Isotopic and Geochemical Changes in Streamwater."

May 5. Dan Binkley - "How Trees Change Soil in Hawaii" and þthe Birth, Growth, Death, and Reincarnation of an Alaskan Hypothesis."

May 28. Ericha Courtright - "Differentiation of Species in the Antarctic Nematode Genus Scottnema Using Molecular Techniques."

Visitors

Drs. John Antle, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Economics at Montana State University, and Julie Hewitt, Assistant Professor in the same department, visited Ted Elliott, Keith Paustian and Vern Cole to discuss opportunities for developing a collaborative proposal on the impact of global change on the economy of the Great Plains. John has received a seed grant from DOE to develop such a proposal.

Dr. Roel Merckx will be coming to NREL for a sabbatical to work with Ted Elliott and Keith Paustian. Roel will be focussing his work on fractionation of soil organic matter.

Dr. Georg Guggenberber will be spending a one year post-doc, paid for by the German government, at NREL with Ted Elliott and Keith Paustian. Georg will be applying advanced chemical identification techniques to identify the nature of soil organic matter fractions. Georg will be arriving with his wife and two children in October, 1995. He will be looking for a place to stay, so if you know of anything, please let Ted know.

Alister Metherell from Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand visited NREL and worked with Bill Parton, Vern Cole, Keith Paustian and Ted Elliott, May 22- 31.

Graduate Student News

Serita Frey will become a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology this fall. She will be working on the newly funded USDA competitive grant "Fungal contributions to soil organic matter formation." Ted Elliott will be her Major Professor.

Jeff Welker will be serving on Rich Alward (Biology) and Brian Stevenson (Soil and Crop Science) PhD committees.

Grants Funded

A proposal titled þCharacterizing the Biologic and Economic Components Necessary for the Integrated Management of Alfalfa Stem Nematode", submitted to the Agricultural Experiment Station by Robert Niles, William Brown, Diana Freckman, Donald Lybecker, and Calvin Pearson was funded for two years. Abstract. This interdisciplinary project will assess the ecology, pathology, and economics of alfalfa stem nematode in Colorado.

Keith Paustian (PI) and Ted Elliott received funding for a new NSF Ecosystems project titled "Environmental and management controls on soil structure and organic matter dynamics." The research will combine experiments and modeling studies to elucidate the interactions between soil structure dynamics and organic matter turnover as a function of environmental and management controls on agroecosystems. The proposed study will build on new developments in the theory of organic matter stabilization in soil and new soil organic matter fractionation techniques developed at NREL. Experiments (including stable isotope (13C,15N) studies) will utilize three long-term field experiments, representing gradients in climate, soil texture and management regimes. The results will be used to develop and test a revised agroecosystem model to analyze organic matter dynamics and its consequences for productivity and nutrient cycles. The research will be of direct relevance for the analysis of management effects on soil quality, the prediction of organic matter and nutrient dynamics in low-chemical input and conventional cropping systems, and for analyzing land management effects on soil C balances and global change.

Ted and Keith were also recently funded by the USDA Competitive Grants program for a project titled "Fungal contributions to the formation of soil organic matter." Serita Frey also contributed to the preparation of the proposal and will be a graduate student on the project. The overall objective is to examine fungal contributions to SOM accumulation and stabilization in NT agroecosystems. More specifically, we will examine (1) factors controlling fungal dominance in NT systems, (2) physiological mechanisms contributing to SOM retention and (3) the role that fungi play in the formation of stable aggregates within which SOM is physically protected. Several characteristics of hyphal growth may confer a competitive advantage on saprophytic fungi in the surface soil of NT systems. Soils containing fungal-dominated microbial communities may retain more SOM than bacterial dominated soils because (1) fungi have higher carbon assimilation efficiencies than bacteria (2) they produce by-products that are more recalcitrant to decomposition than bacteria and (3) they form and stabilize aggregates within which SOM is physically protected against decomposition. Assessments of alternative management strategies will be based to a large degree on models, and therefore a better understanding of the mechanisms controlling C and N dynamics in no-till soils will help improve the quality and reliability of these predictions. The research described in this project advocates a re-emphasis on fundamental biological processes in soil to explain formation and stabilization of soil organic matter, which in turn, impacts entire agricultural ecosystems.

Proposals Submitted

Ted Elliott, Bob Woodmansee and Jack Hautaluoma were PIs with over twenty other scientists on a proposal submitted to NSF for a National Center for Environmenal Decision-Making Research (NCEDMR). The NCEDMR will produce and disseminate knowledge about specific environmental issues applicable to policy and decision makers. It will also produce and disseminate fundamental knowledge to other researchers and decision making centers about the synthesis processes leading to the production of this knowledge. Activities will focus primarily on (1) knowledge synthesis and research assisted by (2) information exchange methods and (3) communication science and technology. The Decision/Policy Systems Analysis program included the activities of information needs, issue typology, collaboration processes, database analysis, case studies, test projects and implementation studies. Within the program, the test projects include implementing ecosystem management in the Rio Puerco watershed, land-use policy in Colorado, evaluation of North American carbon policy, environmental policy on the US/Mexico border and national policy on toxic waste in the environment. The program of Protocols for Environmental Decision-Making includes the areas of structured analysis methodology, risk assessment, adaptive management, integrated assessment, law analysis and economic analysis.

The NCEDMR is built upon a host of existing strengths including the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University (CSU), the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado and the University of Victoria, British Columbia, School of Public Administration. A key strength of placing the headquarters of the NCEDMR at CSU is the vast array of expertise and data available at the University that is related to environmental issues, including biophysical, social and non-technical areas. Add to this the expertise and databases available from the over 800 federal, state, and private scientists and it is no wonder that Fort Collins has earned the reputation as one of the natural resource and environmental centers of the world. Establishment of the NCEDMR in the Colorado Front Range would tremendously enhance collaboration among these groups and make NCEDMR a premier vehicle for funneling environmental information to policy and decision makers.

Indy Burke, Bill Lauenroth and Deb Coffin submitted a supplement proposal titled þSupplement to: Long- Term Ecological Research Programs: Shortgrass Steppe" to NSF.

A proposal titled þDry alpine tundra CO2 exchange under changes in summer climate: The functional significance of biodiversity" was submitted to NASA by Jeff Welker.

Diana Freckman submitted a proposal to NSF titled þAntarctic dry valley nematode communities: Establishment, function and response to disturbances."

Bill Parton submitted a supplement proposal titled þSupplement to: Measurement of nitrous oxide and methane in native and managed grasslands for development of process gas flux models" to USDA/ARS.

A proposal titled þDeveloping inventory and monitoring strategies in National Parks" was submitted to USDI/NBS and NPS by Tom Stohlgren and Mike Coughenour.

Tom Stohlgren and Dan Binkley submitted a continuation proposal titled þSupport for Global Change Research in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado" to National Biological Service.

Gina Adams and Jeff Welker submitted a proposal to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)/Royal Society of England titled: "Isotopic measures of changes in the mineral nutrition of alpine plants under changing climates".

Tom Kirchner submitted a proposal titled þDevelopment of a modeling tool kit for human risk assessment" to EPA.

Bill Hunt, Dexing Chen, Jack Morgan, and John Read submitted a proposal to NSF titled þModeling plant growth and acclimation under elevated CO2 and climate change."

A proposal titled þIntercontinental comparison of land-use and global change effects on temperate ecosystems" was submitted to NSF by Indy Burke, Bill Lauenroth, and Roger Pielke.

Mike Coughenour, Dexing Chen, and Roger Pielke submitted a proposal to NSF titled þGrassland- atmosphere interactions: Analyses using coupled ecophysiological, ecosystem, micrometeorology, and mesoscale atmospheric models."

A proposal titled þIntegrated assessment of climate and land use changes in the central U.S." was submitted by Dennis Ojima, Tom Kirchner, and Bill Parton to NSF/Univ. of Nebraska.

A continuation proposal titled þLandscape Gap Analysis" by Tom Stohlgren and Mike Coughenour was submitted to the NPS.

Jim Ellis, Mike Coughenour, and Kathy Galvin submitted a proposal titled þIntegrated assessment of the effects of climate and land use change on ecosystem dynamics, stability and resilience in the Inner Mongolian autonomous region" to NSF.

Dave Bigelow and Molly Welker submitted to U.S. EPA a proposal titled þA proposal to establish a regionalized mercury deposition research network."

Keith Paustian, Vern Cole and Ted Elliott submitted a supplement proposal titled þRCA assessment: Effects of conservation tillage practices on soil carbon sequestration" to USDA/RCA.

Ted Elliott submitted a revised proposal to USDA/ARS titled þResearch in Agriculture."

A proposal titled þBiogeochemical and hydrologic controls on nutrient fluxes in freshwater ecosystems: linking isotopic information with spatially distributed models: Collaborative Proposal to NSF from CU, CSU, UA and USGS" was submitted to NSF by Jill Baron and Diana Freckman.

Jill Baron and Bill Parton submitted a proposal titled þLinked terrestrial-aquatic C:N dynamics in Rocky Mountain ecosystems" to NSF.

Jeff Welker submitted a supplement proposal titled þComparative responses of moist and dry tundra to altered snow cover and warmer summer temperature" to NSF.

Deb Coffin and Bill Lauenroth submitted a proposal titled þU.S.-Hungary grassland comparisons: response of vegetation to environmental constraints and global climate change" to NSF.

A proposal titled þMeasures of current and historical caribou foraging behavior and human utilization of ungulates in arctic ecosystems: Linking isotopic abundances in vegetation to those in caribou tissue" was submitted to NSF by Jeff Welker and Lawrence Todd.

Bill Lauenroth, Bill Parton and Deb Coffin submitted a continuation proposal titled þCoupling ecosystem processes and vegetation pattern across environmental gradients" to NSF.

Jeff Welker and Mike Coughenour submitted a proposal to NSF titled þA cross-grassland analysis of C and N dynamics in response to asymmetric warming and increased summer precipitation."

Manscripts Published

Sulzman, E.W., K.A. Poiani, and T.G.F. Kittel. 1995. Modeling human-induced climatic change: A summary for environmental managers. Environmental Management 19:197-224.

Burke, I.C., E.T. Elliott, and C.V. Cole. 1995. Influence of macroclimate, landscape position, and management on nutrient conservation and nutrient supply in agroecosystems. Ecological Applications 5:124-131.

Keating, B.A., I. Vallis, W.J. Parton, V.R. Catchpoole, R.C. Muchow, and M.J. Robertson. 1994. Modelling and its application to nitrogen management and research for sugarcane. Proceedings of Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists.

Momen, B., J.W. Menke, J.M. Welker, K.J. Rice, and F.S. Chapin III. 1994. Blue-oak regeneration and seedling water relations in four sites within a California oak savanna. International Journal of Plant Sciences 155:744-749.

Schimel, D.S., B.H. Braswell, E.A. Holland, R. McKeown, D.S. Ojima, T.H. Painter, W.J. Parton, and A.R. Townsend. 1994. Climatic, edaphic, and biotic controls over storage and turnover of carbon in soils. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 8:279-293.

Ellis, J.E. 1994. 2. Climate variability and complex ecosystem dynamics: implications for pastoral development. In: I. Scoones (ed.) Living with Uncertainty: New Directions in Pastoral Development in Africa. Intermediate Technology Publications (Northern Yorkshire).

Hook, P.B. and W.K. Lauenroth. 1994. Root system response of a perennial bunchgrass to neighbourhood- scale soil water heterogeneity. Functional Ecology 8:738-745.

Riley, G., J.M. Welker, T.V. Callaghan, and G. Eglinton. 1995. Epicuticular waxes of two Arctic species: Compositional differences in relation to winter snow cover. Phytochemistry 38:45-52.

Adamsen, F.J., W.J. Parton, and S.R. Bennett. 1995. A cuvette design for field and laboratory measurement of water and ammonia flux from soils in a short grass prairie. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 26:813-830.

Burke, I.C., E.T. Elliott, and C.V. Cole. 1995. Influence of macroclimate, landscape position, and management on soil organic matter in agroecosystems. Ecological Applications 5:124-131.

Parton, W.J., J.M.O. Scurlock, D.S. Ojima, D.s. Schimel, D.O. Hall and Scopregram Group Members. 1995. Impact of climate change on grassland production and soil carbon worldwide. Global Change Biology 1:13-22.

Schimel, D.S. 1995. Terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon cycle. Global Change Biology 1:77-91.

Personals

Charlotte Rasmussen (Accounting Dept. Student Hourly) was married to Philip Arbury on May 28, 1995 at his mother's home on the Massachusetts coast. Congratulations, Charlotte & Philip!!

Lenny Parton was thrown from her horse on May 6 and the fall resulted in a broken hip. She had surgery and was hospitalized May 6-12. Lenny is making great progress with her recovery.

Frank Singer successfully defended his Ph.D. Dissertation in May 1995. Congratulations, Dr. Singer!!!

Becky Techau's daughter, Amy graduated with honors from Rocky Mountain High School on April 29. Amy will be attending CSU this fall, majoring in Exercise and Sport Science.

Open Positions

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
(Laboratory Manager)

POSITION:
    Research Associate, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Department of
Rangeland Ecosystem Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.
Research projects are focussed on elucidating the function of nematode
biodiversity in managed and unmanaged ecosystems (for example, Antarctic Dry
Valleys, Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER)-Long Term Ecological
Research (LTER) site, and Michigan State University-Kellogg Biological
Station LTER).

QUALIFICATIONS:
    M.S. preferred in ecology, microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, plant
pathology, or a related field.  Background in soil ecology or nematology
desired, but not required.

JOB DESCRIPTION:
    Supervision, coordination, and maintenance of soil ecology laboratory.

Responsibilities include the establishment and maintenance of field,
laboratory, and greenhouse experiments, in addition to:

    -  Supervision of research associates and student workers
    -  Collecting and processing soil samples to determine biotic, chemical and
physical properties
    -  Identify and enumerate free-living and plant parasitic nematodes
    -  Maintain laboratory equipment
    -  Coordinate data entry, assist with data analysis
    -  Participation in preparing research proposals and papers

The successful applicant must have supervisory experience and strong
organizational  skills.  Further, it is essential that the candidate possess
interpersonal and communication skills for working with other members of the
laboratory in a team effort.  Additional preferred skills include
experience in one or all of the following:

    -  Nematode and/or soil microbial extraction methods.
    -  Statistical analysis.
    -  Isolation, purification, and maintenance of laboratory microbial
cultures.
    -  Utilization of computer software for spreadsheet analysis, word
processing,          routine statistical analysis, graphics, and
communications.
    -  Biogeochemical soil analysis.
    -  Molecular applications in soil ecology

BEGINNING DATE:   Fall, 1995

SALARY RANGE: $22,000 - 26,000

APPLICATIONS:
    Applications must be postmarked by August 25, 1995.  Forward complete
curriculum vitae, including academic transcripts, description of research
interests and goals, and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of three
references to:


                        Dr. Diana Freckman / Dr. Robert Niles
                        Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
                        Colorado State University
                        Fort Collins, CO  80523-1499
                        (970) 491-1965  FAX

Additional information may be obtained by contacting Dr. Freckman at (970)
491-1982 or Dr. Robert Niles at (970) 491-1964.

CSU is an AA/EEO employer.   EO Office: 21 Spruce Hall.

The NREL NEWS NOTES will be published every two months. Please give your news items to Kay by the last Monday of each month.