NREL NEWS NOTES

No. 15 November/December 1995 & January 1996

• Spotlight on Science
• Announcements
• Meetings
• NREL Seminars
• Visitors
• Graduate Student News
• Grants Funded
• Proposals Submitted
• Manuscripts Published
• Outreach
• Personals
• Open Positions

Spotlight on Science

Featuring: Diana Freckman

Director, NREL

BIOTEX 1 (Biological Investigations of Terrestrial Antarctic Systems)

Diana Freckman participated in a major research expedition (BIOTEX 1) supported by NSF at the McMurdo Dry Valley LTER (77 S) and the XI Italian Antarctic Research Expedition at Terra Nova Bay in Victoria Land (74 S), Antarctica in December and January. This was the largest international team of terrestrial biologists to work in Antarctica and included 4 Italian, 5 British and 1 US scientists from Univ. Siena, Univ. Trieste, Univ. Roma, British Antarctic Survey (Cambridge, UK), Anglia Polytechnic Univ (Cambridge), Wye College, Univ. London, and Colorado State Univ. The study was supported by the Scientific Committee of Antarctic Research (SCAR), the international body of the Antarctic Treaty that advises and coordinates scientific research in Antarctica. The expedition brought together, for the first time, a team of specialist scientists to make an intensive and detailed multidisciplinary study of all terrestrial organisms and their living environment at one site. Diana Freckman joined the BIOTEX group and Dr. W. Vincent (Univ. Laval, Quebec, Canada; Chair, International Planning Group on Environmental Management of Dry Valleys) at the Lake Hoare LTER Site. Cloches (open and closed UV-opaque and UV-transparent chambers) were established on the soil, close to long-term open-top ITEX (International Tundra Experiment) chambers, for comparative studies on microalgal and nematode colonization. Both types of cloches were also placed at the Edmonson Point BIOTEX Site. Cloches are being used to investigate the effect of elevated temperature in relation to global warming, and UV-radiation on colonization by microorganisms and mosses, the biochemistry of cold-adapted bacterial populations, and the distribution and diversity of nematodes, springtails and mites. In mid December, the BIOTEX team moved to the main expedition camp set up for the researchers at Edmonson Point.

Announcements

Antarctic Expedition 1995-1996

The NREL External Advisory Committee will meet at NREL, March 19-21. This Committee includes: Dr. Gene E. Likens, Director, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY; Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, Counselor for Biodiversity and Environmental Affairs, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Dr. Pamela A. Matson, Professor, Ecosystem Sciences Division, University of California-Berkeley; and Dr. Paul Risser, President, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

The NREL Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards and Christmas Party was held December 15 at the new Ft. Collins Senior Center. Awards were presented to: Diana Freckman (Most Travel); Bill Parton (Most Publications); Tom Stohlgren (Most Proposals); Serita Frey (Outreach). Outstanding Employee awards were presented to: Kay McElwain - AdministrativeSupport Staff; Serita Frey - Lab/Field Scientific Support; Tammy Bearly - Programming/Data Analysis Scientific Support; Andy Parsons - Post doc; Menweylet Atsedu - Gradute Student; Karrin Alstad - Hourly.

Jeff Welker has accepted a position as Associate Professor in the Range Ecology and Watershed Management Department at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. Jeff will continue to maintain his affiliations with NREL and CSU while expanding his ITEX tundra research to include studies in the Medicine Bow Mountains.

Tom Stohlgren will present a few lectures on species-area curves and ecological diversity in John Wiens' EY-501 "Community and Ecosystem Ecology" course. Tom also has accepted an offer to help teach the Smithsonian Institution's course on "Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity" in Virginia in May.

The Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) became an official part of the NADP on January 1, 1996, after final approval by the NADP Technical Committee at its meeting last fall. Richard Flagler is the PI for the new project and Molly Welker will serve as the coordinator. The MDN is a weekly monitoring program to look at the spatial and temporal trends in total Hg deposition. The anticipated goal for 1996 is a 20-30 site network.

Research Associates Krista Alper and April Owen have organized over 12,000 citations (in Pro-Cite) from National Parks in the Rocky Mountain Region. April and Greg Newman (Environmental Science student) are now organizing the research literature on research in North Dakota. This work is part of scientist Tom Stohlgren's grant.

NREL and Department of Anthropology scientist, Kathy Galvin has a Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa for six months. She and an Anthropology graduate student will be investigating issues of conservation and human development in the lowveld region of South Africa starting in early March.

Beth Holland, NREL and NCAR in Boulder, received funding from the NATO International Scientific Exchange Programme to direct an Advanced Study Institute (Soils and Global Change: Carbon Cycle, Trace Gas Exchange and Hydrology). The Institute will be held at the Chateau Bonas, near Toulouse France in June 16-27, 1997. It will include 60-80 students from around the world and 15 lecturers. Endorsements have been received from IGAC and are currently being solicited from GCTE and BACHE. If you are interested in further information, please e-mail your inquiries to: eholland@acd.ucar.edu.

Jill Baron is representing NREL in the University-wide Agric. Exp. Station and Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service review of CSU Water Resources programs. The review is being conducted as a strategic planning effort that will provide a comprehensive plan for CSU Water Resources programs. The first meeting was held Dec. 11-12 and the planning process will continue over the next year.

Keith Paustian and Ted Elliott are participating in a work group involving USDA/ARS, NRCS and University researchers, charged by Karl Stuaber, Undersecretary of Agriculture, with defining preliminary agroecological zones for the U.S. The classification of agrozones will be used initially to assess the coverage and representativeness of field research conducted by USDA and State Experiment Station locations.

NREL postdoc Rob Kremer's generosity to science has provided him with a lot of publicity. Rob was one of the Ph.D. scientists selected to be in the "Studmuffins of Science" calendar as Dr. March. Proceeds of the calendar, which sells for $15.00, will go to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The Graduate Degree Program in Ecology (GDPE), which sponsors the Distinguished Ecologist Lecture Series on campus, has reserved time on Wednesday, March 6 & 27 and April 10 & 24 from 9-10 a.m. for the NREL Scientific Staff to meet with each visiting ecologist in Room B215 at the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building.

The NADP homepage on the WWW is now fully functional. You can get an overview of the program, view site maps and individual site photos, get quality assurance information, view current concentration and deposition maps, down-load data, and much more. Please surf by for a visit at: <http://nadp.nrel.colostate.edu/NADP>.

Donors to NREL

Donations in support of research and education projects were from the following individuals:

Thomas B. Kirchner, NREL; Christie W. Barton, Rockville, CT; John E. Larson, Richardson, TX; and Carroll J. Schell, Sevierville, TN

Meetings

CAMPUS

On November 2, Jill Baron spoke with a group of 10 Indonesian University Rectors. She and Ralph Smith, Associate Vice-President for Research, discussed University/Public Agency collaboration.

NATIONAL

Jill Baron was in Chicago, Oct. 24-26 as part of a committee to re-invent the Research Grade Evaluation Process for the National Biological Service. The RGE process is a means of evaluating the quality and productivity of federal research scientists.

Tim Kittel, NREL & NCAR, presented a paper titled "Intercomparison of the Water Budget Responses to Climate Change Model, a Biogeographic Model, and Three Biogeochemical Models". Research Report, Climate and Global Dynamics Division, at NCAR on Oct. 30.

Visiting Scientist Chuluun Togtohyn was invited to attend the Science Planning NSF-funded Workshop for Research Opportunities in Northern Mongolia at Seabrook Island, SC, Oct. 25-28. He presented papers titled "Critical Issues of Collaborative Research in Mongolia" and "Research on Global Changes, Biodiversity and Ecology in Mongolia.

Ted Elliott, Keith Paustian, and Vern Cole attended the ASA/CSA/SSSA meeting in St. Louis, MO, Oct. 30-Nov. 3. Keith presented two invited papers: "Assessment of the contributions of CRP lands to C sequestration" and "Long-term site information synthesis: Impact of management on soil organic matter." Ted presented two invited papers titled "Site networks for assessing soils as sinks for carbon dioxide" and "Principles of ecosystem science and their application to sustainable agriculture." At this meeting, a full day symposium was organized by Ted, Keith, Vern and Eldor Paul (Michigan State U., East Lansing) titled "Estimating Management and Climate Change Effects on Net Carbon Dioxide Fluxed from Agricultural Soils: Use of long-term experimental data." A poster session was also organized as part of the symposium. Plans are being made to publish the proceedings as an ASA/SSSAJ Special Publication.

In early November, Tom Hobbs gave a presentation on Data Management, Collection, and Inventory at the U.S. Forest Service Ecological Stewardship Workshop in Tucson, AZ.

Beth Holland presented a talk in November at NCAR titled "Examination of Spatial Variation in Nitrogen Deposition and Its Impact on the Global Carbon Cycle."

Kathy Galvin was an invited speaker in the session on Health and Reproduction among Nomadic Pastoralists of Turkana, Northwest Kenya: A Biocultural Perspective at the African Studies Assoc. meetings, Orlando, FL, Nov. 3-6.

Kathy Galvin participated in a NOAA sponsored International Forum on forecasting El Nino: Launching an International Research Institute, in Washington, DC, Nov. 6-8.

Tom Kirchner presented lectures on uncertainty analysis at the workshop "Pathway Analysis and Risk Assessment for Environmental Compliance and Dose Reconstruction", Nov. 6-10 at Kiawah Island, SC.

Diana Freckman traveled to Washington, DC, Nov. 8-10, to attend the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers (AERC) Annual meeting and Board of Directors meeting.

Chuluun Togtohyn and Dennis Ojima were moderators for the panel on "The Mongolian Steppes and the American Prairies: Ecological and Cultural Comparisons" at the American West Symposium on Mongolia, Nov. 9 in Denver.

Jill Baron traveled to Washington, DC and Providence, RI, Nov. 7-12, to plan the Ecological Society of America annual meetings. Jill is Program Chairperson for the 1996 Annual ESA Meetings. While in Washington, Nov. 9-10, she spent a day reviewing and revising draft documents for the National Biological Service Strategic Science Planning Workshop, held in December.

The Annual PI's meeting of the USFS Southern Global Change Program (SGCP) was held Nov. 28-30 in Raleigh, NC. Richard Flagler made a presentation on research results from the past four years of the SGCP.

Tom Stohlgren was in Washington, DC, Dec. 4-8 with 30 NBS scientists and he was one of five work group leaders charged with drafting the National Biological Service's Strategic Science Plan. Tom also was assigned the task of lead editor for the volume.

Jill Baron participated in a multi-agency Ecological Stewardship Workshop in Tucson, AZ, Dec. 4-9. The workshop "Toward a Scientific and Social Framework for Ecologically Based Stewardship of Federal Lands and Waters," brought scientists and resource managers together to plan a reference document that outlines options and alternatives for implementing an ecologically-based aproach toward management, and documents the scientific foundation for these options and alternatives. Baron is part of the four person team writing the science document on Ecological Functions and Processes.

Ted Elliott conducted a workshop titled "Soil Organic Matter Concepts and Methods Workshop" on Dec. 18-19 at NREL. Those attending were Denis Angers, Mike Beare, Cindy Cambardella, Vern Cole, Ted Elliott, Serita Frey, Georg Guggenberger, Julie Jastrow, Mike Miller, Keith Paustian and Johan Six. The workshop objectives were to define a conceptual framework of tasks, share recent soil organic matter research results, describe current and future (2-3 yr.) research plans, and to identify individual contributions to a scientific paper (2-3 pp.) describing contemporary concepts and methods.

Beth Holland presented a talk titled "Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling Coupling" at the joint GIM/GEIA meeting of IGAC in Fairfax, VA in December.

Richard Flagler was an invited participant in a workshop sponsored by the Southern Oxidant Study Program to determine the form and function of the Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standard for Ozone. The meeting was held January 12-13 in Raleigh, NC. This was a very selective meeting of the top national experts in the field of Ozone Effects on Vegetation. The results of this workshop will have direct impact on the revision of the Ozone Criteria Document now pending with the EPA.

On Dec. 20, Tom Hobbs, Tammy Bearly, Jim Zack, Dave Theobald (NREL) and Bill Reibsame (U. of Colorado-Boulder) gave a demonstration of the System for Conservation Planning (SCoP) information system to Jim Lochhead, Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources in Denver.

NREL & Colorado Division of Wildlife Scientist Tom Hobbs gave a presentation titled "New Initiatives in Land Use: A System for Conservation Planning" at the Annual Meeting of the Wildlife Society in Colorado Springs on Jan. 24. He also gave a presentation on Jan. 26 titled "Land Use Planning and Wildlife Habitat" to the Routt County Commissioners at Steamboat Springs.

Diana Freckman was an invited participant at the American Academy of Microbiology Colloquium, "Microbial Diversity: Foundation of the Biosphere" which was held in Palm Coast, FL, Jan 18-21.

Rob Kremer presented a paper titled "Biophysical Data Integration for Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulation from Watershed to Basin Scales" at the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) Third International Conference/Workshop on Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling in Santa Fe, NM, Jan. 21-25. Becky McKeown presented a paper at this meeting titled "Ecosystem Modeling and spatially Explicit Land Surface Changes for Climate and Global Change Analysis." Dennis Ojima and Tim Kittel also attended the conference.

The VEMAP Phase 2 Planning Workshop was held Jan. 15-17 in Boulder. A talk titled "The Development of N Deposition Fields for VEMAP" was presented by Beth Holland on Jan. 15. Participants from NREL were Bill Parton, Dennis Ojima, Dave Schimel, Tim Kittel, Becky McKeown, Melannie Hartman, Rob Kremer and Robin Kelly.

Visiting Scientist Chuluun Togtohyn was an invited speaker at the Mongolia Teacher's Workshop on Jan. 27 in Denver. The Workshop was co-sponsored by the Denver Art Museum and the World History Association. His presentation was on "The Mongolian Steppes: Nomadic People and Culture."

Cynthia Melcher presented a paper titled "Ranking conservation priorities for grassland birds" at the International Conference and Training Workshop on Conservation and Ecology of Grassland Birds, and the Annual Meeting of the Association of Field Ornithologists at Tulsa, OK, 26-28 October. Authors were J. Gross, C.P. Melcher, T. Nesler, J. Sheppard and G. Skiba.

INTERNATIONAL

Jeff Welker was invited by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to participate in a meeting on "Operational Aspects of the Global Network Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) being held Nov. 7-10 in Vienna, Austria. Jeff presented an overview of his research assessing the spatial and uemporal dynamics of precipitation isotope geochemistry across the US using the NADP sampling network and the CSU Stable Isotope Facility. He also discussed opportunities that the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) program presents in terms of a circumpolar analysis of the isotopic characteristics of arctic precipitation.

Diana Freckman attended a meeting to finalize the science plan for DIVERSITIAS in Mexico City, Mexico, Jan. 6-10. She then went to Irvine, CA where she chaired a meeting of the NRC Committee on Non-economic and Economic Value of Biodiversity, Jan. 11-14.

Diana Freckman chaired the SCOPE Steering Committee on Soil and Sediment Biodiversity & Ecosystem Functioning meeting in London, UK on Jan. 24-28.

Keith Paustian attended a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 4-6, for IPCC workgroups developing methodologies for country inventories of greenhouse gas emissions. The IPCC guidelines are designed to assist signatory countries in assessing greenhouse gas emissions, as set forth in the 1992 UN Framwork Convention on Climate Change. Keith is co-chairing the workgroup on inventories for CO2 emissions from agricultural soils.

Visitors

Steve Frolking, Research Scientist, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, visited at NREL Nov. 8-14. He was sponsored by Dennis Ojima and Bill Parton and was here to work on the TRAGNET Cross Site Comparison project with Dennis, Bill and Arvin Mosier (USDA/ARS).

Jonathan Scurlock, Asst. Professor, King's College, London, visited with Dennis Ojima and Bill Parton Nov. 9-16. Jonathan was at NREL to work on Global NPP Data Base and was sponsored by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Professor Han-Xi Yang, the top quantitative ecologist in China, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Honorary Chair of the Ecological Society of China visited NREL Nov. 21. Dr. Yang was sponsored by Dave Swift and Dennis Ojima and he visited with them about various China projects and possible future cooperation between NREL and other China projects.

Richard Lammers, Ph.D. Graduate Student, University of Toronto, Department of Geography, spent Dec. 18-19 at NREL working with Melannie Hartman and Jill Baron on papers related to the NBS-funded Colorado Rockies Global Change project.

Jo House, a Ph.D. graduate student from King's College, London, is visiting NREL from Jan. 21-Mar. 21. She is being sponsored by Dennis Ojima and Bill Parton. Jo will be training in Century modeling for development and testing of tree/grass modeling for global simulations needed in the EOS project.

Alan Shiller, Professor, Center for Marine Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Center, MS, spent Jan. 29 visiting with Jill Baron and Eric Allstott. They discussed the Fluvial Dissolved Trace Element Geochemistry Project which was just funded by NSF for Loch Vale.

Keith Croteau, a Junior Research Fellow through NSF's Division of International Programs from the International Centre for Antarctic Information and Research in Christchurch, NZ, arrived at NREL Jan. 30. Keith will be working with Diana Freckman on her Antarctic Project through April.

NREL Seminars

Seminars will be presented in Room A302, NESB every Friday from 11:10 - 12:10, except where noted.

February 16: Daniel Milchunas, NREL & Dept. of Rangeland Ecosystem Science - "Livestock grazing: consumer and plant biodiversity and the relationship to ecosystem function in shortgrass steppe."

February 23: Elisabeth Holland, NREL & NCAR - "The global bio-atmospheric cycles of carbon and nitrogen."

March 1: Tom Stohlgren, NREL & NBS - "Scale issues in measuring plant diversity: the GAP widens."

March 8 Jim Zack, NREL - "The ESRI GIS product line: the capabilities and appropriate uses for ArcView and ARC/INFO."

March 15: NO SEMINAR DUE TO CSU SPRING BREAK

March 22: Dr. Judy Hannah, Head, Dept. Earth Resources - TBA

March 29: Steve Huffman, Ph.D. Graduate Student, CSU - "Phosphorus Solubility and Availability in Soils formed Under Different Weathering Regimes."

April 5: Dr. Tim Seastedt, University of Colorado - "The Carbon-eatin' Krummholz: Moving Tree Islands Modify the Soil Environment of Alpine Tundra."

April 12: Dr. Larry Woods, EG&G Rocky Flats, Golden, CO - "Measures of carbon and nitrogen in ungrazed grassland soils at Rocky Flats."

April 19: Mohammed Kalkhan, NREL - "Linking multi-scale and multi-phase sampling design to assess the accuracy of vegetation diversity map using remotely sensed data and GIS: a case study in Rocky Mountain National Park."

April 26: Ted Elliott, Keith Paustian & Vern Cole, NREL - The Agroecosystem Science Program at NREL: Soil Crumb to the Globe

May 3: Jill Baron, NREL and NBS - "Capital Reef water quality and hydrology."

Graduate Student News

Lindsay Christensen has joined the NREL as a Ph.D. Graduate Student on the new NSF-MMIA Mongolia project with Jim Ellis, Mike Coughenour (Major Advisor) and Kathy Galvin. Lindsey earned her B.S. in Conservation Biology, with a minor in Range at BYU. She has worked as a biological technician on the Mentasta caribou herd study in Wrangell-St. Elias N.P. and on coastal brown bears in Katmai N.P. in Alaska. On the Mongolia project, she will be developing methods for integrated assessment of pastoral grazing lands at landscape and regional spatial scales. Computer modeling, GIS, remote sensing and fieldwork will keep her plenty busy.

Tamera Minnick, Ph.D. Graduate Student, received a $1500 travel award from the LTER Network Office for a graduate student cross-site research competition. Title of the proposal is "Cross-Site Comparisons of Two Important C4 Perennial Grasses in North American Grasslands: Bouteloua gracilis and Bouteloua eriopoda. Her major advisor is Deb Coffin.

Kathy Galvin and Bill Parton have two new graduate students, Kathy Russell (MS student) and Jill Lackett (MA student) who will begin field work in Weld County for the NIH-Great Plains project.

Grants Funded

The proposal "Pathway Assessment of Exposures to Residents Living near Cotter Corporations Canon City Uranium Mill" by Tom Kirchner and Thomas E. Hakonson, Sr. Research Scientist, Center for Ecological Risk Assessment and Management, CSU was funded by Cotter Corporation. This project will estimate exposures to individuals living near a uranium mill. The assessment will consider external inhalation and ingestion pathways. Gaps in the data necessary to provide a complete assessment will be identified.

The proposal titled "Forecasting Impacts of Land Use Change on Elk Habitat in the Mountains: Tools for Planners and Citizens" by Tom Hobbs, John Gross, Dave Theobald and Bill Riebsame was funded by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Tools for use by citizens, planners, and agencies will be developed to anticipate the large scale impacts of development on elk populations and habitats. These tools will identify priorities for land acquisition or protections, and will evaluate the consequences of alternative land use plans and practices for maintaining high quality elk habitat. The system will consist of modules to forecast the pattern of land use under user-specified scenarios, evaluate habitat quality for elk, and simulate elk populations. The system will exploit the capabilities of the ARC/INFO GIS, a software package that is already in widespread use by local, state, and federal agencies.

Proposals Submitted

A proposal titled "Nematode Biodiversity in Ecosystems Stressed by Extremes of Temperature" was submitted to NSF/BSI by Diana Freckman and Bob Niles.

Bill Hunt submitted a proposal to USDA/CSREES/NRICGP titled "Modeling Plant Growth and Acclimation Under Elevated CO2 and Climate Change."

Ted Elliott and Keith Paustian submitted a proposal titled "Spatially Explicit Projections of C Dynamics with Global Change in the Central United States" to NIGEC.

Dennis Ojima submitted a proposal to DOE/NIGEC titled "Land Use and Climate Impacts on Carbon Fluxes (LUCCI)."

A proposal titled "Implications of Climate and Agriculture on Biogenic Emissions of Ozone Precursors in Southern African Savannas" was submitted to NASA by Dave Valentine and Bill Pulliam.

Tom Kirchner and John Gross submitted a proposal titled "Evaluating Risks Associated with Genetically Altered Organisms" to USDA/CSREES/Biotech Risk Assessment.

Bill Parton submitted a proposal titled "The Grassland Nitrogen Cycle and Trace Gas Fluxes: Pathways, Environmental Controls, and Interactions" to NSF/Ecosystems.

A proposal titled "Management Impacts on Structure of Ponderosa Pine Stands and Landscapes" was submitted to USDA/CSREES/NRI Competitive Grants Program by Tom Stohlgren (NREL & NBS), Dan Binkley (NREL & Dept. Forest Sciences) and Merrill Kaufmann (USDA/RMFRES).

A proposal titled "Climate Variability: Effects on Ecosystem Properties, Land Use and Biodiversity on the Mongolian Steppe" was submitted to NSF/Ecosystems by Kathy Galvin and Mike Coughenour.

Tom Kirchner and Bill Parton submitted a proposal titled "An Object Oriented Toolkit for Building Structurally Adaptive Models" to NSF/Computational Biology Program of BIR.

Debra Coffin submitted a proposal to NSF/Computational Biology titled "Development of User-friendly Graphical Interfaces for Ecological Simulation Models and Spatial Databases."

A proposal titled "Chemical Characteristics and Metal-Complexing Properties of Non-Humic DOC in Rocky Mountain Lakes" was submitted to NSF/Univ. Maryland by Jill Baron and Bill Parton.

Tom Stohlgren and Mike Coughenour submitted a proposal to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation titled "Effects of elk grazing on native and non-native plant species diversity in Rocky Mountain National Park."

Indy Burke and Bill Lauenroth submitted a proposal titled "Long Term Ecological Research Program: Shortgrass Steppe" to NSF/Long Term Studies.

A proposal titled "Nitrogen and Phosphorus Deposition and Terrestrial Carbon Storage: Linking Atmospheric Chemistry and the Global Carbon Budget" was submitted to NIGEC by Beth Holland.

Beth Holland, B.H. Braswell (Graduate Student from U. of NH working at NCAR) and J.F. Lamarque (Visiting Scientist at NCAR) submitted a proposal titled "The Bio-atmospheric Cycles of Nitrogen and Carbon: Linking Global Air Pollution and the Carbon Cycle" to NASA/EOS.

Manscripts Published

Archer, S., D.S. Schimel and E.A. Holland. 1995. Mechanisms of shrubland expansion: Land use, climate, or CO2. Climatic Change 29:91-99.

Binkley, D., F. Suarez, C. Rhoades and R. Stottlemyer. 1995. Parent marterial depth controls ecosystem composition and function on a riverside terrace in northwestern Alaska. Bioscience 2:377-381.

Borak, T.B. and T.B. Kirchner. 1995. A method for computing the decision level for samples containing radiation in the presence of background. Health Physics 69:892-896.

Field, C.B., F.S. Chapin, III, N.R. Chiariello, E.A. Holland and H.A. Mooney. 1995. The Jasper Ridge CO2 experiment: Design and motivation. In: G.W. Koch and H.A. Mooney (eds.) Ecosystem Response to Elevated CO2. Academic Press.

Flagler, R.B. 1995. Use of antioxidant chemicals to study ambient ozone effects on southern pines. Proc. Air & Waste Manage. Assoc. 95-RA117A.05:1-14.

Flagler, R.B. and A.H. Chappelka. 1996. Growth response of southern pines to acidic precipitation and ozone. Pages 388-424 in S. Fox and R.A. Mickler (eds.). Impact of Air Pollutants on Southern Pine Forests. Ecological Studies, Vol. 118, Springer-Verlag, New York.

Freidlingstein, P., I. Fung, E. Holland, J. John, G. Brasseur, D. Erickson and D. Schimel. 1995. On the contribution of biosphere CO2 fertilization to the missing sink. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 9:541-556.

Giardina, C.P., S. Huffman, D. Binkley and B. Caldwell. 1995. Alders increase phosphorus supply in a Douglas-fir plantation. Canadian J. Forest Res. 25:1652-1657.

Holland, E.A., A.R. Townsend and P.M. Vitousek. 1995. Variability in temperature regulation of CO2 fluxes and N mineralization from five Hawaiian soils: Implications for a changing climate. Global Change Biology 1:115-123.

Johnson, D., D. Binkley and P. Conklin. 1995. Simulated effects of atmospheric deposition, harvesting, and species change on nutrient cycling in a loblolly pine forest. Forest Ecology and Management 76:29-45.

Kittel, T.G.F. 1995. Position paper - Multiple roles for global change research. Pages 65-68 in Research Initiative 15: Multiple Role for GIS in U.S. global Change Research. Report of the First Specialist Meeting, Santa Barbara, CA, 8-11 March 1995. National Center for Geographical Information and Analysis, Santa Barbara, CA.

Neff, J.C., M. Keller, E. Holland, A. Weitz and E. Veldkamp. 1995. Fluxes of nitric oxide from soils following the clearing and burning of a secondary tropical rain forest. J. Geophysical Res.-Atmos. 100:25913-25922.

Ojima, D.S. 1995. Rangelands and Grasslands. Chapter 13 in J. Sathaye and S. Meyers (Lead authors) Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Assessment: A Guidebook. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Parton, W.J. and G. Dedieu. 1995. Feedbacks and Modelling Systems. In M.A. Beran (ed.) Carbon Sequestration in the Biosphere. NATO ASI Series 133:203-208. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Parton, W.J., D.S. Ojima and D.S. Schimel. 1995. Models to evaluate soil organic matter storage and dynamics. Pages 421-448 in M.R. Carter and B.A. Stewart (eds.) Structure and Organic Matter Storage in Agricultural Soils. Advances in Soil Science, CRC Press, Lewis Publishers, New York.

Parton, W.J., P.L. Woomer and A. Martin. 1994. Modelling soil organic matter dynamics and plant productivity in tropical ecosystems. Chapter 7 in P.L. Woomer and M. J. Swift (eds.) The Biological Management of Tropical Soil Fertility. Wiley-Sayce Publication, pp. 171-188.

Parton, W.J. and VEMAP Members. 1995. Vegetation/ecosystem modeling and analysis project: Comparing biogeography and biogeochemistry models in a continental-scale study of terrestrial ecosystem responses to climate change and CO2 doubling. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 9(4):407-437.

Sasek, T.W. and R.B. Flagler. 1996. Physiological and biochemical effects of air pollutants on southern pines. Pages 425-463 in S. Fox and R.A. Mickler (eds.). Impact of Air Pollutants on Southern Pine Forests. Ecological Studies, Vol. 118, Springer-Verlag, New York.

Open Positions

Description: This position provides site liaison support to the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN). The NADP/NTN is a 200-site, national precipitation chemistry monitoring program supported by the USDA-CSREES and seven federal agencies. The position will be through the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University. Funding for the position comes from cooperative agreements; continuation of the position will depend upon availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

Responsibilities: The Site Liaison works with NADP/NTN site operators throughout the U.S., via telephone, e-mail, and written correspondence, to improve site operations. The individual in this position is responsible for documenting and tracking site activities, as well as analyzing and reporting on site operations. The Site Liaison will maintain and update informational databases using the Unix operating system. The Site Liaison is the point-of-contact for network siting criteria, equipment, protocol, and general information. The position involves considerable interaction with individuals from a wide variety of federal and state agencies, universities, and private organizations. The Site Liaison is responsible for maintaining, tracking, shipping, and repair of replacement parts to the site operators. There will be regular communication with the network's laboratories site liaisons. The Site Liaison coordinates and attends an annual operator training course and serves as the back-up operator for NADP site CO22. The individual hired will be expected to be active in the NADP Network Operations Subcommittee, which will require travel to 2-3 meetings per year to make oral reports and presentations.

Requirements: The position requires a bachelor's degree in a science discipline (including at least one year of college-level chemistry). The applicant must have demonstrated oral and written communications skills, word processing skills, knowledge of databases, and mechanical aptitude. Desirable skills include experience with the Unix operating system and relational database management systems. Salary range is $22,000-28,000. The position is available 1 May 1996; applications close 22 April 1996. Applicants should submit a letter of application, resume, copies of academic transcripts, and names, addresses and phone numbers of three references to:

Colorado State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability, or handicap. The University complies with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, related Executive Orders 11246 and 11375, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Act off 1974, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, American Disabilities Act of 1990, and all civil rights laws of the State of Colorado. Accordingly, equal opportunity for employment and admission shall be extended to all persons and the University shall promote equal opportunity and treatment through a positive and continuing affirmative action program. The Office of Equal Opportunity is located in 101 Student Services. In order to assist Colorado State University in meeting its affirmative action responsibilities, ethnic minorities, women, and other protected class members are encouraged to apply and to so identify themselves.

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
(DATA MANAGER)

Full-time position available for DATA MANAGEMENT in support of scientific and administrative activities of the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research Project (LTER). The primary duties of the data manager will be to work with project scientists to incorporate data into an existing data management system, and to provide data from the system to all interested scientists. We seek a person with a strong interest in information management for environmental sciences, who will enjoy interacting with and supporting the scientific community. The data manager will need to have C programming skills for interfacing software and for data input. Extensive software development is not part of this position. Qualified candidates should have an appropriate MS degree or equivalent experience in management of information systems with an interest in natural resources information management; experience with the UNIX environment; evidence of experience with ARC/INFO; and C programming skills. Experience with large scientific research projects such as the LTER is a significant asset. Personal attributes such as a high degree of efficiency, good interpersonal skills, and aggressive communication as evidenced by recommendations are strongly desired.

Send letter of application and 3 letters of reference to Ms. Linda Palmer, Rangeland Ecosystem Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523.

Salary - $28,000/yr.

Applications must be post-marked by February 29, 1996.

Colorado State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability, or handicap. The University complies with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, related Executive Orders 11246 and 11375, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Act of 1974, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, American Disabilities Act of 1990, and all civil rights laws of the State of Colorado. Accordingly, equal opportunity for employment and admission shall be extended to all persons and the University shall promote equal opportunity and treatment through a positive and continuing affirmative action program. The Office of Equal Opportunity is located in 101 Student Services. In order to assist Colorado State University in meeting its affirmative action responsibilities, ethnic minorities, women, and other protected class members are encouraged to apply and to so identify themselves.

and

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENTIST

USDA UVB Monitoring Program
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Colorado State University

A program at Colorado State University designed to measure surface ultraviolet radiation at approximately thirty sites throughout the continental U.S. including Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico has an opening for a full-time scientist with a strong background in the atmospheric sciences with an emphasis on radiation transfer. This position will support the development of algorithms for the processing of data from approximately thirty field stations measuring total horizontal, diffuse and direct normal solar spectral irradiance in the ultraviolet and visible The successful candidate will be expected to work with various user communities (biological effects, atmospheric science, etc.) to develop data summaries or other data products to support their research, and to carry out a basic studies such as the assessment of long-term trends and the effects of aerosols and clouds on surface UVB radiation. The successful applicant will be expected to work with and provide an interface with other government and university scientists to carry out these objectives.

The program is supported by a grant initiated in 1992 from the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the establishment and operation of a national network of solar radiation monitoring sites. Emphasis is on the region of ultraviolet radiation commonly referred to as "UVB", an area of the solar spectrum (approximately 290-320 nm) identified as responsible for plant and materials damage as well as human health problems. Since UVB radiation is expected to increase in the future as a result of stratospheric ozone reduction, knowledge of current radiation levels, geographic variability, natural variations, and trends is critical to the understanding of the potential impacts on agricultural productivity and to warning the public to guard against exposures which may affect human health. The USDA program is coordinated with other federal agencies with UVB measurement programs as well as those in Canada, New Zealand, and Europe and is working with the U.S. Weather Service, Canadian Atmospheric and Environment Service, and will be a contributor to an international data base for UVB radiation sponsored by the World Meteorology Organization (WMO).

Processing of these data will involve providing UVB values corrected for various instrument calibrations and characterizations as well as developing products such as biological action spectra weighted values, daily doses etc. Other products that can be developed from the UV and visible surface spectral irradiance will be column ozone and optical depths. This data may eventually be combined with satellite ozone data and other radiation measurements to form the program's data base to provide information basic to our understanding of factors affecting the amount of UVB radiation reaching the earths surface. In addition to working with the biological and atmospheric science community to support their research needs, a major responsibility of the position will be to carry out basic studies on the nature of UV-B radiation and factors affecting its transfer through the atmosphere.

Minimum qualifications for the position include:

• PhD degree in the atmospheric sciences, radiation physics or related field or a MS degree and ten years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated experience in atmospheric science research with emphasis on radiation transfer (publications, reports, presentations)
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with other scientists to carry out the programs objectives.
• Good communication and public speaking skills.
• Demonstrated high level numerical programming skills and familiarity with various programming languages such as C, Fortran, etc and UNIX operating systems.

Preference will be given to candidates with radiation transfer research experience involving collaboration with other scientists and who demonstrate strong numerical programming and modeling skills as well as a knowledge of spectral measurements and the importance of instrument characteristics such as angular response, band pass (slit or filter functions), stray light, calibration etc. to the establishment of a quality data base.

This is a fully-funded, full-time, non-teaching, non-tenure track general faculty position. Continued funding for the position is dependent on continued support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While this is supported as a long-term program (projected over ten years) funding is not guaranteed.

Salary: In the range of $40,000 -- $60,000: Negotiable depending on qualifications.

Position availability: Immediately.

To Apply: Send letter of application; resume; and names, addresses, and phone and fax numbers of three references familiar with your research postmarked by March 5, 1996.

Dr. James H. Gibson
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523

Colorado State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability, or handicap. The University complies with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, related Executive Orders 11246 and 11375, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Act of 1974, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, American Disabilities Act of 1990, and all civil rights laws of the State of Colorado. Accordingly, equal opportunity for employment and admission shall be extended to all persons and the University shall promote equal opportunity and treatment through a positive and continuing affirmative action program. The Office of Equal Opportunity is located in 101 Student Services. In order to assist Colorado State University in meeting its affirmative action responsibilities, ethnic minorities, women, and other protected class members are encouraged to apply and to so identify themselves.

and

TEMPORARY RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

The Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) occasionally has full or part-time temporary positions available in the research areas of plant/animal interaction, livestock ecology, biogeochemistry of trace gases, atmospheric deposition, ecosystem change, theoretical ecology, global change, data base management, biometry, computer programming, ecological modelling, and soil/plant/microbe interactions. We are accepting applications for positions which may become available during the time period 1/15/96 through 5/15/96. Minimum requirement B.S. degree in appropriate field. Compensation varies. Application deadline February 29, 1996. Send a letter of application and a resume to Arlene Boaman, NREL, CSU, Ft. Collins, CO 80523-1499.

CSU is an Equal Opportunity employer. E.O. Office 101 Student Services.

Outreach

Jill Baron's Loch Vale Watershed project has been helping high school students with student science fair projects, and with internships for classes at Front Range Community College.

Dave Bigelow gave an acid rain talk to MESA students at Poudre High School on Dec. 4 and on Dec. 12 he gave three acid rain talks to science students at Wellington Jr. High School.

Diana Freckman gave a talk on Antarctica to 3rd grade students at Werner Elementary School in January.

Personals

Congratulations to Sandy Pletschet and Jeff Kelly on the birth of their daughter Lina Pletschet Kelly on October 28th.

Xiangming and Bo Xiao have a new baby daughter, Sarah Lin Xiao, born on January 10th. Congratulations!!

The Runga-Kutta Warriors (Women's Volleyball Team) on which Becky McKeown and Robin Martin play, finished first in the Fort Collins fall league. Way to go Warriors!!

Thought for the Day

Christmas for Federal employees here at NREL gave a whole new meaning to "Many Happy Returns."

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