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Spotlight on Science

Featuring: Jill Baron, Research Scientist - Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Research Ecologist, Mid-continent Ecological Science Center, USGS, Biological Resources Division

The more things change, the more they stay the same, pretty much describes the results of the political winds over the past four years on Jill Baron's research activities, and that is a good thing. Baron has been a member of the NREL since 1981, when she began research on Rocky Mountain alpine and subalpine aquatic biogeochemical processes. At that time, Baron was a National Park Service researcher, an arrangement that continued until 1993, when Baron took part in the formation of the National Biological Survey (NBS). The misson of the short-lived NBS was to provide the best possible scientific information to land management agencies of the Department of Interior. Although the NBS did not survive, land management agencies have a growing expectation that sound, ecosystem-scale information will be the base for resource management now that the NBS has merged with the U.S. Geological Survey. Baron credits her affiliation with the NREL as one of the main reasons why the research has been strong through the government shutdowns and budget cuts. The ecosystem approach that characterizes NREL is often used as an example of how to shape future government research and management efforts. And the successful partnership between federal and university researchers serves as a model of synergistic collaboration that benefits both agency and university.

Understanding ecosystem variability to distinguish natural from human-caused change has been Baron's research focus, and to do that she initiated the Loch Vale Watershed long-term ecological research and monitoring program in Rocky Mountain National Park. Loch Vale, an instrumented high elevation basin, now has a 14-year continuous hydrologic and biogeochemical record. The Loch Vale program is capably managed by Eric Allstott and Brian Newkirk at NREL, with help from Doug Bopray. Students Heather Rueth, Cyndi Brock, Ben Balk, Debra Planert, and Sarah Clements are adding to the knowledge of water, sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon cycles.

The intensive research in Loch Vale has become a core for regional expansion in several directions. Baron is part of a team exploring regional climate variability and climate change that is potentially driven by regional land use. Modeler Melannie Hartman successfully herds data from many sources and spatial scales into and out of CENTURY and RHESSys, and will oversee the linking of CENTURY with RHESSys this summer. This is mostly a modeling exercise about land-atmosphere feedbacks and the ecological and hydrologic consequences to both mountains and plains.

Placing Loch Vale at the top of the South Platte Basin has been one way of expanding. Placing it in the context of the Rocky Mountain chain has been another. Baron, along with co-organizers from Montana, is looking forward to hosting the workshop: Human-Induced Change to the Rocky Mountains: Unifying Principles. The workshop will bring together Rocky Mountain experts to synthesize and evaluate the extent of human-driven change on Rocky Mountain ecosystems.

Working for the USGS and being a good member of the University and NREL can sometimes mean double the administrative, committee work, and communications load, because in essence, Baron answers to two masters. She wouldn't have it any other way, however. She hopes she serves to transfer information both ways as ecosystem-scale perspectives take hold in management of federal lands.

NREL REUNION SYMPOSIUM

October 21, 1997

(with the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers)

* To see who is attending, check the guest list on the www at:

http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/30th_guest.html

* Attention: If you have not filled out a registration form -

DO SO NOW at:

http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/30th_return.html

* Be sure and see the comments and pictures on the

Remember NREL page /30th_trivia.html

Announcements

Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Receives $100,000 Gift to Establish the Francis E. Clark Soil Biology Scholarship Endowment

The Francis E. Clark Soil Biology Scholarship will support undergraduate and graduate students working with NREL in the areas of soil biology. Dr. Clark was with the USDA ARS from 1936 - 96 and a long time colleague and researcher with NREL scientists including the founder of NREL, George Van Dyne. Drs. Francis Clark and Eldor Paul recently published a revision of Paul and Clark "Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry."

Francis and Eveyln Clark established the scholarship fund in soil biology to keep NREL on the cutting edge of science. Dr. Diana Freckman, Director of the NREL, said "Dr. Clark's gift will make a huge difference at the

Laboratory in recruiting the best and brightest students to work at the NREL. As a highly respected scientist in the research community, Francis reinforces our commitment to excellence in ecosystem research. We are very excited to have him share our vision and make this major contribution to the future of soil biology and ecosystem research at the NREL."

Congratulations!!! At the May 16 Research Scientist meeting, Dan Binkley, Deb Coffin, John Gross, Daniel Milchunas, Keith Paustian, Frank Singer, and Tom Stohlgren were unanimously accepted as Voting Members of the NREL Senior Staff.

The NADP Executive Committee met in May to consider cost saving measures for the Program in the face of flat budgets and increasing costs. The result of that meeting was to recommend that the activities conducted at the NADP Coordination Office housed here at CSU be

consolidated with and moved to the analytical laboratory at the University of Illinois. The majority of the transfer will occur by October 1. NADP has been a part of NREL for nearly 20 years and currently employs eight staff members and four undergraduate students. Re-employment services and retraining are being offered to the affected staff members.

Dr. Dexing Chen, Research Associate, accepted a position as a software engineer at Hewlett-Packard in Fort Collins effective May 30th. Dexing, a valued NREL Research Associate since 1992 contributed significantly to NREL by modeling plant and ecosystem responses to atmopsheric change. His work on the little known Hydrilla project helped get this NREL project through some darker days. He managed to develop a model of C4 photosynthesis and a land-surface model called GEMTM. His recent work on coupling ecosystem and atmospheric models is at the forefront. NREL has lost a great modeler, but we wish him all the best in his new career endeavor.

Deb Coffin served on the USDA/NRICGP Range/Crop/Aquatic Ecosystems panel, March 4-7.

Diana Wall Freckman is a candidate for President Elect in the 1997 elections of the Ecological Society of America, along with Robert J. Naiman of the College of Ocean and Fisheries Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Ted Elliott has been elected Treasurer for the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers (AERC) for 1997.

Jill Baron and Andy Parsons were inducted into Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, on April 23.

Indy Burke and Bill Lauenroth returned to CSU on June 1, from a much-deserved sabbatical at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY. Welcome home!!

Chris Andre and Pella Brinkman, Freckman lab personnel, departed NREL at the end of April to follow new career paths. They will be missed!

Tim Kittel was promoted to Research Scientist effective July 1, 1997.

Alan Covich has just completed his term as President of the North American Benthological Society (NABS) at the Annual Meeting held in San Marcos in late May.

Diana Wall Freckman and David Schimel were among 19 other ecologists who wrote a letter to President Clinton regarding accelerated climate change. Full text of the letter can be found on the World Wide Web. http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/NREL/global_warm_letter.html

Ted Elliott served on the CSU Experiment Station review panel which reviewed over 30 proposals that were submitted in competition for the Interdisciplinary Research RFP distributed on campus. He also served on the USDA-Soil and Soil Biology Panel which met in Washington, DC, April 8-11.

Beth Holland, Director, organized a NATO Advanced Study Institute, "Soils and Global Change: Carbon Cycle, Trace Gas Exchange and Hydrology," held June 16-27, 1997, at the Chateau de Bonas in Toulouse, France. Beth also presented lectures titled "The Role of Trace Gases in the Earth System: Sources, Sinks and the Composition of the Atmosphere" and "Linkages between Global Carbon and Nutrient Cycles." Dave Schimel served on the Organizing Committee and presented lectures on "The Physical Climate System" and Global Biogeochemistry." Vern Cole presented lectures at the NATO Institute titled, "The Terrestrial Phosphorus Cycle: Links to the Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles" and "Assessment of Potential Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases in Agriculture." Vern is presenting a tutorial on "Phosphorus Methodology and Modeling" and Dave Schimel is giving a tutorial on "Using the CENTURY Ecosystem Model." Gene Kelly (Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences) gave lectures titled "Using Isotope Techniques to Understand Soil Hydrology" and "Long Term Processes of Soil Development: Lessons Applicable to Future Changes." Approximately 60-80 students attended the Institute. During the evenings, lecturers held tutorials for smaller groups of students in their area of specialization. 2-3 tutorials were held each evening, allowing each student to attend several tutorials throughout the course of the Advanced Study Institute.

Meetings

COLORADO

Jim Gibson gave an invited seminar titled "Increasing UVB Radiation: Should we be concerned?" at the Institute of Rural and Environmental Health for faculty and students on March 3.

Ted Elliott attended the NSF "Symposium on Future Research" in Golden on March 13. Neil Lane (NSF), President Yates (CSU) and others from the State were in attendance. The meeting stressed the importance of research and academics and their mutual benefits. Research advancement in the future with limited budget allocations was also discussed.

Jill Baron attended Loch Vale meetings in April and May. Guest speakers at those meetings included: Dr. Alex Wolfe (paleolimnologist) and Dr. Mel Reasoner (palynologist, University of Colorado Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research), and Debra Planert (M.S. student, Department of Forest Sciences at CSU) who is working in Loch Vale on forest floor microbial processes.

Francis Singer, Mike Coughenour, Ted Elliott, Jeff Welker, Linda Ziegenfuss, Steve Williams, and others presented papers to an expert panel on "Vegetation Monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park" on April 16-17 at the Park. The panel made subsequent recommendations which may affect further research on elk-vegetation interactions, and elk management.

Tim Kittel presented a research review for the NSF Site Visit to the Geophysical Statistics Project, NCAR, Boulder, CO, May 21-23, titled "Historical Climate Reconstruction for the United States for the Last 100 Years."

A workshop titled "Climate Change Impacts on Ranching, Farming, and Wildlife Conservation in the Central Great Plains (Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming) was sponsored by the White House Office of Science, Technology and Policy (OSTP), NREL, University of Nebraska and the Department of Energy. The workshop, organized by Dennis Ojima, was held at the Lory Student Center and Sylvan Dale Ranch, May 27-30. Speakers included Mr. Tim Wirth, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs. NREL attendees were D. Ojima, B. Parton, V. Cole, K. Paustian, and D. Wall Freckman. The workshop will provide critical information to the President's environmental policy regarding the potential impact of climate change on the Great Plains. The outcome of the workshop will be produced as a report to highlight the critical features of the Great Plains ecosystems relative to current climate variability and potential climate changes. The organization of the workshop was greatly assisted by Ms. Becky Techau of NREL. Additional information about the workshop can be found on the www at: http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/gp.html.

Dennis Ojima hosted a U.S. Information Agency (USIA) Voluntary Visitor Program on June 14-28 at NREL/CSU for the Mongolian Minister of Nature and the Environment and a delegation of scientists. The participants were: Mr. Adyasuren Tsobiogyn (Minister of Nature and the Environment); Ms. Batnyam Lamjaviin (Sr. Enviornmental Pollution Expert, Hydro Meteorological Environmental Monitoring Agency); Mr. Damdin Tserendashiin (General State Environmental Inspector, Ministry of Nature and Environment); Mr. Lubsan Gombosurengiin (Consultant, Industrial Energy Efficiency and the Environment, Mongolian Consulting and Service Company); Mr. Shagdarsuren Dambiin (Advisor to the Minister, Ministry of Nature and the Environment); Mr. Tsogtbaatar Jasrangyn (Director, Institute of Geo-Ecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences and Advisor to the Minister, Ministry of Nature and Environment). They were accompanied by: Mr. Palgi Gyamcho and Mr. Toch-Toch Gyamcho (U.S. Escort Interpreters). The Mongolian Ministry of Nature and the Environment has been working to develop a pollution discharge permit system. They wish to observe how U.S. authorities use discharge permits to control pollution from several specific industries. The delegation will make site visits to observe permit regulations and procedures and to discuss the discharge permit management and policy with government officials and industry representatives. They are also interested in learning about methods and instruments used to measure, monitor, and analyze pollution discharge. NREL speakers at this meeting include: Jim Ellis, Mike Coughenour, Dennis Ojima, Lindsey Christensen, Robin Kelly, Becky McKeown and Rocky Coleman.

Jill Baron, and the Resource Management and Interpretation Divisions of Rocky Mountain National Park, organized and held the first ever Rocky Mountain National Park All-Scientists Meeting in Estes Park, CO, June 9-10. Tom Hobbs was the Plenar speaker. Many NREL scientists and students gave excellent presentations and posters, including Romulo Menezes, Geneva Chong, Mohammed Kalkhan, Dan Binkley, Tom Stohlgren, Lisa Schell, Cyndi Brock, Eric Allstott, Melannie Hartman, Jan Cipra, Jill Baron and Francis Singer.

Jill Baron will present the paper "The Influence of Land Cover and Temperature Change on Hydrological and Ecosystem Dynamics in the South Platte River Basin in a Special Session on Water Resources and Potential Climate Change" at the American Water Resources Association and University Consortium on Water Research meeting in Keystone, CO, June 29-July 3. Co-authors of the paper include Melannie Hartman, Dennis Ojima, Tim Kittel, Richard Lammers, Larry Band, and Roger Pielke.

NATIONAL

Keith Paustian attended a meeting with collaborators on the USDA/NRCS project who are analyzing carbon sequestration with conservation management practices in Iowa, Feb. 5-6 in Des Moines. Keith then traveled to the Dept. of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Riverside, Riverside, CA, Feb. 19-23 and gave an invited seminar titled "Adventures in Modeling Soil Organic Matter: Research and Policy Appication at Local and Regional Scales."

Deb Coffin attended a meeting on establishing U.S.-Mexico LTER connections and developing joint proposals at the Sevilleta LTER on March 31-April 5.

Keith Paustian gave an invited seminar on April 11 at the University of Wyoming titled "Assessing Agriculture's Potential to Sequester C for Mitigation of Anthropogenic CO2 Emission: A Case Study of the CRP."

Diana Wall Freckman attended the Seventh Annual Cary Conference "Successes, Limitations, and Frontiers in Ecosystem Ecology," in Millbrook, NY, May 5-9.

Jill Baron presented an invited paper titled "Sensitivity of Rocky Mountain Watersheds to Climate Variability" at the 5th annual meeting of the National Watershed Coalition in Reno, NV, May 18-19.

Mike Coughenour, Francis Singer and Jim Detling participated in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range Management Forum held by the BLM and USGS/BRD in Billings, MT on May 7-8. The three researchers have been involved in research in the Pryor Mountains/Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area for 3-5 years. Jim Ellis also attended the conference.

Dennis Ojima, Chuluun Togtohyn and Laura Stretch attended a TEAL-GANA workshop May 21-24 in Sioux Falls, SD. The workshop was to develop land cover database for the GANA research area.

Tim Kittel, Dave Schimel, Dennis Ojima and Bill Parton attended the U.S. Government Agency Briefing on VEMAP in Arlington, VA, May 20. Dave gave a keynote talk titled "The Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project" and Tim gave a presentation titled "The VEMAP Phase 2 Historical Climate Database."

A number of NREL-ers (Ted Elliott, Diana Wall Freckman, Serita Frey, Romulo Menezes, Bob Niles, Andy Parsons, Johan Six, and Amy Treonis) attended the Soil Ecology Society 1997 Conference "Soil Ecology: Understanding and Preserving Soil Systems" on May 27-30 at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. Talks included: "Rationale for Bioindicators of Soil Health by Ted Elliott; Bacterial and Fungal Abundance and Biomass in conventional and No-tillage Agroecosystems" by Serita Frey (with Ted Elliott and Keith Paustian); and "A Comparison of Primary Producer-based and Detritus-based Food Chains" by John Moore (with Peter De Ruiter). Posters presented included: "Resolving the Small-scale and Large-scale Patterns of Nematode Distribution Within Alfalfa Plants and Fields in Colorado" (R.K. Niles and D. Wall Freckman); "Unwinding the Coil: The Relationship Between Soil Moisture, Salinity, and Nematode Anhydrobiosis in Taylor Valley, Antarctica" (A. Treonis, D. Wall Freckman and R.A. Virginia); "Glucosamine and Muramic Acid Pattern in Conventional and No-tillage Agroecosystems" (G. Guggenberger, S.D. Frey, E.T. Elliott, K. Paustian and W. Zech); "Effects of Productivity on the Trophic Structure of Detritus-based Food Webs of Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, SD" (R.D. Jesser and J.C. Moore); "Influence of Substrate Type on Growth and Activity of Certain Soil Micro-fungi" (G.M. Lipari and J.C. Moore); "Agrosylvopastoralism in Semi-arid Northeastern Brazil: Do Trees Lead to Sustainability in These Systems?" (R.S.C. Menezes, I.H. Salcedo and E.T. Elliott); "Impacts of Managed Grazing on Mycorrhizal Associations in Mountain Ecosystems" (J.M. Sipes, R.D. Jesser, J.G. Osborne, S. Davis and J.C. Moore); and "Aggregation and Sequestration of SOM in Cultivated and Native Grassland Soils" (J. Six, E.T. Elliott and K. Paustian).

Diana Wall Freckman, member of the Advisory Committee, reviewed the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Environmental Science Division.

Mike Coughenour was one of four panelists presenting information to the Summer Meeting of the Society for Range Management in Billings, on the topic "Natural Regulation in Yellowstone National Park." NREL alumnus Rod Heitschmidt was the principal organizer of the meeting.

Dennis Ojima and Robin Kelly traveled to the Ponca City, OK area, June 2-4, to sample soils and vegetation near two flux towers (one in a wheat field, the other in a tallgrass system) in collaboration with Shashi Verma (University of Nebraska, Lincoln).

INTERNATIONAL

Keith Paustian and Dennis Ojima traveled to Tsukuba, Japan, March 1-6, as invited participants at the International Workshop on "Evaluation of Soil Processes on Carbon Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems and Their Modeling." Dennis co-chaired the session on Global Carbon Modeling. Since returning, they have completed a follow-up report on their visit.

Diana Wall Freckman chaired the SCOPE meeting on "Soil and Sediment Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning" in Wageningen, the Netherlands, April 4-12. Alan Covich was one of the 40 international participants.This was the first integrative workshop of scientists studying soils, freshwater sediments and marine sediments and was the first to emphasize the functional significance of specific organisms and taxa across the 3 domains and the ecosystem services they represent.

The SR-CRSP project, funded by USAID, held a second workshop in Nairobi, May 21-24 on "Developing a Decision Support System for Integrated Assessment of Pastoral-Wildlife Interactions in East Africa." The first workshop was held there in February. Assessment team members included: Mike Coughenour (PI), Kathy Galvin (co-PI), Jim Ellis, Ann Magennis, Dennis Child, Jim DeMartini and Larry Rittenhouse from CSU, and Terry McCabe and Bob Davis from CU.

Dennis Ojima participated in the 1997 Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Research Community IIASA in Vienna, Austria on June 12-14.

New Employees

Jill Baron's Loch Vale project has three Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) students for the summer: Matt Ridge from Adams State College, Julie Hawkins from CSU, and Toby Minear from Colorado College. In addition to conducting research in Rocky Mountain National Park, all will participate in the CSU Interdepartmental Water Resources Site REU program. Welcome to NREL!!!

Dr. Charles Rhoades will begin a post-doc with Dan Binkley and Bob Stottlemyer (USGS/BRD). Chuck completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dave Coleman at the University of Georgia, where he worked on the effects of reforestation on soil fertility in Ecuador. Chuck will be housed at the U.S. Forest Service laboratory on Prospect St., but will be seen around NESB frequently. His new work will focus on long-term ecological research in biogeochemistry at Fraser Experimental Forest (Colorado) and in the Noatak National Preserve (Alaska).

Kumi Suzuki has joined Deb Coffin's project as a student hourly programmer for the summer.

Tom Stohlgren has hired three summer field teams of undergraduate students for his projects. The "Plains Project" is headed by Kelly Bull. Kelly will be assisted by Cindy Villa, Yuka Otsuki, Dennis McCrumb, Stephanie Nelley and Michelle Hart. Their project is developing a multi-agency, multi-scale vegetation sampling program for the Central Grasslands. The "Landscape-scale Gap Analysis" project is headed by Geneva Chong. Geneva's team includes Cindy Hindes, Paige Lynch, and Roger Miller. Geneva and her team are busy in the third field season of multi-scale vegetation sampling in Rocky Mountain National Park. The information will add an herbaceous layer to the Park vegetation map that is currently based on tree cover. This new map will provide a much better representation of vascular plant biodiversity in the Park. The "Exclosure Project" is headed by Lisa Schell. Lisa is joined by Brian VandenHuevel and John Moeny in the second and final field season, which involves quantifying native and exotic plant species diversity and their interactions with livestock and wildlife grazing. This is a multi-state, multi-agency effort that involves vegetation sampling in colorado, Wyoming and Montana, with the cooperation of the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management. This field work provides research data to support Lisa's Masters in Environmental Studies at Prescott College in Arizona.

Remember When????

NREL Alumni Comments

Lawrence C. Bliss, Professor Emeritus of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

I still remember the first meeting to help organize the grassland ecosystem IBP project. I nearly missed the plane in Champaign for we had overslept that morning. In fact, I pleaded at the airport to have them again lower the stairway so that I could get on the plane bound for Chicago. That first meeting went quite well as I recall and it was good to see the Pawnee grassland site. I had become very interested in grasslands, thanks to the grassland remnants in Illinois and the fact that Bob Redmann was completing his research on mixed prairie in North Dakota.

The years of 1965-68 were exciting ones, helping to organize all of the U.S. IBP studies and then moving to Alberta where I then organized the Canadian Arctic study. From 1970-1996 we conducted research on Devon Island nearly every summer. We had our last field season of research on the polar deserts last year and are now writing up the details.

Philip H. Crowley, Thomas Morgan School of Biological Sciences and Center for Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, Lexington, KY

Many thanks for the invitation to your anniversary extravaganza. I won't be able to come -- but it looks like great fun. Like many of us in my age bracket, I was heavily involved in IBP models for a while (Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome, in my case), and learned an amazing amount from the experience. It's nice to see that your entire lab is an outgrowth of the IBP effort, which really left quite a legacy. Best wishes for a fabulous reunion!

Visitors

Dr. John Antle, Northern Plains and Rockies Center for the Study of Western Hemisphere Trade, Montana State University, visited NREL on April 7. He met with Ted Elliott and Keith Paustion to discuss collaborative work on the NIGEC project.

Dr. John Doran, University of Nebraska, met with Keith Paustian and Ted Elliott at NREL to discuss preparation of a synthesis paper for work done at Sidney, NE.

Dr. Bruce Winterhalder, Anthropology Department, University of North Carolina, visited NREL, April 9-11, as part of the Visiting Distinguished Lecturer Ecology Series.

Dr. Christopher B. Field, Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institute of Washington, visited CSU and met with members of the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, April 22-25. He also presented a Colloquium in Life Sciences Lecture.

Dr. Brian Baer, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University, visited NREL May 5-9, to collaborate on the SALUS cropping systems model. He was sponsored by Keith Paustian and Kendrick Killian.

Mrs. Wren Wirth, Washington, DC, visited NREL on May 27.

Dr. Ross Virginia and graduate student Melody Brown Bukins, will be visiting NREL and attending the McMurdo Dry Valley LTER meeting at the University of Colorado, June 21-26.

NREL Seminars

April 4: Dave Schimel, NREL & NCAR. "The Ecology and Economics of Stabilizing Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases."

April 11: Vern Cole, NREL. "Assessment of Potential Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases in Agriculture: A Challenge for Ecological Studies."

April 18: Diane Waddle, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, CSU. "Prehistoric Migrations and the Origin of Modern Humans."

April 25: Gary Lear, NADP. "Atmospheric Deposition."

May 2: Mohammed Kalkhan, NREL. "Linking Multiphase Sampling and Spatial Cross-Correlation to Assess Map Accuracy and Patterns of Plant Species Richness."

May 9: Jim Ellis, NREL. "Implications of spatial Scale for Diversity, Stability, and Productivity - Lessons from South African Game Ranching."

NO SEMINARS ARE SCHEDULED FOR THE SUMMER!!

Graduate Student News

Cyndi Brock successfully defended her master's research thesis titled "Sulfur Isotope Methods as an Approach to Sulfur Dynamics in a Subalpine Wetland, Loch Vale Watershed" on May 14. Cyndi's major professor is Jill Baron. Congratulations, Cyndi!!!

Amy Treonis attended a 2-week soil nematode identification course, June 2-13, taught by Dr. Tom Bongers at Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands.

Geneva Chong received the rare honor of a second year of funding from a CSU Colorado Fellowship. Incoming GDPE student Shannon Rochelle (advised by Anna Schoettle and Dan Binkley) was also a recipient of a CSU Colorado Fellowship.

Jason Kaye, an incoming GDPE student (advised by Dan Binkley) will arrive in July. Jason recently published a review article in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (with his MS advisor, Steve Hart) on "Competition for Nitrogen Between Plants and Soil Microorganisms." Tree 12:139-143.

Serita Frey gave a guest lecture discussing the importance and role of soils to world food production for Dr. Robert Zimdahl's undergraduate course on world population and food.

Gyuri Kroel-Dulay, Tamara Hochstrasser and Deb Coffin won the best poster award for the CSU Graduate Student Symposium, March 27-28. Gyuri and Magdi Kroel-Dulay returned to Hungary after 10 months of studying with Deb Coffin at CSU.

Rich Alward was awarded the Shortgrass Steppe LTER Summer Research Fellowship and a GDPE Reserch Award to help cover expenses on his research in climate change effects on plant and insect herbivore interactions. Rich also received a plaque at the GDPE Annual Spring Meeting in recognition of his Outstanding Student Contribution to the GDPE.

Heather Reuth, graduate student working in Loch Vale Watershed attended Jim Ehleringer's Ecological Applications of Isotope Chemistry intensive class in Salt Lake City, UT, June-July 3.

Grants Funded

United States Geological Survey/BRD

Tom Stohlgren was funded $124,803 by USGS/BRD to study the exposure of breeding sheep herds to heavy metals, primarily copper and potentially molybdenum and other metals. These heavy metals are carried from the site by the Alamosa River and onto the sheep pastures of the irrigated river valley.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Beth Holland received funding from NASA for the proposal titled, "The Bio-Atmospheric Cycles of Nitrogen and Carbon: Linking Global Air Pollution and Terrestrial Ecosystems." Bill Parton received a subcontract amount of $82,500. The project will study the earth's nitrogen cycle perturbation. N deposition, from the release of both NOx and NHx is fertilizing the Earth's biosphere, generating another perturbation of the global carbon cycle. The proposed work will examine linkages between the perturbed global atmospheric and terrestrial biospheric nitrogen and carbon cycles using 3-D chemical transport models (CTMs), in situ data, and ecosystem biogeochemical models. The project will evaluate how changes in land use will impact global atmospheric chemistry and how they will influence the function and sustainability of the terrestrial biosphere.

Dennis Ojima received funding from NASA for a Workshop on the Development of a Temperate East Asia Land-Cover Database.

National Science Foundation

Dan Milchunas, Diana Wall Freckman and Bob Niles received $450,000 from the NSF/Environmental Geochemistry & Biogeochemistry Program for the proposal "Biotic Controls on Soil C Dynamics and N Cycling Under Elevated CO2." This project will study the impact of a doubling of atmospheric CO2 on shortgrass steppe biogeochemistry. The focus is on carbon and nitrogen dynamics in the belowground ecosystem, and links plant allocation, belowground foodweb, and soil nutrient cycling processes and feedbacks. The information will be used to predict impacts of rising atmospheric CO2 on the capacity of shortgrass steppe rangelands to sustain plant and animal productivity in relation to climate change scenarios. The region studied includes most of eastern Colorado and parts of Wyoming and New Mexico.

Kathy Galvin and Jim Ellis received $242,408 in funding from NSF for their proposal titled "Land Use Change in the East African Savannas: A Case Study of Northern Tanzania." This project will study issues of conservation and human ecology in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) and the adjacent area of Loliando. They will discern how current conservation policies affect Maasai land use patterns and how these, in turn, influence human well-being, land cover and wildlife habitat. The study will estimate the current status of pastoralists in the NCA and Loliando, and project their welfare in the future. This has major implications for biodiversity and how we go about the business of community based conservation.

Deb Coffin was awarded $47,380 in funding from NSF/Career Advancement Awards for Women. This is a subcontract with the University of New Mexico and will enable Deb to to use GIS with simulation models to analyze landscape level vegetation patterns. The project will allow a better understanding and prediction of dynamics at grassland-shrubland ecotones in Colorado.

Indy Burke, G. Maciel (Chemistry Dept.), and Bill Lauenroth received a grant from NSF/ Ecosystems for $900,000 (with $177,000 going to a collaborator, Dale Johnson, at the Desert Research Institute). The proposal is titled "Ecosystem Significance of Soil as a Long Term Sink for Anthropogenic Additions of Nitrogen."

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Diana Wall Freckman and Bob Niles received an award of $284,022 from USDA/CSREES/IPM Western Region/Systems Research to fund their proposal titled "GIS to Determine Alfalfa Stem Nematode Occurrence and Alfalfa Disease Risk in the South Platte Basin." This project will study the stem nematode (Ditylenchus dipsaci), which incites the most important disease of alfalfa in Colorado and constitutes an emerging issue in the state's agriculture. The proposed research would apply GIS technology to nematode disease in Weld and Larimer Counties and develop a risk assessment model. The project enables environmental and management variables to be combined with data on disease and nematode incidence, at the scale of irrigated crop landscapes, for the purpose of formulating hazard assessments at the scale of individual producer's fields.

National Park Service

Tom Stohlgren and Dan Binkley received funding from the National Park Service to study aspen in and adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park. Aspen is a keystone ecosystem (i.e., high in plant, butterfly, and bird diversity; important for tourism, recreation, and local economies; and elk). Monitoring aspen in Rocky Mountain National Park is important to scientists, Park Managers and the public. This project is part of a larger USGS effort to develop an integrated Inventory and Monitoring Plan for the natural resources in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Department of Energy/ NIGEC

Dennis Ojima was funded $76,189 by DOE/NIGEC for the OSTP and USGCRP regional workshop for the Great Plains titled "Regional Climate Change Impacts on the Great Plains."

Proposals Submitted

An NSF LeXen proposal titled "Soil Communities in an Antarctic Desert: Biodiversity and Response to Environmental Change," R. Virginia, PI, was submitted to NSF/Dartmouth College by Diana Wall Freckman and Andrew N. Parsons.

John Gross, John Loomis and Dave Theobald submitted a proposal titled "Economics of Agricultural Land Conversion: Effects on Amenity Values of Wildlife" to USDA/NRI/Funds for Rural America.

Dennis Ojima submitted a proposal titled "U.S. Participation in IMGRASS" to NASA/Florida State University.

Bill Parton submitted a proposal to NASA titled "The Bio-Atmospheric Cycles of Nitrogen and Carbon: Linking Global Air Pollution and Terrestrial Ecosystems."

A proposal titled "CMEAL2: A Community Approach to Analyzing and Integrating Multi-Factor Global Change Experiments" was submitted by Bill Parton to DOE.

Tom Stohlgren submitted a proposal to USGS/BRD titled "Summitville Mine Ecological Risk Assessment: Soil, Vegetation, and Livestock Exposure Investigation."

A proposal titled "Developing Soil C Sequestration as a Commodity for CO2 Emission Mitigation in U.S. Agriculture" was submitted to USDA/CSREES/Funds for Rural America by Keith Paustian.

Manuscripts Published

Binkley, D. 1997. Bioassays of the influence of Eucalyptus saligna and Albizia falcataria on soil nutrient supply and limitation. Forest Ecology and Management 91:229-234.

Binkley, D. and P. Hogberg. 1997. Does atmospheric deposition of acidity and nitrogen threaten Swedish forests? Forest Ecology and Management 92:119-152.

Blair, J.M., P.J. Bohlen and D.W. Freckman. Soil invertebrates as indicators of soil quality. In: Methods for Assessing Soil Quality. SSSA Special Publication 49, Madison, WI.

Elliott, E.T., K. Paustian and S.D. Frey. 1996. Modeling the measurable or measuring the modelable: A hierarchical approach to isolating meaningful soil organic matter fractionations. In: D.S. Powlson, P. Smith, and J.U. Smith (eds.) Evaluation of Soil Organic Matter Models. NATO ASI Series, Vol. 138, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Elliott, E.T. and K. Paustian. 1996. Why site networks? In: D.S. Powlson, P. Smith, and J.U. Smith (eds.) Evaluation of Soil Organic Matter Models. NATO ASI Series, Vol. 138, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Epstein, H.E., W.K. Lauenroth, I.C. Burke and D.P. Coffin. 1996. Ecological responses of dominant grasses along two climatic gradients in the Great Plains of the United States. Journal of Vegetation Science 7:777-788.

Epstein, H.E., W.K. Lauenroth, I.C. Burke and D.P. Coffin. 1997. Productivity patterns of C3 and C4 functional types in the U.S. Great Plains. Ecology 78:722-731.

Freckman, D.W. and R.A. Virginia. 1997. Low-diversity Antarctic soil nematode communities: Distribution and response to disturbance. Ecology 78:363-369.

Gross, J.E., P.U. Alkon and M.W. Demment. 1996. Nutritional ecology of dimorphic herbivores: digestion and passage rates in Nubian ibex. Oecologia 107:170-178.

Kelly, R.H. and I.C. Burke. 1997. Heterogeneity of soil organic matter following death of individual plants in shortgrass steppe. Ecology 78:1256-1261.

McKnight, D.M., R. Harnish, R.L. Wershaw, J.S. Baron and S. Schiff. 1997. Chemical characteristics of particulate, colloidal, and dissolved organic material in Loch Vale Watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park. Biogeochemistry 36:99-124.

Paustian, K., E.T. Elliott, E.A. Paul, H.P. Collins, C.V. Cole, and S.D. Frey. 1996. The North American site network. In: D.S. Powlson, P. Smith, and J.U. Smith (eds.), Evaluation of Soil Organic Matter Models. NATO ASI Series, Vol. 138, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Paustian, K., E.T. Elliott, G.A. Peterson and K. Killian. 1996. Modelling climate, CO2 and management impacts on soil carbon in semi-arid agroecosystems. Plant and Soil 187:351-365.

Rosenbloom, N. and T.G.F. Kittel. 1996. A User's Guide to the VEMAP Phase I Database. NCAR Technical Note NCAR/TN-431+IA, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO. 53 pp.

Ryan, M.G., D. Binkley, and J.H. Fownes. 1997. Age-related decline in forest productivity: pattern and process. Advances in Ecological Research 27:213-262.

National Park Service (NPS) U.S. Congress Report. 1997. (Two parts). Effects of Grazing by Wild Ungulates in Yellowstone National Park. Tech. Rep. NPS/NRYELL/NRTR/96-01. Francis Singer (ed.), and Yellowstone's Northern Range: Complexity and Change in a Wildland Environment. National Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs, WY (a summary document).

Outreach

Diana Wall Freckman spent time on April 18 reading to students in grades K-6 at Tavelli Elementary School as part of Tavelli's "Dream Team" program.

Jill Baron helped lead a field trip of 4-6 graders from Rivendell Elementary School to Rawhide Power Plant on April 17.

Andy Parsons gave a talk about Antarctic research to the City International Center at the Fort Collins Library on May 13.

Geneva Chong gave a presentation on Honduras to the Holderness Central School 2nd grade (Holderness, NH) on May 23.

NREL News Notes will be published every two months. Please submit your news items to Kay McElwain (Editor) by the last Monday of each month.