Climatewire: The prairies and woodlands of North Texas soon will become part of a project to increase scientists’ understanding of climate change, biodiversity, species and pollution.
The Caddo-LBJ National Grasslands will join the National Ecological Observatory Network, a series of 20 eco-climatic domains that will be used to study the forces that affect ecosystems. The project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and has received $27 million in federal funding.
“It’s about understanding how those forces are then changing the way ecosystems function,” said Michael Keller, the nonprofit’s chief scientist. “And we are interested in how ecosystems function because we live off the products of ecosystems, whether it be wood from forests or food from farms or fresh water.”
Other domains include Yellowstone, western Massachusetts, northern Wisconsin and the Appalachians. At each site, researchers will use various technologies, as well as samples of plants, animals, insects, soil and water collected by hand, to measure ecology.
NSF needs final approval from its board and director before the plan heads to Congress for support. The network’s staff, currently at 65, will jump to 250 when the project reaches capacity in 2016 (Steve Campbell, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jan. 26). – EL