NAU awarded $1.5 million grant to examine how natural systems might adapt to increasing temperatures and invasive species – NAU News
Posted: September 2, 2020 at 10:59 am
The National Science Foundation has awarded Northern Arizona University a four-year, $1.5 million grant to examine survival strategies that natural systems might use to respond to the combined effects of environmental change and invasive species. The research effort is a collaboration among investigators at NAU, the Desert Botanical Garden and Arizona State University.
Owing to record increases in temperature and invasive species disturbance in Arizona and throughout the American Southwest, there is a pressing need to understand whether and how plants will be able to adapt to rapidly changing conditions owing to climate change.
Our overarching goal is to develop solutions to these threats using Fremont cottonwood, a foundation species that is recognized as being critically important for biodiversity conservation, said the projects principal investigator, Gery Allan, a professor of biological science and the Laboratory of Environmental Genetics and Genomics, and a member of the Center for Adaptable Western Landscapes (CAWL).
Our findings could serve as a model for adaptive management of arid regions around the world, including the familiar ribbon of green that accompanies rivers and streams in the western United States, Allan said.
This project will use a combination of experimental gardens composed of thousands of Fremont cottonwood trees and the National Ecological Observatory Networks (NEON) airborne remote sensing technology. The research team will examine the capacity these trees have to tolerate heat stress, drought and habitat disturbance caused by salt cedar, also known as tamarisk. Salt cedar is an invasive species that is a serious threat to riparian ecosystems in the Southwest.
Using NEONs airborne remote-sensing capabilities will allow us to scale measurements taken from greenhouse and common gardens to large parts of the Southwest, said Chris Doughty, one of the projects co-principal investigators and assistant professor of ecological and environmental informatics.
The team will build on techniques developed by project co-PI Greg Asner at Arizona State Universitys Asner Lab to critically evaluate the genetic responses of cottonwoods to environmental changes that occur across the species distribution.
Specifically, this study will determine if genetic differences among cottonwoods from warm to cool regions result in differing adaptive responses to a changing environment. For example, the research team will examine differing strategies cottonwoods use for regulating leaf temperature and carbon balance as an adaptive response to heat stress.
The research team also will investigate the ability of cottonwoods to produce naturally occurring hybrids that are better adapted to emerging conditions and the use of beneficial soil fungi to promote cottonwood survival in tamarisk-altered soils. The Desert Botanic Garden will develop the projects public outreach program, led by Kevin Hultine, one of the projects co-principal investigators.
This research is an outgrowth of three decades of work by NAU researchers in the field of community and ecosystem genetics using Fremont cottonwood trees. Cottonwoods support thousands of insects, birds and mammals, making their survival essential across the West, said Thomas Whitham, Regents professor of biological science, a co-principal investigator for this project and a CAWL member. I am very proud to be part of a research effort that offers potential solutions to climate change in Arizona and beyond for this critical species. I am equally proud that our research group is inclusive, creating opportunities for young female scientists like postdoctoral scholar Hillary Cooper and doctoral student Jaclyn Motyka Corbin, both part of the research team who contributed to the grants development.
CAWL was established as NAUs newest research center on May 5. CAWL seeks to promote robust scientific research to enhance sustainable management of ecological populations, communities and landscapes and to develop solutions to ecological problems across the American Southwest and Colorado Plateau.
Catherine Gehring, professor of biological science and co-director of CAWL, is also a co-PI on the project.
Lara M. SchmitCenter for Adaptable Western Landscapes
Continued here:
NAU awarded $1.5 million grant to examine how natural systems might adapt to increasing temperatures and invasive species - NAU News
- Saudi women making their mark in science - Arab News - January 19th, 2021
- Cannabis Genetics: Study Reveals Genes Related To Sex Modification In Feminized Plants - Benzinga - January 19th, 2021
- Biden picks geneticist as science adviser, puts in Cabinet - The Associated Press - January 19th, 2021
- Challenging The World! Meet The Saudi Women Scientists - Al-Bawaba - January 19th, 2021
- Low levels of alcohol intake linked to greater risk of atrial fibrillation - Hospital Healthcare Europe - January 19th, 2021
- Everything You Need To Know About Migraines - The Swaddle - January 19th, 2021
- Anorexia nervosa: Symptoms, causes, and treatment - Medical News Today - January 19th, 2021
- Girls and Autism: One of Lynne Malcolm's favourite programs - ABC News - January 19th, 2021
- Bryan Sykes, Who Saw the Ancient Past in Genes, Dies at 73 - The New York Times - January 9th, 2021
- Identical Twins Are More Genetically Different Than We Thought: Study - The Swaddle - January 9th, 2021
- A thematic analysis of experiences of HIV risks among female sex workers in the Yunnan-Vietnam Chinese border region - BMC Blogs Network - January 9th, 2021
- A Look at the Subversive Art of lisabeth Vige Le Brunand the One Gender-Bending Portrait That Has Kept Historians Guessing - artnet News - January 2nd, 2021
- Big rewards for Section II girls as basketball avenues increase - The Daily Gazette - January 2nd, 2021
- 2021 in books: what to look forward to this year - The Guardian - January 2nd, 2021
- Sex, Genetics, and the Relationship Between the Two in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network - December 30th, 2020
- What Is the Average Shoe Size for Women? Its Bigger Than You Might Think - Footwear News - December 30th, 2020
- 'Keep calm and develop vaccines': Meet the scientists behind the Oxford jab - Telegraph.co.uk - December 30th, 2020
- IAEA Highlights and Achievements in 2020 a Year in Review | IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency - December 30th, 2020
- New Year honours 2020: citizens awarded for response to pandemic crisis - The Guardian - December 30th, 2020
- St. Paul authors Fossil Men is a tale of discovery thats anything but old and dry - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press - December 30th, 2020
- East Idaho ranchers find strength in unified bull auction - Post Register - December 24th, 2020
- Burning sensation in lower abdomen: Causes and treatments - Medical News Today - December 24th, 2020
- World-record mountain goat shot with bow by Kansas native in Alaska - The Topeka Capital-Journal - December 24th, 2020
- How Researchers Hope to Save the Florida Scrub-Jay From an Inbreeding Crisis - National Audubon Society - December 21st, 2020
- Eddie Izzard praised after fans notice use of she/her pronouns in latest TV appearance - The Independent - December 21st, 2020
- Special report: Twenty extraordinary women blazing trails in biopharma R&D Covid-19 and beyond - Endpoints News - December 11th, 2020
- Hyperemesis Gravidarum researcher Dr. Marlena Fejzo is on a mission to understand women's health - Motherly Inc. - December 11th, 2020
- Loeffler claims she is the candidate who will create jobs - Yahoo News - December 11th, 2020
- Nobel Prize history from the year you were born - Albany Democrat Herald - December 4th, 2020
- Nobel Prize history from the year you were born - Kenosha News - December 3rd, 2020
- Genomics, gene-editing and the Blue Revolution - Pursuit - December 3rd, 2020
- How breeding can improve lice-eating efficacy of lumpfish in salmon farms - The Fish Site - December 1st, 2020
- 5G and 'Biohackers': Technology rules! (Is that a good thing?) - People's World - December 1st, 2020
- Aspira Women's Health, Inc. Announces a Collaborative Agreement with Baylor Genetics for the Co-Development of an Ovarian Cancer Early-Detection Test... - November 23rd, 2020
- New genetic tools will deliver improved farmed fish, oysters, and shrimp. Here's what to expect - Science Magazine - November 23rd, 2020
- Fitter and Faster: U of O alum Rachel McBride is breaking through barriers and championships - The Fulcrum - November 23rd, 2020
- Fearn farming family to run first online breeding cattle sale at turn of year - Northern Times - November 23rd, 2020
- A key to the mystery of fast-evolving genes was found in junk DNA - Science News - November 23rd, 2020
- The role of a data-analytics director in genomic discovery - Siliconrepublic.com - November 23rd, 2020
- Triangle headliners: Previewing 50 webinars & events coming up rest of this month - WRAL Tech Wire - November 23rd, 2020
- Face Shaving for Women: Pros and Cons, Best Practice Tips - Healthline - November 4th, 2020
- NASCAR's only female track president ready to host championship - The Athletic - November 4th, 2020
- Four Black WomenAll CEOsHave Created A 'Call To Action' To Close The Health Gap For Black Americans - Forbes - November 4th, 2020
- Breeding program 'being worked on' to boost caribou population in Jasper National Park Jasper's source for news, sports, arts, culture, and more -... - November 4th, 2020
- Angelika Amon, cell biologist who pioneered research on chromosome imbalance, dies at 53 - MIT News - November 3rd, 2020
- Berkeley Talks transcript: How Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' took on a life of its own - UC Berkeley - November 3rd, 2020
- UKZN boast its first black female graduate with a PhD in leisure and recreation - IOL - October 31st, 2020
- This Young Farmer Has Advice for Anyone Who Wants to Grow Food - Global Citizen - October 31st, 2020
- Help your health by taking breaks from stress - The Robesonian - October 31st, 2020
- Poor intimate hygiene linked to being one of the biggest causes of cervical cancer - Microbioz India - October 23rd, 2020
- Breastfeeding Won't Cause Your Breasts to Sag and Nine other Surprising Facts about Breasts - PR Web - October 23rd, 2020
- Female moles are intersex they have testicle-like tissue that helps them grow big and tough - CBC.ca - October 20th, 2020
- How to Stop Growing Taller and Why You Shouldn't - Healthline - October 20th, 2020
- Republican voters are taking a radical internet conspiracy theory into the mainstream - Economic Times - October 20th, 2020
- BreakPoint: Inventors of CRISPR win Nobel Prize, but should we 'rewrite the code of life'? - Chattanooga Times Free Press - October 18th, 2020
- Genetics of Height and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: A Mendelian Randomization Study - DocWire News - October 18th, 2020
- Women Rise Above with Launch of Pink Haze - PRNewswire - October 18th, 2020
- Female Moles Have 'Ovotestes' that Produce Testosterone That Make Them Excellent Diggers - News18 - October 18th, 2020
- New bison to join Catalina Island herd The Log - The Log Newspaper - October 18th, 2020
- More bison to join island herd - The Catalina Inslader - October 18th, 2020
- Woman with rare disease delivers healthy baby - The Hindu - October 10th, 2020
- Working-class ants take the reins when the Indian jumping ant queen dies - Massive Science - October 10th, 2020
- City of Hope leads novel clinical trial to treat cancer patients with COVID-19 - The Cancer Letter - October 10th, 2020
- Andrew Gammie's Westpit Limousin herd makes its mark - The Scottish Farmer - October 10th, 2020
- Everything About Hair Loss & DHT - The Ritz Herald - October 6th, 2020
- Sexcel The basis of a new plan! - Farming Life - October 6th, 2020
- Scientists use 16 genes to distinguish between two types of lethal pancreatic cancer - Massive Science - October 6th, 2020
- We Discovered a Missing Gene Fragment Thats Shedding New Light on How Males Develop - Gizmodo Australia - October 6th, 2020
- Lactose tolerance spread through Europe faster than previously thought - Massive Science - October 4th, 2020
- DNA found in caterpillar guts points to what they are eating - Massive Science - October 4th, 2020
- What is the COVID-19 polyclonal antibody treatment that President Trump took? - Massive Science - October 4th, 2020
- RCC partners with Upswing to provide increased academic support services - The Robesonian - October 4th, 2020
- How hybrids have upturned evolutionary theory - The Economist - October 2nd, 2020
- In Rita Colwell's Memoirs, a Reminder That Discrimination in Science Is Universal - The Wire Science - October 2nd, 2020
- The Science of Joint Health - What Causes Pain and How to Ease It - GoodHousekeeping.com - October 2nd, 2020
- In Disorders of the Heart and Brain, Does Sex Matter? - Medscape - October 2nd, 2020
- One Case of a Rare Eye Cancer Was Weird. When 4 More Appeared, the Town Knew Something Wasn't Right. - Mother Jones - October 2nd, 2020
- This years SN 10 scientists aim to solve some of sciences biggest challenges - Science News - October 2nd, 2020
- The aquatic chicken: tilapia genetics and their parallels with poultry - The Fish Site - September 30th, 2020
- Mutations That Affect Aging May Be More Common Than Previously Thought - Science Times - September 30th, 2020