STRI NEWS stri.si.edu/sites/strinews
AUG 15, 2014
This concrete weir is used to measure outflow from one of the streams in the Agua Salud experiment. New funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation will support studies to understand how land use affects water availability.
NEW FUNDS FOR PANAMA CANAL WATERSHED STUDY Some seven years ago, STRI embarked upon the Agua Salud project, a long-term, landscape-level experiment to understand how land use choices in the Panama Canal basin will affect water availability, carbon storage, soil fertility and biodiversity—vital environmental services likely to be affected by climate change in coming decades. The project builds upon 100 years of Smithsonian tropical forest research in the Panama Canal basin. STRI is pleased to announce that the Agua Salud project team has been awarded $2.89 million by the US National Science Foundation towards new hydrological and social science research. The award will fund an interdisciplinary team from the University of Wyoming, Yale University, the University of Colorado, the University of Alberta, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), and the National Environmental Authority of Panama (ANAM) to study how land uses—mature forest, pastureland, reforestation with native tree species or teak, or deforestation--affect water flow. The grant also funds new research on land-owner and institutional behavior. These decision makers Cover photo by Christian Ziegler
ultimately make the choices that determine how land is managed. Linking incentive schemes, such as payment for environmental services, to new hydrological models will allow researchers to forecast the impact of land use on water flows and to work with land owners to achieve optimum land use solutions. “This NSF award fits into the concept of Smart ReforestationTM and validates Agua Salud as a leading, innovative project offering a deeper understanding of tropical hydrology and the impacts of land-management practices on ecosystem services,” said STRI director, Matthew Larsen. “ Fred Ogden, STRI Associate Scientist and faculty member at the University of Wyoming leads the grant team. Staff Scientist Jefferson Hall will direct activities in Panama. They are joined by co-PI’s Eli Fenichel, Yale University, and Holly Barnard, University of Colorado. Team members include Vic Admonowicz (University of Alberta), Brent Ewers (University of Wyoming), and Bob Stallard (STRI and the US geological Survey), among others.
Este vertedero hidraúlico de concreto se utiliza para medir el flujo de agua de una de las corrientes en el experimento de Agua Salud. Un reciente financiamiento por parte de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencia de los Estados Unidos apoyará estudios para comprender cómo el uso del suelo afecta la disponibilidad de agua.
SEMINARS CTFS-SCIENCE TALK
Tues., Aug. 19, 10:30am Brian Sedio STRI Tupper Large Meeting Room How can we utilize mass spectrometry chemical networks to study chemical ecology at the scale of a tropical forest tree community?
TUPPER SEMINAR
Tues., Aug. 19, 4pm Ed Tanner Cambridge University Tupper Auditorium Forty year of change, including a hurricane, in Jamaican montane forest
BAMBI SEMINAR
Thur., Aug. 21, 7:15pm Egbert Leigh STRI Barro Colorado Island Why Biologists should Care about Bats