A fundamental quest for ecologists is to understand the complex interactions between ecosystems and climate. We want to predict how ecosystems will respond to changing temperature, precipitation and carbon dioxide concentrations, and, in turn, how ecosystems themselves can influence climate change. Enormous progress has been made toward this quest. However, although 20% of the earth's land surface, including many of the world's most productive ecosystems, is covered by mountains, almost all of the measurement tools currently available to examine metabolic processes of ecosystems can only be used on flat land. Do the concepts developed from "flat land" studies apply to mountainous terrain? To answer this question, we need new ways to study ecosystem processes. This project takes a novel approach: we propose to take advantage of "cold air drainage systems". Under certain conditions, cold air actually sinks and "drains" through mountainous systems, creating an airshed that is similar topographically as well as conceptually to a watershed. Just as water in watersheds carries dissolved materials, air within airsheds contains small particles and gases that it picks up along the airflow path. In this project we will focus on the concentration as well as tiny variations in the isotopic composition, or mass, a particular gas, carbon dioxide. An interdisciplinary team of scientists will closely examine air drainage systems, the carbon isotope composition of carbon dioxide in the drainage systems, and ecosystem metabolic processes. We will test the overall hypothesis that the variations in isotopes can be used as indicators of change in ecosystem metabolism.
The project will be installed in a long-term ecological research station that has well-developed educational programs for public schools, teachers and the general public. We anticipate that the "high tech" equipment installed within the forest for this project, as well as the projects goals, will be of broad interest and educational value.
