Climate change impacts on the earth's ecosystems will affect the daily life of all Americans. In the face of great uncertainty as to the details of those effects, policymakers need credible scientific findings to make decisions about how to respond to climate change. This project involves the continuation of an eight-year experiment testing how two different predictions for altered rainfall affect a northern California coastal prairie. An irrigation system adds water to grassland plots either in the winter (during the current rainy season) or the spring (extending the rainy season), allowing the researchers to document how microbes, plants and insects respond to simulated climate change.
This experiment will yield critical information about how best to manage grassland habitats for forage productivity, animal habitat, and the survival of rare plant species in the face of ongoing climate change. Furthermore, the project includes undergraduate researchers, helping to train the next generation of climate change scientists. Finally, undergraduates headed for a K-12 teaching career are involved in both the research and in developing teaching materials based on the project they can use in their future classrooms, further educating the public about climate change research.
