The National Science Foundation has awarded Northern Arizona University\u2019s College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences a four-year, $2.5 million grant to create the Southwest Experimental Garden Array.<\/p>\n
The garden array will be a system of 10 experimental gardens across northern Arizona that include habitat types from desert to alpine forests. The gardens will be used to examine how climate change will affect the ecology and evolution of individual plant species, plant communities and ecosystems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis facility holds the potential to create breakthroughs in our understanding of the genetic consequences of climate change on plants,\u201d said Regents professor\u00a0Tom Whitham<\/strong>, executive director of NAU\u2019s Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research and the project\u2019s principal investigator. \u201cIt will serve as model for the future and the start of an international effort for similar experimental arrays.\u201d<\/p>\n Raising the same plant genotypes\u2014plants with the same genetic makeup\u2014in an array of sites along an elevational gradient of temperature and moisture, scientists can examine how different genotypes perform under different climatic conditions.<\/p>\n The ability to identify genotypes most likely to survive and reproduce in a rapidly changing climate provides the basis for improving the success of efforts to restore ecosystems damaged by extreme disturbances such as severe droughts and fire.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opportunities created by this facility to enhance research and educational opportunities at Northern Arizona University are incredibly exciting,\u201d said\u00a0Laura Huenneke<\/strong>, vice president for research at NAU. \u201cNot only will the research community benefit, but our undergraduate and graduate students will gain training in climate science, ecology, genetics and much more.\u201d<\/p>\n The 10 gardens in the array will be established in partnership with the Arboretum at Flagstaff, National Forest Service, National Park Service, Babbitt Ranches, the Nature Conservancy and Walnut Creek Center for Education and Research.<\/p>\n Co-principal investigators on the grant are professor\u00a0Paul Flikkema<\/strong>, electrical and computer engineering; professor\u00a0George Koch<\/strong>, biological sciences; assistant research professor\u00a0Amy Whipple<\/strong>, biological sciences; and Brian Geils, USDA Forest Service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"