HR: 14:40h
AN: H33K-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Exploring Water in our World – experimental hillslopes in the Biosphere 2 Facility
AU: * Huxman, T E
EM: huxman@email.arizona.edu
AF: University of Arizona, B2 Earthscience University of Arizona PO Box 210077, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, United States
AU: Troch, P A
EM: patroch@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: University of Arizona, B2 Earthscience University of Arizona PO Box 210077, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, United States
AU: Breshears, D D
EM: daveb@email.arizona.edu
AF: University of Arizona, B2 Earthscience University of Arizona PO Box 210077, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, United States
AU: Saleska, S R
EM: saleska@email.arizona.edu
AF: University of Arizona, B2 Earthscience University of Arizona PO Box 210077, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, United States
AU: Chorover, J D
EM: chorover@cals.arizona.edu
AF: University of Arizona, B2 Earthscience University of Arizona PO Box 210077, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, United States
AU: Zeng, X
EM: xubin@gogo.atmo.arizona.edu
AF: University of Arizona, B2 Earthscience University of Arizona PO Box 210077, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, United States
AB: Over the next 10 years, The University of Arizona will explore the consequences of climate change and human pressures on water resources using the Biosphere 2 facility. By combing existing programs in ecology, hydrology and earth science, UA will construct an integrated, cross-disciplinary effort to mechanistically understand how water moves through soils, plants, and the atmosphere from the scale of individual molecules to that of whole- watersheds. UA will construct experimental landscapes within the Biosphere 2 facility, where the controlled environmental capabilities allow for the careful monitoring of the fate of water molecules as they move from rainfall, into soils, and either through plants or towards rivers. The ability to carry out experimentation at large spatial scales is unique and allows us to tackle two grand challenges in science – linking the biological and physical sciences, and predicting large-scale behavior from small scale understanding. Our new program tackles these issues head-on, using the unique attributes of Biosphere 2 and careful integration with historically strong research programs. The southwest is a unique "natural laboratory" for every discipline in ecology, hydrology and the earth sciences, which results in broad application of knowledge we generate with this new program.
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0426, 1610)
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 1813 Eco-hydrology
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting