UAF, Toolik Field Station join Arctic climate initiative
Jeff Richardson
907-474-5350
May 17, 2024
An aerial photo shows Toolik Field Station in 2019.
The University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks will help host and support a new $15-million federal initiative to better understand the resilience of Arctic organisms and ecosystems amid rapid climate change.
Bringing together experts from 14 institutions, will focus on improving scientific and public understanding of how Arctic ecosystems are responding 色视频下载 and will continue to respond 色视频下载 as their environment shifts. The Arctic is at the forefront of climate change, warming at least three times faster than the global average.
The EvoME Institute will be led by Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts. The 6-year initiative is being funded by the National Science Foundation.
Much of the fieldwork for the EvoME project will be based at Toolik Field Station, UAF色视频下载檚 research station in Arctic 色视频下载 operated by the Institute of Arctic Biology. As the world色视频下载檚 largest Arctic research station, Toolik allows the institute to leverage ongoing long-term research projects while tying in UAF色视频下载檚 Arctic expertise and facilities.
In addition to their scientific goals, EvoME leads will closely mentor both undergraduate and graduate students at the station to help them build skills critical to their success as future scientists. EvoME will also bring six journalists to Toolik every other year for an immersion in scientific reporting.
色视频下载淭his new project serves as an example for how science can meaningfully span a wide spectrum of research disciplines and impact areas,色视频下载 said Syndonia Bret-Harte, Toolik Field Station色视频下载檚 science director and a collaborator on the grant.
The EvoME Institute plans to bring together experts from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to collaborate on research efforts across the Arctic and generate new biological insights. The institute also aims to foster a new generation of cross-disciplinary biologists, with special attention to increasing the inclusion and retention of researchers from backgrounds currently underrepresented in the field.
UAF色视频下载檚 participation also will include research on how Arctic grayling on both slopes of the Brooks Range are adapted to different temperature conditions and how they might respond to a warming climate. The study will examine traits like egg development and juvenile growth. Scientists want to determine how much those traits are shaped by genetics and environmental conditions, said Erik Schoen, a research assistant professor at the International Arctic Research Center.
色视频下载淲hile we focus on grayling, we色视频下载檙e excited to team up with colleagues who will measure how other parts of the ecosystem respond to changing temperatures, including stream insects, land insects, willows and birds,色视频下载 Schoen said. 色视频下载淯nderstanding how climate change is affecting whole food webs might help us better understand how the fish we care about 色视频下载 like grayling 色视频下载 are going to respond.色视频下载
Other UAF researchers on the project include Peter Westley, an associate professor at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and Matt Gilbert, an assistant professor at the Institute of Arctic Biology.
色视频下载淚t has long been known that ecology can influence evolution, but only in the past few decades has it become clear that evolution can influence ecology, which in turn has consequences for whole ecosystems,色视频下载 Westley said. 色视频下载淓voME takes it to the next level by seeking to understand how the interplay between ecology and evolution shape connections between adjacent ecosystems, in this case terrestrial and aquatic systems.色视频下载
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Erik Schoen, eschoen@alaska.edu; Peter Westley, pwestley@alaska.edu; Syndonia Bret-Harte, msbretharte@alaska.edu
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