Project Grant 2143437

The National Science Foundation awarded Syracuse University a $165,223 Project Grant under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to compile and analyze over three decades of ecological data collected in Yellowstone National Park grasslands. The goals of the project are to: 1) compile 11 independent datasets measuring herbivore impacts on plant and soil processes into a single publicly accessible dataset, 2) determine the relative effects of climate, plant composition, soil properties, and herbivores on ecosystem processes, and 3) use the DayCent model to study the effects of these processes on soil carbon storage. The synthesis of these long-term data provides a rare opportunity to mechanistically understand how spatial and temporal variability interacts with large herbivores like elk and bison to influence grassland ecology. Project work will be completed by April 2024.