This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) will support research at the University of Arizona to investigate the potential impacts of drought and forest degradation on the Amazon rainforest's water cycling and susceptibility to tipping points. The $103,764 award, effective from February 2024 to January 2025, will fund field observations, data collection, and analysis to test three key hypotheses related to the Amazon's drought sensitivity and vulnerability to ecosystem-level collapse. The research aims to provide new datasets and insights to improve models for predicting when and how Amazon tipping points may occur, which could have substantial implications for regional weather patterns, water resources, and global climate. The project includes an educational component to connect U.S. high school students with Amazon researchers and real scientific data.
Generated 10/29/24, 5:17 AM