Project Grant 2425575

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $487,639 to the University of California, Berkeley to conduct long-term monitoring and research on plant community dynamics in the Colorado alpine biome. The project aims to assemble a unique long-term dataset on population and community changes in response to rapid environmental changes, such as climate change, to advance ecological theory and forecasting. Key activities include:

• Collecting annual whole-community demographic data (survival, growth, reproduction) for all 20 co-occurring plant species across 100 vegetation plots, including seedlings
• Acquiring annual remotely sensed multispectral imagery of the plots to expand the dataset using machine learning
• Conducting additional seed bank and seed rain studies to investigate species interactions and community assembly processes
• Developing integrated population and community models to understand dynamics in a variable environment and provide forecasts under climate change scenarios

The project will support five undergraduate researchers, a postdoctoral fellow, and a graduate student, as well as host two research community training workshops. The findings will be integrated into forecasting challenges and engage over 1,000 people annually through outreach at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.