FCE LTER Graduate Student Organization
The FCE LTER Graduate Student Organization was formed to promote interaction and information exchange among graduate students and provide an opportunity for students to exhibit their research. Currently, the group has undertaken an initiative to promote cross-site research among graduate students at the US Coastal LTER sites. These sites include Virginia, Plum Island, California, SC and Georgia. We will launch this initiative at the 2001 Estuarine Research Federation Biennial meeting in St. Petersburg in November. We have invited graduate students to participate in an informal meeting to discuss preliminary ideas for this cross-site research initiative. The goals of this meeting are to solicit interested graduate students to participate in cross-site research, select a working idea for a cross-site research proposal, and develop specific objectives to begin work on this initiative. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to request funding from the LTER network or NSF for cross-site research, to facilitate the participation of several graduate students outside of the FCE LTER student group to attend the second FCE LTER All Scientists Meeting, and to ultimately prepare a manuscript from this cross-site research initiative.
Tentative Ideas for Cross-site Research:
1) One prominent difference among Coastal LTER sites is the composition and abundance of coastal native plant communities. What are the factors influencing the dominance of the salt marsh ecosystem vs. mangrove swamps in the LTER Coastal zones?
2) All of the coastal LTER sites are concerned with changes in coastal ecosystems by an increase in sea level due to climate change. What are the predictions on ecosystem transformation by an increase in sea level at all the coastal LTER sites? What components of the ecosystem do they expect to first change?
3) Salt marsh systems are generally recognized as N-limited while the Everglades system is accepted to be P-limited. What mechanisms drive nutrient limitation in the Coastal LTER sites?
4) It has been generally assumed that there exists a strong relationship between soil and plant nutrients. However, nutrient indices of soil and plant nutrients sometimes suggest contrasting results. Compare and contrast the relationship of soil and plant nutrients in the coastal LTER sites, and how these indices relate to soil nutrient availability.