UHCC Users Meeting 3 25 2016

Agenda Introductions Review of activities • research • education • outreach Research and education talks Status of funding plan Renovations New business

Research

Pristine prairie Restored prairie

Shell-rich area Invasive forest

Prather and Pennings: Plant communities

Crawford Lab: Do soil microbes structure coastal prairie communities?

Just starting work: 1. Does climate change alter the outcome of plant-soil feedback between

invasive and native plant species? (Anna Hawkins, PhD student)

2. Does the strength of plant-soil feedback predict plant community structure in coastal prairies?

Key Questions:

(1) What is the relative importance of host plant identity versus geographic or climatic

gradients in explaining variation in symbiont abundance and composition? (surveys)

(2) How strongly do host species identity and geographic origin influence the magnitude of

symbiont benefits across gradients of heat and drought stress? (experiments)

Parsing the effects of host plant specificity and geography

on plant-fungal symbioses under climate change

The Team:

Jennifer Rudgers (Univ New Mexico) Scott Collins (Univ New Mexico)

Andrea Porras-Alfaro (Western Illinois Univ)

Ari Jumpponen (Kansas State)

Jose Herrera (Western New Mexico Univ)

The Hypothesis:

The asymmetrical response of arid grassland NPP

to interannual variation in precipitation is mediated by symbioses with dark septate endophytes

Microsclerotia in

buffalo grass root

Replicated Latitudinal Transects 5 focal grass species: little bluestem, big

bluestem, buffalo grass, blue grama, black grama

Sampling root

endophytes via: Culturing

MiSeq

Microscopy

RESEARCH – Christopher Gabler, Univ Texas Rio Grande Valley (Pennings alum)

Fire + invasion ecology: Focus: Effects of fire intensity & burial depth on Chinese tallow tree seedbanks & germination Status: Data collection complete Funding: UHCC, NSF (Clements)

Restoration + invasion ecology 1: 1. Effects of soil moisture & native + invasive seed availability on community assembly and invasion 2. Effects of environment, exotic seed banks and management on restoration outcomes Funding: NSF DDIG, Rice, UH

Restoration + invasion ecology 2: Focus: Removal of tallow islands in otherwise contiguous prairie; various experiments to decipher best practices for seed addition and invasive plant control Status: seeking funding (EPA, etc.)

Evan Siemann, Rice

Annual collections of tallow tree seeds, and UHCC soil and plants, for studies of invasive tallow trees

Does hybridization increase rates of evolutionary adaptation? Whitney Lab, University of New Mexico

Two sunflower plots established at UHCC in 2008

Part of a multi-site study (3 sites across central Texas) Supported by NSF until 2018

Fig 1. Preliminary data from the experimental plots: a) average wind speed (1.5 m), b) daily average air temperature (1m), c) marsh plant cover, d) wrack range from water’s edge, e) total # of birds observed (all species combined), and f) change in soil organic matter content from the initial values.

Plot 10

Plot 9Plot 8

Plot 7Plot 6

Plot 5

Plot 4Plot 3

Plot 2Plot 1

22% mangrove cover

0% mangrove cover

Air

te

mp

era

ture

(oC

)

21.5

22.0

22.5

23.0

23.5

24.0

Adj R2=0.51

P=0.03

Mangrove cover (%)

Win

d s

pee

d (

m/s

)

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

Adj R2= 0.89

P<0.01

a) b)

Ma

rsh

pla

nt

co

ve

r (%

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Adj R2= 0.87

P<0.01

Wra

ck

ra

ng

e (

m)

0

10

20

30

40

Adj R2=0.59

P=0.04

c) d)

0 20 40 60 80 100B

ird

# o

bs

erv

ed

0

20

40

60

80

Adj R2=0.86

P<0.01

e)

0 20 40 60 80 100

Ch

an

ge in

SO

M (

%)

-3.0

-2.5

-2.0

-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

R2=0.72

P<0.01

f)

Mangrove spread on Texas Coast Pennings (UH), Armitage (TAMUG), Kominoski (FIU) laboratories

Are micronutrients important in structuring herbivore communities? A test in coastal tallgrass prairie

(Prather, Pennings, and Laws)

Large-scale fertilization experiment (N&P, Ca, K and Na)

Small-scale mechanistic experiments

Undergraduate research;

lectures; tours

We are interested in giving tours and lectures, involving undergrads in the project

Does grasshopper diversity affect grassland ecosystem function?

New USDA Seed Grant Angela Laws (UH), Chelse Prather (DU), Steve Pennings (UH), Dave Branson (USGS), Jayne Jonas (CSU), Mike Strickland (VT), Tony Joern (KSU)

Manipulate grasshopper diversity in field exclosures. Measure a variety of grassland ecosystem processes:

Productivity

Decomposition

Nutrient cycling

Soil microbial communities

Sex and Stoichiometry Tess Doumas and Diane Wiernasz

How do male and female Junonia coenia allocate limiting nutrients to maximize fitness?

H1. Males reared on diets with limited nitrogen and phosphorus will invest more heavily in traits that contribute to success in male-male competition over mates and in mate attraction

0 50000 100000 150000

PUGG

0

50000

100000

150000

NU

GG

A

A

B

B

C

C

D

D

E

E

FG

G

H

H

I

I

J

J

K

K

0.00.20.40.60.81.01.2

SOMA

Phophorus (ug/g)

Nit

roge

n (

ug

/g)

H2a. Females reared on diets with limited nitrogen and phosphorus will invest more heavily in traits that contribute to egg production

H2b. Females reared on diets with limited nitrogen and phosphorus will invest more heavily in traits that contribute to mate attraction

H3. Overwintering and summer forms may differ in nutrient allocation

Somatic Reproductive

Host-Parasite Life History and Genomics

Charles D. Criscione

Daphnia obtusa

William F. Font

NSF DEB # 1145508

Parasite life cycle studies

Impact of parasites on host-life history

Influence of host population dynamics on parasite life

history

Host-Parasite population genetics and genomics

Excysted adult fluke Alloglossidium anomophagis The only trematode known to infect water fleas. Only known location is UHCC.

Encysted flukes

Dr. Chris Chung and Dr. Lawrence Schulze Department of Industrial Engineering

Coastal Marine Applications

• Invasive lionfish management processes in the Gulf of Mexico

• Environmental Safety systems for the petroleum industry

Motivation and Research Goals HCC is an ideal location for conducting wildfire and fire behavior experiments--infrastructure and grass fuels. The 2006 FireFlux dataset is the international standard for fire model validation. Goal in 2013: obtain a new and comprehensive dataset for fire behavior and fire-atmosphere interaction research.

Craig Clements, San Jose St., 2013 FireFlux II Experiment

Ozone: Boundary Layer:

Obs

Large Eddy-Simulation (LES) initialized with

UHCC micrometeorology

Standard WRF-modeling for UHCC and UHMC

James Flynn, UH Bernhard Rappenglueck, UH Measurements of Wind Ozone CO PM2.5

Aerosol Optical Depth And more…

Model 1130 and 1135 sampling

units for gaseous oxidized mercury

(GOM) and particulate Hg (HgP).

Model 2537B detection system for

elemental Hg mounted inside the

trailer.

Robert Talbot’s group has measured speciated Hg and CO2 at the CC. They also participated in the controlled fire experiment in January 2013.

35x103

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

NO

, N

Oy,p

pb

v

3:10 PM1/30/2013

3:15 PM 3:20 PM 3:25 PM 3:30 PM

dat

600x103

500

400

300

200

100

0

CO

, pp

bv

10x103

8

6

4

2

CO

2 , pp

mv

100

80

60

40

20

CH

4, p

pm

v

80x103

60

40

20

0

TH

g,p

pq

v

NO NOy

CO CO2

CH4

THg

Controlled burn data from CC experiment .

Elemental Hg time series.

Vertical GPS array

-30 ft -20 ft -10 ft -1 ft

Guoquan (Bob) Wang

Data at http://www.unavco.org/data/gps-gnss/data-access-methods/dai2/app/dai2.html#

Education

Rob Stewart and Allied Geophysical Laboratories

2010 1st UH Coast Center 2-D, 3-C Seismic, GPR La Marque,TX

2012 2nd UH Coast Center 2-DSeismic, GPR, Gravity, Total station La Marque,TX

2013 La Marque new well test Well logging, VSP test (2 new wells built) La Marque, TX

1st Nautilus course 2-D Seismic, VSP, GPS La Marque, TX

Shear wave & new source test

(USAlliance.Inc) In-line, cross-line shooting La Marque, TX

Year Project Activity Location

2014

Feb 12-13 Noble borehole course VSP, well logging La Marque, TX

April Astronauts training Reconnoiter La Marque, TX

May 11-22 6th geophysical field camp Every thing geophysical La Marque, TX

Aug 17-23 2nd Nautilus course VSP, seismic La Marque, TX

Rob Stewart and Allied Geophysical Laboratories

2015

Spring Seismic petroleum VSP, well logging, seismic La Marque, TX

Summer 7th geophysical field camp Every thing geophysical La Marque, TX

Fall Multicomponent course VSP, seismic La Marque, TX

Winter 3rd Nautilus course VSP, seismic La Marque, TX

2016 Spring

Boat moved in Marine seismic La Marque, TX

Acquisition course Every thing geophysical La Marque, TX

May 18-26 8th geophysical field camp Every thing geophysical La Marque, TX

BIOL 4206, ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION LAB Larry Williams

In Spring Semesters two classes of 18 students use the Coastal Prairie of UHCC to assess the grassland as an example of quality Coastal Prairie. Students run line transects to collect data on species composition, cover, frequency of occurrence, and density to compare to another disturbed grassland. While at UHCC other aspects of field work such as encountered species are identified (hawks, coyotes, songbirds, raccoons, possums, etc.).

Identification Density Estimation

Field Biology (BIOL 2397) – Jun 6 to Jul 7, 2016 Ann Cheek

Community diversity Student Research Projects

UHD BIOL-CHEM-GEOL 4260 Environmental Lab and Field Studies Michael Tobin 2-3 visits Fall 2013, 2014, 2015

Small mammal foraging

Prairie soil sampling

Foraging patterns

Species-area curve sampling

Architecture—Patrick Peters

design by UH architecture student Roberto Roman

2015 UHCC master plan + buildings

Architecture—Patrick Peters 2015

UHCC master plan + buildings

design by UH architecture student Alejandra Cervantes, 2016 Merit Award, Fort Worth AIA

Architecture—Patrick Peters

2017 en/gulf interdisciplinary*

visions at the UHCC

*with Cheryl Beckett of School of Art, Creative Writing, and Mitchell Center for the Arts

A previous work of the Design/Build Collaborative, Dis(solve):: The Japhet Creek Project of Spring 2011 is a model for an installation of this kind, while it also takes advantage of the twenty-six year track record of project collaborator, the Graduate Design/Build Studio. The students will form interdisciplinary teams to conceive and create a full scale construction aimed at shaping the visitor's thinking about the place but also to provide shade, rain cover, a place to sit and read/write, and generally to experience in a focused/foregrounded manner an aspect of the landscape of this place.

Image of UHCC by UH architecture student Jocelyn Saravia, 2015

Science Education

• Wallace Dominey, UH, STEM Teaching Equity Project

• John Ramsey, UH

• Sissy Wong

Tom Holley, UH

We want to create opportunities for Petroleum Engineering classes at the UHCC

Pocket prairie at UH

Outreach • No NAS seed harvest this past year

• Hand harvests with Coastal Prairie Partnership

• Dr. Laws is doing prairie tours

Research and education talks

Status of Funding Plan

• UHCC paperwork in revision at Vice Provost

• In first year of 3 year distributed funding model, worked because of soil sales

• Basic budget short $30k out of $70k

• Perhaps provost, UHD, NSM, donors

• NSM development is trying

Renovation requests

• FSML proposal (Pennings and Wang) – Equipment and computer room

• Deferred maintenance proposal – Doors, paint

• UH maintenance staff – Septic system

• Internet improvements – Promised by summer

• Restore act – Prairie restoration proposal

• Need improved restroom facilities

New business

• Opportunities for research collaboration?

• Opportunities for more educational use?

• Other?