Athens, Ohio - Global climate change is a topic that thousands of geologists, biologists, and atmospheric scientists have been studying intensively for the last century. Although scientists have reached consensus that our global climate is changing, and that human activities are influencing climate, the jury is still out on the context. Are these new changes out of context with the geologic past? How do ecosystems respond to changing climate?

Researchers study the possible consequences of climate change by breaking the problems down into manageable chunks such as air and water quality, global average temperature, and plant and animal life.

One such research initiative of the National Science Foundation is the Biosphere Atmosphere Research and Training (BART) program. This multidisciplinary doctoral training program is designed to assist a new generation of scientists in conducting research at the intersection of biospheric and atmospheric sciences.

Megan Bourbeau Swan, BS 1998, biology, College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University, has been awarded a BART fellowship in the amount of $30,000 per year, which also includes support for travel, equipment and supplies, and her tuition and fees.

Swan will be returning to Ohio University this fall to work with Kim J. Brown, assistant professor of environmental and plant biology, to investigate water usage in the Populus grandidentata Michx. or bigtooth aspen. The Bigtooth aspen is a small to medium sized tree native to the upper Midwest that is important for regenerating forest cover, protecting soil and slower growing species. Bigtooth aspen also provides important habitat and food for wildlife -- many animals browse the twigs and buds in winter and spring.

Swan is currently completing a master's degree at Montana State University in Bozeman, where she is looking at water use and root morphology of an invasive grassland forb, a broad-leaved herb other than grass, which grows in fields, prairie or meadow.

Because Swan is interested in plant water use, she began talking with Brown about a project at the Dysart Woods laboratory. They envisioned a project involving water use in trees, and how that relates to potential adaptations to global climate change. Brown thought such a project would be eligible for a BART fellowship and the two put an application and research prospectus together.

"Needless to say, I am really excited about this opportunity," says Swan. "I believe that interdisciplinary training is vital to developing scientists today, as we become more and more aware of the linkages between historically separate scientific disciplines." She is looking forward to joining Brown's lab and, as BART awards are interdisciplinary, she will also work with Valerie Young, associate professor of chemical engineering, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, on the biosphere-atmosphere interface.

The project will compare water flux in bigtooth aspen in the south end of its native range (i.e. Dysart Woods) and at the north end of its range. Swan will examine whole-tree water use at Dysart Woods and in northern Michigan. "Whole-tree water use is responsive to climate, and knowledge of differences between populations will help provide insight into how the distribution of bigtooth aspen might change in response to a warmer, drier Midwest, as predicted by a consensus of climate change models," says Swan.

Brown is also enthusiastic about Swan joining her lab and is honored that they were chosen to participate in BART, which will enable them to conduct this interesting and important research. Swan's research will add to the forest ecosystem work being done in Brown’s lab, where two other graduate students are currently studying aspects of climate change and forest ecosystem response.

For more information on the BART project see http://www.bart-wmich.org/
Department of environmental and plant biology web page: http://www.plantbio.ohiou.edu/
Dr. Kim J. Brown's laboratory web page: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~brownk4/