ACRC awarded $500,000 grant

In February 2016 the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center was awarded a five-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop and facilitate the Coastal Rainforest Margins Research Network. This international network of scientists and stakeholders will study the interface between land and ocean, where fresh water and nutrients flow downstream from coastal watersheds into the nearshore marine environment. Because the movement of fresh water and nutrients plays a key role in these linked ecosystems, climate-driven changes in this flow may impact coastal ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. For example, ocean acidification may be worsened in coastal areas by increasing fresh water and glacial runoff, affecting some fisheries. The network will be composed of research communities organized within key disciplines, including hydrology, forest ecology, soil science, biogeochemistry, and near-shore marine ecology. These disciplinary communities will address critical information gaps, develop regional collaborations, and synthesize knowledge regarding water, carbon, and nutrient fluxes across the landscape.