Environmental re太阳城娱乐城ers produce a stream of data

按上面的播放键观看视频

Freshwater ecosystems emit nearly 70 million metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere annually. “Or 70 million individual [plane] tickets from New York to Paris,阿曼达DelVecchia说, an assistant professor in the UNC 文理学院’ geography and environment department.

DelVecchia管理着 UNC-Chapel Hill Freshwater Ecology and Biogeochemistry Lab. 该实验室目前的研究, MacroGas项目, questions how different stream characteristics affect how much greenhouse gas is produced or released into the atmosphere from watersheds.

研究 in the DelVecchia lab uses data from the National Ecological Observatory Network. This National Science Foundation effort connects 28 freshwater sites nationwide, which pool their data to better understand how freshwater ecosystems in the U.S. 改变.

实验室的最新数据 suggests the highest concentrations of carbon dioxide are associated with warm, gentle-sloped streams — like the ones often found in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. 每年秋季, 冬天和春天, DelVecchia’s team of students and postdoctoral re太阳城娱乐城ers visit one of these streams — New Hope Creek in Durham — to capture a variety of measurements, 从水的速度到温度.

该实验室的重点是气体释放严重的地区, and their methods involve taking one measurement in an accessible and deep part of the stream. 他们做得越多, the more data and experience they will get — and the more she hopes to refine current methods to fill the gap in biogeochemical re太阳城娱乐城.

阿曼达DelVecchia (Emmy Trivette/UNC 研究)

池的知识

测量他们的尺寸, DelVecchia’s team installs nine different sensors at the start and end of each pool in New Hope Creek to uncover how much carbon dioxide and oxygen releases into the atmosphere.

They use a homemade gas chamber that captures gases on top of the water and provides real-time data for emissions. PVC管构造, a plastic sampling bag and a bit of mechanical engineering, the chamber isolates gases coming off the water and provides an estimate of greenhouse gas flux.

This tool is managed by Nguyen Tien Anh Quach, a first-year doctoral student in DelVecchia’s lab.

“一开始，一切都是全新的，”Quach说. “I did not know what I was doing, just tagged along to learn about the methods. 但我知道它们对我的项目很有用.”

Quach’s previous work focuses on how insects interact with freshwater ecosystems. While he didn’t have a gas background going into MacroGas项目, he’s now a leader in the lab thanks to DelVecchia’s guidance. Soon he will begin fieldwork for his doctoral project to understand if and how freshwater macroinvertebrates contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

“She wants all her students to understand how these processes work,” Quach says. “如果你不明白, 或者她开得太快或太慢, 她会适应你的学习能力的.”

DelVecchia prioritizes her lab as a learning space. She offers a first-year seminar that includes optional fieldwork for students who want the experience.

“Many students are excited to get out there to collect samples and see the connections of what we’re doing in class,德尔维奇亚说. “I’ve always loved fieldwork so much, since my first summer in college. I feel very at home with those processes around me.”