文/ Tiffany Whitfield
最靠谱的网赌软件 Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Taylor Sloey and several other ODU faculty members have been awarded a $350,由 国家鱼类和野生动物基金会(NFWF)长叶管理计划. 首席研究员Sloey, 以及ODU联合首席调查员尼克·弗兰德斯, manager of Blackwater Ecological Preserve; Assistant Professor Erik Yando; Professor Eric Walters; and a team of multi-agency interdisciplinary longleaf pine experts will use the grant to help restore more than 5,000英亩的长叶松栖息地遍布弗吉尼亚, 包括ODU在祖尼的黑水生态保护区.
The preserve was historically part of an extensive longleaf pine habitat that covered 93 million acres. 然而, 长叶松的栖息地急剧减少, 对数十种受威胁和濒危物种构成威胁. 有了NFWF的资助, ODU scientists and their partners will be able to restore longleaf pine habitat in one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the United States.
这笔拨款将支持ODU的工作, 大自然保护协会, Virginia Department of Conservation and 娱乐 and Virginia Department of Wildlife 资源 for two years starting in January 2024. 所有合作伙伴都承诺提供相应的资金，以使项目取得最大的成功.
“I hope this serves as a springboard for future capacity to conduct research in this system, and it’s important here in Virginia because we’re at the northernmost range limit of threatened longleaf pine habitat,斯洛伊说.
The funding will increase the longleaf pine habitat in southeastern Virginia through plantings, 规定焚烧和林业经营, 还有土地所有者的宣传和教育. 本项目将于3日实施规定焚烧,900英亩, 种植470英亩长叶松, 恢复220英亩的栖息地，收获50英亩,000个长叶球果, increasing the availability of locally sourced longleaf pine seedlings adapted to local conditions.
布莱恩·范·伊登, 大自然保护协会弗吉尼亚松林项目主任说, “快速变化的气候正盯着我们, we need to push as hard and as fast as we can to restore longleaf pine habitat – one of the most resilient forest systems of the South and a harbor of incredible biodiversity. 大自然保护协会 and other conservation partners are grateful for ODU’s leadership to secure major funding to advance longleaf forest conservation work across Southeast Virginia.”
受威胁及濒危物种, 包括许多开花植物, mammals such as the fox squirrel and 鸟 such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and Northern bobwhite, depend on fire-maintained longleaf pine habitat like that found in the Blackwater Ecological Preserve.
沃尔特斯对这项资助提供的机会感到兴奋.
“It is a tremendous boon to ODU to see the importance of longleaf at Blackwater Ecological Preserve recognized nationally,他说. “这笔拨款巩固了ODU的重要性, 以及利顿·穆塞尔曼(名誉教授)的遗产, 继续弗吉尼亚长叶松的重要保护工作.”
Walters has served with Musselman on the ODU Blackwater Ecological Preserve oversight committee since coming to ODU in 2011.
弗兰德斯渴望看到这笔拨款有助于修复弗吉尼亚州的这一历史地区.
“多年来, the ecological restoration community in Virginia has looked to ODU's Blackwater Ecological Preserve as an example of a functional, 分布范围北缘长叶松生态系统的多样性,他说. “这笔拨款代表了这个保护成功故事的下一个篇章, with funding acquired by a team of ODU researchers now available for the management activities required to restore longleaf pine communities on many more suitable acres across its historical range in Virginia."
资金 from the grant will go toward public education and outreach to landowners who may have longleaf pine conservation habitats. Another portion of funding will aid students who may be interested in getting training in fire ecology through conducting fire maintenance of these systems and prescribed burning. 佛兰德斯将负责这次培训.
ODU faculty are also encouraged to incorporate the Blackwater Ecological Preserve into their courses to allow students to take field trips and experience this habitat.
“This work will restore and protect an excellent resource to the Department of Biological Sciences for a wide variety of classes and research, 包括对植物的研究, 鸟, 蜱虫和更多,ODU生物科学主席兼教授Holly Gaff说.
“This grant will showcase to students and the community the value of multiple groups working together to enhance an ecosystem that was almost lost in Virginia,“Yando, 添加.
ODU’s Blackwater Ecological Preserve is part of the Virginia Natural Area Preserve System, 它由弗吉尼亚保护和娱乐部(DCR)管理，.
作为基金的合伙人, DCR will expand its longleaf pine restoration efforts and begin to reintroduce longleaf at Dendron Swamp Natural Area Preserve in Sussex County. 占地635英亩的Dendron Swamp保护区, 其中包括秃柏树沼泽, 位于黑水河西段的南侧.
“Dendron Swamp Natural Area Preserve was protected primarily for the natural heritage resources found in the bottomland forest,丽贝卡·威尔逊说, 他是DCR弗吉尼亚自然遗产项目的长叶松修复专家.
高地的深沙质土壤非常适合长叶松的恢复工作. “We’re excited for this opportunity to expand an ecosystem that once spanned over a million acres in southeast Virginia,威尔逊说. “And bringing fire back to this landscape will not only benefit natural resources but will create a more resilient forest for the future.”
“I’m super proud of the amount of conservation and restoration work that will be able to be performed because of this grant,斯洛伊说. “Our hope is for this project to bolster future collaborations between ODU and the many conservation partners involved in the Virginia Longleaf Pine Cooperators Group, 甚至超过了这个拨款的期限.”