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Previous Water Institute Proposals

The links between hydrologic and landscape systems, including chemical and physical weathering, mass fluxes through and from landscapes, development and control of ecosystems, and links to human perturbations and influences can only be understood through holistic studies at the watershed scale. This proposed project aims to initiate such a holistic study - a Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) - by developing an innovative in situ watershed-scale observing system, supported by small-scale field experiments, laboratory experiments and modeling in the Santa Fe Watershed in North Central Florida. This effort being done in collaboration with the departments of Geology, Soil and Water Science, Environmental Engineering, Civil and Coastal Engineering, Ag & Bio Engineering, Forestry, and Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries.

World-class research and education programs that will develop, demonstrate, and deliver solutions to state and national agencies, cities, agriculture, industry and private citizens facing water-related problems.

Global circulation models predict that subtropical and tropical regions will experience greater seasonal variations in precipitation and river flows; increased seasonality will transfer relatively stable terrestrial carbon stocks into dynamic aquatic reservoirs of the global Earth system. An understanding of how carbon cycling within fluvial systems responds to increases in frequency and magnitude of extreme events such as droughts and floods will help determine the fate of terrestrial carbon stores and whether processing of C within fluvial systems acts as a positive feedback to climate change. The proposed study will use the Suwannee watershed to test the following overarching hypothesis: Extreme hydrologic events will alter hydrologically mediated transformations and fluxes of C in fluvial systems in ways similar to those of expected long-term climate change in the tropics and subtropics. National Science Foundation, Carbon and Water in the Earth System.

The objective of this proposal to USDA/CSREES http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=12127 is to develop an integrated (and spatially explicit) vulnerability index linking land use, hydrologic, and socioeconomic factors, and to examine various stakeholder-driven scenarios to design targeted educational and extension programs that will lead to increased awareness among stakeholders, and ultimately measurable behavioral changes that result in water quality improvement in the Ichetucknee springshed in Columbia County, Florida.

Solution for Water Resources Sustainability. A joint project by the College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The objective of this proposal is to determine how 1) global change expressed as increased temperatures due to climate change and altered hydroperiods due to climate variability interact with the effects of land use changes on nutrient concentrations to affect the establishment, survival and growth of the invasive plant Hydrilla verticillata and the invasive snail Pomacea insularum; 2) biological responses of H. verticillata and P. insularum to forcing by global change, interactions with each other, and interactions with native species combine to produce threats to native species, native habitats and recreational amenity; and 3) the outcomes of scenarios should guide policy, management and research to prevent, detect and respond to occurrences of H. verticillata and P insularum. The outcome from this project will be an improved understanding of interactions among key forcing factors associated with global change, land use change, invasive species and native species. This improved understanding will help managers of invasive species prepare policy and management actions. In addition, the work will identify critical targets for research.

The long-term goal of this program is to contribute to the development of the scientific and educational frame-work for managing coral diseases with ecosystem-wide biocontrol strategies. The educational goal of this project is to train a cohort of young scientists to investigate the feasibility of developing such sustainable practices. The scientific goal of this project is to survey biocontrol activities of beneficial coral bacteria, identify the most potent biocontrol strains and to chemically characterize at least one antibiotic and one anti-virulence compound produced by beneficial bacteria. It is our expectation that in addition to achieving the scientific goals of this project, this program will engender interest in coral reef ecology and promote students' interest in pursuing careers in this field.

The Frances C. and William P. Smallwood Program in Water Resources will consist of a Graduate Research Fellowship program and an Annual Lecture series within the Water Institute at the University of Florida. The Graduate Research Fellowship program will fund two graduate students to conduct Ph. D. interdisciplinary research at the interface of water sciences, engineering, policy and law. In addition to funding two Graduate Fellows each year, an annual Smallwood lecture series will be initiated to bring world-renowned water resources researchers, educators and policymakers to Florida. Seminars will be solicited that are of broad interest to the general public, undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty.

The overall goal of this proposed project is to develop a holistic modeling framework that encompasses all factors that control the quality and sustainability of land and water resources including basin-scale hydrologic processes, land-atmosphere interactions, biogeochemical cycles, and socio-economic forcings and feedbacks. To accomplish this we will conduct a series of comparative studies and train Ph. D. and post-Doctoral students on the relationship between natural processes, land use management, economic policies, water law and social systems in select benchmark basins across economic, environmental, hydrologic, and social gradients. The benchmark basins proposed for this project are located in North America (St. Johns River Basin Florida) and Europe (Aumelas-Coulazou system, France), representing well-developed economies, south-central India (Krishna River Basin) representing rapidly developing economies, and Africa (Lake Victoria Basin) representing underdeveloped economies. National Science Foundation - Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE)

A collaborative exchange between the Universities of Montpellier (France) and UF (Geology Department), the program will involve coursework and research for the students as well as exchange of faculty between the two institutions. The French-American Fund for University Partnerships is funded by U.S. nonprofit group, FACE, in cooperation with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. An example of one possible research topic is comparative studies of a Mediterranean karst system in southern France (Aumelas system in Languedoc) and an American karst system in southern United States (Santa Fe River system in Florida) with topics including hydrologic, hydrogeologic, geologic, chemical and biological properties of these systems.