PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 38: Sensors and sensor networks in ecology
Organizer(s): SD Wullschleger, RB Jackson, and TE Dawson
Wednesday, August 10, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 516 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Sensor Web applications: Microclimate variability under shrubs in an arid ecosystem.
Bonito, Greg*,1, Collins, Scott2, Moore, Douglas2, Brown, Renee2, 1 Duke University, Durham, NC, USA2 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
ABSTRACT- New technologies can enhance ecological research. At the Sevilleta Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site in New Mexico we are field using a wireless Sensor Web recently developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to determine how desert shrub species alter the microclimate within their canopies. For the Sevilleta LTER, this wireless technology offers a new mechanism to instrument the environment and generate valuable real-time microclimate data to advance our understanding of species interactions in desert ecosystems. The Sensor Web is composed of intra-communicating pods, each equipped with a variety of sensors, microcomputers, a rechargeable power source, and a radio for communication of real-time environmental data. The sharing of information between pods differentiates this instrument from a standard distributed sensor network allowing the Sensor Web instrument to trend and interpret environmental variables as well as to self-organize and reconfigure into a network. Specific hypotheses being addressed at the Sevilleta include: How do different desert shrub species (Juniperus monosperma, Larrea tridentata, Prosopis glandulosa) alter the microclimate beneath their canopies, and how does this affect compositional variation in plant communities? What are the effects of precipitation events on microclimates, particularly soil and air temperatures and light, in areas with and without vegetation cover over sub-hourly time intervals? How do Sensor Web measurements compare to traditional meteorological instrument measurements? To do so we deployed Sensor Web pods beneath three individuals of each species as well as three in open areas away from shrub canopies. Results show subtle differences in growing season microclimate beneath the three shrub species, but dramatic differences between shrub and open areas. Microclimate, combined with differences in soil resource availability, strongly influences herbaceous species composition beneath each species of shrub. Environmental measurements by SensorWeb pods closely match measurements from a nearby NOAA Climate Reference Network site. We conclude that Sensor Web technology has the capacity to greatly enhance our ability to measure fine-scale microclimate variability and to better understand pattern and process in desert ecosystems.
Key words: Sensor Web, Microclimate, Shrub, Desert