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University of Oklahoma leads effort to advance ecological forecasting

October 27th, 2009

With a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation, University of Oklahoma researchers will lead the effort to develop cyberCommons—an information "commons" or cafeteria where others can obtain electronic real-time data or forecasts similar to those produced for weather.

This service will be useful for business and policy makers and will enable students of many ages to learn from the study. Teachers and students will be able to download data, models and visuals to use in the classroom for learning about ecological processes, predictions, and the use and management of data.

The massive amounts of data available will allow ecologists to predict how changes in weather will alter the amount of carbon used by plants or how much water from leaves will be lost in the atmosphere. Or, over longer time intervals, how weather will affect the amount of nitrogen stored in plants and soil or how the diversity of grassland plants will change with drought.

The complexity of the research demands a multidisciplinary team of OU researchers, led by University Research Cabinet Chair Paul Risser, in collaboration with researchers from universities in two EPSCoR states (Oklahoma, Kansas), including Oklahoma State University, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.

OU researchers on the project each bring a specialized expertise, which when combined enables the ecological forecasting. For example, there are experts on plants, animals, micro-organisms, soil, water, nutrients and mathematical modeling.

Among the computer experts are those who manage large data sets on supercomputers, techniques for mining data sets to reveal patterns in data, statistical models and techniques for visualizing analytical results.

University of Oklahoma researchers:

Paul Risser, University Research Cabinet

S. Lakshmivarahan, Computer Science

Henry Neeman, Information Technology

May Yuan, Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences

Gia-loi "Le" Gruenwald, Computer Science

Jeffrey Kelly, Oklahoma Biological Survey

Yiqi Luo, Botany & Microbiology

Amy McGovern, Computer Science

Xiangming Xiao, Botany & Microbiology

Christopher Weaver, Computer Science

Oklahoma State University researcher:

Michael Palmer, Biology

Source: University of Oklahoma

Citation: University of Oklahoma leads effort to advance ecological forecasting (2009, October 27) retrieved 22 July 2025 from https://sciencex.com/wire-news/18121998/university-of-oklahoma-leads-effort-to-advance-ecological-foreca.html

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