Serengeti Ecosystem Processes: Water or Nitrogen Control?
{'Code': '08010208', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DEB', 'LongName': 'Division Of Environmental Biology'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Richard F. Dame', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
A research plan of modeling and experimental field studies                 has been designed to determine the degree to which tropical                     savanna grassland ecosystems containing abundant populations of                 large, grazing mammals are controlled by water, nitrogen,                       grazing, fire, and their interactions.  Modeling will focus on                  alternative nutrient cycling pathways as affected by those                      factors, coupling of cycles of different nutrients, generalizing                for a broad range of site conditions and temporal scales, and                   simulating experiments impossible in the field.  A uniform split-               plot 23 factorial design will be implemented at four experimental               field sites over substantial ranges of precipitation, soil                      fertility, soil salinity, primary production, fire, and herbivory               representative of a broad span of arid to subhumid ecosystems.                                                                                                  The basic design will be augmented by extensive plots whose                     purpose will be to provide better coverage for inherent                         variability of physical factors such as climate.  Twelve                        hypotheses about the balances of controlling factors will be                    tested with model simulation and field data on aboveground and                  belowground net primary productivity, herbivory, plant water and                N status, litterfall, decomposition, and mineralization.                                                                                                        Grazers as controllers of nitrogen cycling and hydrologic                       balances will be evaluated as an integral component of modeling                 and experiments.                                                                                                                                                This project continues to enjoy excellent support at the home                   institution.  Additionally, the host country science                            establishment remains committed to its past levels of                           receptivity, assistance and participation.  The project group is                excellent and well versed in the subject ecosystem and the                      necessary, but difficult, remote logistics.                                                                                                                     It is reasonable to expect that findings of major significance in               fundamental ecology will continue to be produced by this work.                  Similarly, one can expect that the resultant information will be                useful in range management, both in Kenya and elsewhere.                                                                                                        The Ecosystem Studies Program recommends that the first year of                 this five-year continuing award be supported.
{'FirstName': 'Samuel', 'LastName': 'McNaughton', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'J', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Samuel J McNaughton', 'EmailAddress': 'sjmcnaug@syr.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000399055', 'StartDate': '01/15/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Syracuse University', 'CityName': 'SYRACUSE', 'ZipCode': '13244', 'PhoneNumber': '3154432807', 'StreetAddress': '900 S CROUSE AVE', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'New York', 'StateCode': 'NY', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '22', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'NY22', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'C4BXLBC11LC6', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
{'Name': None, 'CityName': None, 'StateCode': None, 'ZipCode': None, 'StreetAddress': None, 'CountryCode': None, 'CountryName': None, 'StateName': None, 'CountryFlag': None, 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': None, 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_PERF': '""'}
[{'Code': '112800', 'Text': 'Population & Community Ecology'}, {'Code': '118100', 'Text': 'ECOSYSTEM STUDIES'}]
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8817934.xml'}