Riley Pacer was selected as one of the top 25 entries in the University of Iowa Capture Your Research Competition. She will be featured in the awards ceremony on November 12th and she is in the running for the People's Choice vote. Vote by November 3rd to support her!

Online Voting for People’s Choice:

• Open until November 3rd: Vote Here

Flux at Sunrise

Riley Pacer
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Geographical & Sustainability Sciences – ECH2O & LOQATE Labs

Tallgrass prairies once covered more than 80% of Iowa’s landscape. Today, less than 0.1% of these prairies remain. In 2018, UI students, faculty, and staff began working to restore a portion of Ashton Cross Country Course to the active and biodiverse prairie we enjoy today. Iowa’s remnant and restored prairies provide many critical ecosystem services. They improve soil structure, support nutrient and carbon cycling, and are home to hundreds of plant, animal, and insect species. Additionally, prairies offer local cooling potential, reducing surface and air temperatures through evaporative cooling. My photograph shows the eddy covariance flux tower located at Ashton Prairie Living Laboratory here on UI’s campus. The flux tower continuously measures temperature, carbon, and water fluctuations, enabling us to understand how restored prairies are responding to climate variability. The data collected here will also shed light on the role that prairies play in reducing local temperatures. Through my research, I hope to understand how prairie restoration can play a part in mitigating the impacts of anthropogenic warming.

Acknowledgments: Matt Dannenberg, Susan Meerdink, Nicholas Simons