Eva Dettweiler-Robinson

The Contribution of Biological Soil Crust Carbon and Nitrogen Exchange to the Net Ecosystem Exchange Along an Elevation Gradient

The purpose of this project is to 1) determine how BSC cover changes along an elevation gradient and across seasons, 2) determine how carbon and nitrogen exchanges of biological soil crust (BSC) communities vary with temperature along an elevation gradient in arid and semi-arid environments and 3) use photosynthetic and respiration rates of BSC communities to determine how the contribution of the BSC communities to whole ecosystem carbon exchange varies across the same gradient and over seasons.