NSF Org:	DEB Division Of Environmental Biology
Recipient:	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Initial Amendment Date:	December 1, 1988
Latest Amendment Date:	June 2, 1994
Award Number:	8811884
Award Instrument:	Continuing Grant
Program Manager:	DEB  Division Of Environmental Biology BIO  Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	January 1, 1989
End Date:	April 30, 1995 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$2,155,906.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$2,589,026.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 1989 = $316,667.00 FY 1990 = $449,903.00 FY 1991 = $439,368.00 FY 1992 = $474,969.00 FY 1993 = $474,999.00 FY 1994 = $433,120.00
History of Investigator:	David Tilman (Principal Investigator) tilman@lter.umn.edu Eville Gorham (Co-Principal Investigator) David Grigal (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 2221 UNIVERSITY AVE SE STE 100 MINNEAPOLIS MN  US  55414-3074 (612)624-5599
Sponsor Congressional District:	05
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 2221 UNIVERSITY AVE SE STE 100 MINNEAPOLIS MN  US  55414-3074
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	05
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	KABJZBBJ4B54
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	INSTRUMENTAT & INSTRUMENT DEVP, LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RES (LTER, LONG-TERM PROJCTS IN ENVIR BIO, LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH, LONG-TERM RSCH IN ENVIR BIO, CROSS-DIRECTORATE PROGRAMS
Primary Program Source:	app-0193  app-0194
Program Reference Code(s):	1124, 1129, 9169, 9178, 9251, ENVI, SMET
Program Element Code(s):	110800, 112600, 112900, 119500, 119600, 912000
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.074

ABSTRACT

This project represents the renewal of the Cedar Creek Natural History Area Long-Term Ecological Research project. Long-term observation and experimentation will be used to examine the controls of successional dynamics and spatial patterning in ecosystems at the prairie-forest boundary. The investigators will build on the detailed data record already accumulated in a series of permanent observational and experimental studies in old field and will expand the project into a range of non- successional habitats. Studies will focus on hypotheses concerning the direct, indirect, and feedback effects of various species and ecosystem elements on each other, and how they control both successional dynamics and spatial patterning in non-successional ecosystems. The main processes to be studied are (1) controls of carbon and nitrogen dynamics in soils: (2) controls of primary production and plant species composition; (3) controls of herbivore dynamics and abundances; and (4) the impacts of disturbances such as fire, gopher mounds and climatic change. The 6-year-running data sets already collected on physical factors, soils plants, and herbivores have allowed the investigators to address some major questions, but it will become increasingly unique and powerful with each additional year of observational and experimental data. The generality of on-site research will be tested by performing a series of comparisons and syntheses across the LTER network. Institutional support for the research is solid. Collaborative arrangements with two young scientists from Idaho State University should continue to be productive. The project team is a good one. In addition to providing fundamental insight on the processes that are generative to ecological succession the project should also produce significant implications for agricultural management since agriculture must interact with the natural ecological matrix in which it is embedded.

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