SGS-LTER 1998 specimen collection proposal

The SGS-LTER research site was established in 1980 by researchers at Colorado State University as part of a network of long-term research sites within the US LTER Network, supported by the National Science Foundation. Scientists within the Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and Biology Department at CSU, California State Fullerton, USDA Agricultural Research Service, University of Northern Colorado, and the University of Wyoming, among others, have contributed to our understanding of the structure and functions of the shortgrass steppe and other diverse ecosystems across the network while maintaining a common mission and sharing expertise, data and infrastructure.The Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research (SGS LTER) project represents the continuing development of a research tradition that began with the US/IBP Grassland Biome project in the late 1960s. Much of this research has focused on the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER), a 6,280 hectare research site owned by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) that is adjacent to the 78,100 ha Pawnee National Grasslands (PNG). Research at the SGS LTER site over the past 20 years has had an influence on national and international grassland ecology; work from this site has generated 639 journal articles, 181 chapters, 141 theses, and 336 abstracts. An important part of our mission is to support the broad scientific community conducting research in the shortgrass steppe. An integral part of that mission is the collection and curation of representative species collections. The Shortgrass Steppe LTER project currently maintains a fairly extensive collection of voucher specimens of native plants and a small but important collection of several animal groups. These collections are invaluable to the activities of the project, as described below. We are seeking supplemental funding from NSF to improve existing infrastructure of our collections, implement new plans for maintaining and curating these specimens, and to add and replace specimens of representative taxa in our collections