The future of the biosphere? OSU botany professor to contribute to study

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

By Joseph Dunn

(Oct. 27, 2009, STILLWATER, Okla.) – A professor at Oklahoma State University is joining forces with other scientists to forecast how ecosystems will change in the years to come.

Botany professor Michael Palmer recently was named co-principal investigator on a collaborative project titled “A cyberCommons for Ecological Forecasting.” The project was awarded $3 million by the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which is funded through the National Science Foundation.

The scientists are gathering data, models and analytical tools in order to predict our ecological future, Palmer says. The information will be placed on a Web site that the public can interact with the data to ask questions about diseases, invasive species, biodiversity and global warming. They expect the site to be active in 2010.

What makes the project unique is the active involvement of computer science at all stages of the project. Palmer’s part is creating a database plant checklist and is modeling what will happen to plants under changing conditions. “I’ve been working on the “Floras of North America” project for a while,” said Palmer. “The project is a great undertaking that can help predict how biodiversity will respond to our changing climate. Plant life is essential for the life support systems of the planet.”

Researchers include: Paul Risser, Yiqi Luo, May Yuan and Xiangming Xia, all of the University of Oklahoma; and Daniel Andresen, Kristin Bowman-James, Walter Dodds, Leonard Krishtalka and Donald McMullen, all of the University of Kansas. 

The OSU Botany Department is one of 24 departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. To learn more visit cas.okstate.edu.