2023 Funded Projects

Principal Investigator

• Rebecca Montgomery

Co-principal Investigators

• Marcella Windmuller-Campione

Industry Partner

• Mississippi Park Connection; US Forest Service

Graduate Student

• Catherine Glenn-Stone

Problem

The Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) encompasses over 2,600,000 acres and supplies essential ecosystem services including clean drinking water to millions of people, critical habitat for more than 40% of all North American waterfowl and shorebirds, and billions of dollars in economic revenue through shipping. Currently, high levels of tree mortality and limited regeneration characterize much of the forested tracts, especially those above pool 10 near the Minnesota-Iowa-Wisconsin border. Due to lack of research, managers are left with more questions than answers in how to maintain and restore floodplain forests in a changing environment. While there are many key areas of uncertainty, one of the biggest is the lack of a mechanistic understanding of how the dynamic nature of the floodplain (e.g. seasonal flooding and drought) influences juvenile tree growth and survival.

Solution

Our proposed solution is to advance understanding and information on effective practices to maintain and restore floodplain forest in the face of current stressors. We use a flexible framework of diverse actions and pathways offered by the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) network consisting of four management approaches: resistance, resilience, transition, and no action. We will use the biological infrastructure afforded by the Crosby Farm ASCC project located in St. Paul, MN and developed through a manager-scientist workshop that included researchers and managers from the region. With MnDRIVE seed grant funding, a graduate student will lead research on the physiological response of planted tree saplings focusing on key times of stress that can lead to tree mortality: spring flooding and late summer dry periods.

Impact

Our proposed work is critical to developing active restoration and climate adaptive management, the lack of which will likely result in loss of UMRS floodplain forest ecosystems. Our partners have prioritized maintaining forest cover and tree plantings are widely implemented; however, many fail due to the lack of research on the mechanistic basis of successful approaches. Thus, information from our project will have an immediate impact on planning successful future restoration and climate adaptive management. Further, restoring and maintaining floodplain forests will have wide ranging effects on nature’s benefits to people given their importance for clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation and transportation.

Principal Investigator

Seth Thompson

Co-PI

James Cotner, Trinity Hamilton

Industry Partner

Miles Lawson, Secondary Curriculum and Gifted and Talented Coordinator Independent School District 197

Postdoc

Hailey Sauer

Problem

Lakes are important regulators of the global climate system, yet we still lack a mechanistic understanding of the controls of carbon sequestration within lake systems. Specifically, the role of freshwater bacteria in producing hard to degrade organic molecules and how this process is being impacted by increased nutrient pollution is understudied.

Solution

Using a community-engaged research framework, we will test how carbon and phosphorus concentrations impact the production and composition of DOM produced by aquatic bacteria by working with a local High School partner to build an authentic research partnership with students. We will work with students through both a classroom-based research project model (fall) as well as a smaller number of students through an intensive semester-long research internship program (spring). Together, we will advance our understanding of aquatic carbon burial by determining how microbial interactions alter DOM structure and degradation under differing nutrient regimes at small (e.g., co-culture ) and large (e.g., natural community) scales.

Impact

We anticipate producing 3 primary research products: a peer reviewed manuscript describing the impact of nutrients on microbial community structure and DOM production; a peer reviewed educational research paper on the impact of authentic research experiences on the development of science identity in High School students; and a set of scaffolded curricular materials aligned to the new Minnesota State Science standards.

Principal Investigator

Sarah Hobbie

Co-PI

Emilie Snell-Rood

Industry Partner

Dan Shaw, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources

Graduate Student

Lauren Agnew

Problem

Minnesota’s Habitat Friendly Solar Program helps solar site owners install and manage pollinator-friendly habitat within a solar field by suggesting seed mix and management recommendations. This program aims to support pollinator biodiversity by increasing pollinator habitat throughout the state. However, a lack of funding to conduct habitat restoration assessments at these sites to determine if current seed mix and management recommendations are effective means that the establishment success of these pollinator plantings and their ability to support pollinator biodiversity has not been determined. The presence of solar panels alters the environmental conditions within a habitat, impacting the ability of plants to establish and support pollinators, and we need further site assessment to refine current seed mix and management recommendations to be suited for unique solar habitats.

Solution

Through conducting habitat restoration assessment at sites enrolled in the Habitat Friendly Solar Program, we can record the plant community composition, management activities, and pollinator communities present within the installed habitat. We can compare the seeding rate of the habitat with the observed plant community composition and management activity to identify which plants seem to thrive in solar habitats, and which cannot tolerate the altered environmental conditions. Pollinator community composition will help us identify which species are not supported by the current habitat installations. All of this information will be used to refine the pollinator seed mixes and management guidelines to be specifically suited for solar habitats, increasing the ability of solar habitats to support pollinator biodiversity.

Impact

Refining these habitat standards will help support pollinator biodiversity throughout the state by ensuring habitat installations provide maximum conservation benefits. Minnesota is a leader in pollinator-solar habitat installation, acting as a model for 17 other states, so the results of this project have the potential for a national impact. Additionally, further refinement of these standards and guidelines to cover the increasing variety and scale of solar habitats will broaden the scope of the program, resulting in increased pollinator habitat installation and biodiversity conservation across the state.

Principal Investigator

Marcella Windmuller-Campione

Industry Partner

Steve Mortensen, Division of Resource Management Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

Problem

Climate change, biodiversity loss, maintaining resilient ecosystems are considered “wicked” issues that will require collaboration, co-learning, and co-development utilizing multiple ways of knowing. However, the process for navigating the hierarchies can be extremely opaque, limiting the potential collaboration. Additionally, if an individual or individuals within the collaboration leave, there can be a loss of knowledge on how to navigate the hierarchies and logistics.

Solution

We are proposing to use our newly formed collaboration that is working to build a summer internship experience center Tribal Youth to explore and document hierarchies and logistics within and across organizations and Tribal Nations. We will use a network analysis approach to document and visualize how top-down, bottom-up, and intermediate level pressures and opportunities can influence our collaboration. Additionally, we will document the hierarchical structures and logistical opportunities and challenges in working collaboratively.

Impact

There are 11 federally recognized Tribal Nations within what we now call the state of Minnesota. Tribes were, are, and will continue to be stewards of forest ecosystems. However, the number of individuals who identify as Native American are underrepresented within forestry, silviculture, and natural resource management. Collaborative opportunities exist across organizations and Tribal Nations to consider new ways of approaching natural resource education that centers Tribal Voices.

Principal Investigator

Sebastian Behrens

Co-principal Investigator

Brian Barry

Industry Partner

James Doten, Carbon Sequestration Program Manager, Minneapolis Health Department
Nicholas Vetsch, Environmental Engineer at Stantec Consulting Services Inc.

Problem

The state of Minnesota set itself ambitious climate and socio-environmental goals with its new Climate Action Framework and Climate Equity Plan. The comprehensive climate action plans include reaching carbon neutrality between 2030 and 2050, and achieving net-negative emissions thereafter, which will require removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A major carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology readily implementable in Minnesota is biochar production and use. Biochar, the carbon-rich residue derived from biomass pyrolysis , is regarded as having a higher readiness than other CDR technologies because it is already available at various production scales.

Solution

The increasing interest in biochar production in urban areas is motivated, beyond CDR, by the multiple applications that biochar can have for municipalities and the abundant availability of green-waste biomass for biochar production in large cities like Minneapolis. While traditionally viewed as a soil amendment for agriculture, the number of uses for biochar has been expanding over the past several years. Many of these uses are directly applicable to urban environments. Urban uses for biochar include tree planting, turf and soils quality management, compost additive, bioremediation, stormwater management, urban agriculture, green roofs, and construction materials. More research is required to understand which biochar characteristics are most important for different end uses and what the ranges are for those characteristics. This project is designed to match Minneapolis feedstock availability with the range of production parameters of the city’s new pyrolysis plant so that the city can produce high quality and safe biochars with the optimal material properties for its various urban application.

Impact

This project is needed as it integrates critical research needs with direct field implementation, and soil, water, and climate protection efforts for the benefit of all Minnesotans. This project will generate critical knowledge for the successful implementation of a resilient and equitable bioengery-biochar solution for carbon management in the City of Minneapolis. Project outcomes will assist the City of Minneapolis in accomplishing the goals set by its Bioenergy-Biochar Action Strategy and Climate Action Plan that outline a roadmap to reducing citywide greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the project will help reducing green-waste by turning it into a value-added product and carbon-sink. This will reduce state carbon emission by effectively sequestering carbon as biochar.

Principal Investigator

Peter Kennedy

Industry Partner

Ray Riley, Loam Bio

Graduate Student

Anahi Cantoran

Problem

Understanding of how carbon (C) enters and leaves soil, the largest active terrestrial C pool, represents a key research priority due to rising global temperatures associated with increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Microorganisms play a direct role in C retention in a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems through their inputs of dead cells (a.k.a necromass), which form a significant fraction of the soil organic C pool. Despite growing interest in characterizing the dynamics of fungal necromass decomposition as a critical factor impacting soil C persistence, only one study to date has tested how necromass decomposition rates may be altered by changing environmental conditions. Although that study suggests fungal necromass decomposition rates may in fact be sensitive to increased temperatures, possibly due to interactions with moisture availability, the unique environmental conditions of peatlands makes it unclear how representative these results are in normally drained upland systems.

Solution

To address current uncertainty in the sensitivity of fungal necromass decomposition to altered environmental conditions, we propose to conduct a field-based decomposition experiment at the University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry Center in Cloquet, MN. Specifically, during summer 2023, we will incubate fungal necromass in the B4Warmed experiment, which includes a factorial combination of warming and reduced rainfall treatments. In addition to measuring how rates of mass loss from fungal necromass differ among ambient, warmed, droughted, and warmed + droughted treatments, we will also characterize how these treatments alter the structure of the microbial decomposer communities using molecular identification. Finally, we will analyze the chemistry of the remaining necromass to determine which components of decomposing fungal necromass are most sensitive to warmer and drier conditions. “

Impact

Collectively, this study will provide critical insight into determining how altered environmental conditions impact fungal necromass decomposition, which will ultimately inform how soil C sequestration is being affected by ongoing climate change. Additionally, the work will create a new partnership between public university and private company scientists under the shared goal of mechanistically understanding how soil C can be effectively managed. The technical training of a graduate student will also help in building a more inclusive and diverse STEM workforce. Finally, through presentations at scientific meetings and involvement in community events, the PI and graduate student will share knowledge with diverse audiences about the links between soils, decomposition, and climate change.

Principal Investigator

Chris Lenhart

Co-PI

John Nieber

Industry Partner

Kristen Bland, The Nature Conservancy
Randall Kolka, U.S. Forest Service

Problem

It has been estimated that drained peatlands, without restoration, may account for 41% of the global carbon budget for maintaining a threshold temperature increase of 1.5-2 degree C . Peatland restorations are increasingly being done to address climate change by re-wetting them by blocking the ditch, for both carbon and hydrologic benefits. Rewetting drained peatlands will reduce CO2 emissions caused by decomposing organic matter but it may increase methane release, a stronger greenhouse gas (Hemes et al. 2018). Therefore water level in restored peatlands need to be optimized to minimize GHG emissions

Solution

In Minnesota, there is about 1 million acres of drainage-impacted peatlands and peatland restoration is being actively pursued by state agencies, non-profits like The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and private mitigation bank companies. Our study will help determine the optimal water level of restored peatlands to maximize their carbon sequestration benefit. We will work with TNC and state partners such as the Minnesota Board of Soil & Water Resources (BWSR) to incorporate our study findings into design standards for restored peatlands.

Impact

The data will be analyzed to determine the potential for water level management and wetland design to reduce GHG emissions. The findings will directly inform peatland restoration strategies through the “Peatland Playbook” of the TNC, Mn-ND-SD Chapter. We also anticipate producing at least one scientific publication from the mesocosm study. We will do a presentation to the TNC international Peatland Network in 2024 and likely present at one other conference, such as AGU.

Principal Investigator

Tianhong Cui

Co-principal Investigators

Terrence Simon, Andy Erickson

Industry Partner

Nigel Pickering, Geosyntec Consulting

Problem

Increased levels of phosphate due to human activities often cause eutrophication and cyanobacteria growth. Accurate monitoring of phosphate is vital for water pollutant management. However, traditional measurement methods via spectrophotometry and colorimetry suffer from many drawbacks such as high analysis cost, long delay in analysis time, lack of on-site detection capability due to bulky equipment. A phosphate sensor that exhibits high sensitivity, high stability, high selectivity, low cost, and real-time detection capability is in high and immediate demand.

Solution

This project aims to develop an ultrasensitive and selective phosphate sensor based on a graphene field effect transistor that is capable of on-site and real-time measurement, offering facile fabrication, high sensitivity, and easy integration with existing electronics. A highly focused laser beam can induce local temperatures that are high enough to break chemical bonds of the carbon rich material and rearrange carbon atoms to form 3D porous graphene. The synthesis of the phosphate molecularly imprinted polymer membrane on top of graphene transistors is proposed to make the sensors only sensitive to phosphate with high specificity.

Impact

The research results from the proposed project will be distributed via presentations to multiple stakeholders including the scientific community and producers, extension services publications, and peer-reviewed publications in top-tier journals. Upon the completion of the project and in post-publication, the proposed phosphate sensor system will be patented and commercialized. The potential impact of low-cost, reliable, accurate, continuous, in situ sensors to measure phosphate cannot be overestimated. The implementation of low-cost, reliable, accurate, continuous, in situ sensors to measure phosphate could save Minnesotans (and beyond) tens of millions of dollars per year, thousands of hours in wet chemistry analysis and wait time, and produce more reliable and consistent data for assessment of our natural and engineered water systems.

Principal Investigator

Mikael Elias

Industry Partners

Jeff Stollenwerk, Duluth Seaway Port Authority

Problem

Biofouling is the spontaneous colonization of submerged natural or artificial structures by a broad spectrum of aquatic organisms. Colonization adversely affects ships’ hydrodynamic performance, fuel consumption, and port infrastructure. Biofouling also hosts numerous organisms considered invasive on structures moved from one body of water to another. Most antifouling coatings are toxic and can accumulate in the environment. Therefore, new eco-friendly antifouling technologies are needed.

Solution

We propose to leverage our ability to functionalize enzymes to evaluate the combination of enzymes as antifouling coating additives. Because these enzymes have distinct modes of action, we anticipate that combinations may be synergistic. Such a biological coating would have the double advantage of being eco-friendly and more potent antifouling activity, advantageously replacing biocides.

Impact

Regulation is tightening against these coatings to increase environmental protection. Eco-friendly alternatives would significantly contribute to preserving Minnesota’s aquatic environments, which is essential for communities that depend on aquatic resources. Because some of these enzymes are commercially available at low cost, this work may also lead to new opportunities in both the economic and environmental aspects.