CSU Professor Sandra Durán leads $299K NSF-funded project

Sandra Durán, an Assistant Professor in the Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Department, housed in the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University, is leading a groundbreaking research project funded by the National Science Foundation with a $299,551 grant.

Her project, “Linking functional biodiversity and airborne imaging to improve predictions of terrestrial ecosystem productivity across climatic gradients,” seeks to integrate multiple dimensions of plant biodiversity with airborne remote sensing as a basis for testing biodiversity-ecosystem functioning hypotheses at regional scales.

 Biodiversity faces unprecedented threats from climate change, habitat loss, and other human-induced factors. In controlled experiments, the loss of plant biodiversity has been shown to reduce the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems.

Durán’s research addresses a crucial knowledge gap by examining the importance of biodiversity in naturally assembled communities. While controlled experiments provide valuable insights, understanding how biodiversity impacts the functioning of real-world ecosystems is essential for effective conservation and management strategies.

warnercnr.source.colostate.edu