Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Basin Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research to design and implement monitoring of the microclimate within the Gemini Solar Project footprint to document the effects of solar panels on soil and vegetation, informing affects to plant communities and habitat suitability for the federally listed desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Solar panels influence soil and vegetation communities by creating soil disturbance and altering microclimate, including temperature, hydrology, and albedo. These microclimate variables serve as controls over plant community dynamics, which form the basis of important food webs, including for the desert tortoise.