Research at the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill aims to integrate culture, science, and community to advance knowledge on sustaining the future of life in the desert. This VIP will build on the long-term plant ecology research of Tumamoc Hill, starting with permanent plots first mapped 115 years ago. It will integrate these data with multiple inter-related research programs aimed at understanding the dynamics of how life adapts and responds to aridity and climate change. More specifically, students will answer one or more of the following questions:

• How are desert plants responding to changing climate? 
• How can we use modern technology to improve methods for documenting changes in vegetation?
• What are the rates of recovery following extreme climate events?
• What plant characteristics predict how different species respond to climate changes? 
• How are interactions between animals and plants (for instance, pollination, seed dispersal, and herbivory) changing over time and in response to climate?

This VIP offers students from across campus the opportunity to conduct research with a diverse group of researchers from the Desert Laboratory and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Arizona. Students will ultimately be immersed in the larger Desert Lab community, providing the opportunity to interact with ecologists, wildlife biologists, artists, and archaeologists. Students will gain hands-on experience in one or more of the following:

• Self-led research
• Creative and critical thinking
• Project management
• Fieldwork, working with vegetation, invertebrates, etc.
• Data collection and management
• Data analysis and visualization using a variety of software (e.g., R, Excel)
• Science communication and public outreach
• Community science