Location

Western Washington University Biology assistant professor Eric DeChaine has received a $419,000 National Science Foundation grant to continue his research on climate change and how it affects biodiversity.

DeChaine has completed his fourth summer of research in the Noatak River system in Western Alaska; previous sites have included other federal land such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The goal of his research is to better understand how plants have reacted to historic climate change so scientists can better predict species’ reaction to the current worldwide changes in climate.

The grant will pay for DeChaine to take two undergraduate research assistants with him next summer, when he will conduct sampling on islands in the Bering Sea, and, hopefully, in Siberia as well.

“It’s going to be a great opportunity for them to get in some important field work in an amazing place,” DeChaine said.

After examining their DNA, the collected specimens are catalogued in the WWU herbarium, one of the largest repositories of Arctic and alpine tundra plants in western North America. For more information, contact Eric DeChaine, assistant professor of Biology, at (360) 650-6575, or at eric.dechaine@wwu.edu. Click here to see a multimedia site of DeChaine's trip down the Noatak last summer, or here to see a gallery of past trips.