ACADEMIC
COLOSTATE/NREL
"http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/" The Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at the Colorado State University at Fort Collins, CO is dedicated to the study of ecological systems and to the application of scientific knowledge to the preservation and management of natural resources. NREL is an interdisciplinary research center within the university's College of Natural Resources. In cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service and the university's departments of Forest Science and Rangeland Ecosystem Science, NREL participates in a field research site in the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER). This site became part of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in 1982. NREL scientists conduct a wide variety of studies at this site that focus on such topics as plant-animal interactions, soil biotic processes, nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, the formation of soils and the response of grasslands productivity to climate variation and land-use changes.