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Figure 2 : University students Theopo Iita , Vimbai Marufu , Priscilla Mundilo characterize plant and landscape features at one of the driest sites in the Namib Desert research study . Credit : Throop / ASU
The students participating in this research came from the University of Namibia and the Namibia University of Science and Technology . They were each participating in the Summer Drylands Program , an intense research experience where students plan , execute , and report on an experiment within a short timeframe .
" The ability of technology to record soil carbon was outstanding ," says coauthor and student researcher Vimbai
Marufu , who is now in graduate school at the Namibia University of Science and Technology . " What I treasure the most from the experience is what it means to work on an interdisciplinary team and the unexplainable satisfaction of being close to nature ."
And there are plans to continue additional fieldwork in the Namib Desert with a recent grant from the National Science Foundation to ASU . This grant will provide support for U . S . students to conduct research in the Namib Desert in collaboration with Namibian researchers . " We hope to use this work to help us in understanding how deserts respond to a changing climate ," says Throop .
" How biological processes function in the extreme dryness of the Namib Desert will give us clues about how relatively wet deserts will behave under drier conditions ."
Figure 3 : University students Rosalia Tshikesho ( L ) and Etuna Iyambo ( R ) simulate a rain shower prior to making measurements of soil carbon dioxide release in the Namib Desert . Credit : Throop / ASU
35 Grassroots Vol 20 No 4 December 2020