EUGENE (AP) — A pair of federal grants totaling $3.2 million will help University of Oregon researchers study ways to protect the Northwest from the effects of global climate change.

Ecologist Scott Bridgham will lead a study on the potential threats to prairie ecosystems in Oregon and Washington state.

Landscape architecture professor Bart Johnson will study urban growth in the heavily populated Willamette Valley and its effect on ecosystems, wildfires, land use and land management.

The pair will work together to find ways to improve biodiversity while protecting people and property from wildfires in the face of a changing climate.

The four-year studies are being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.