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Using the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Model, this qualitative study examined development of psychosocial attributes (i.e., sense of belonging, science identity, and self-efficacy) among 1st-year life science undergraduate students who participated in integrated and culturally engaging research activities at New Mexico Highlands University, a rural Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Research activities were part of a project called SomosSTEM [We are STEM], which included four major components: 1) course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) that are laboratory modules integrated into introductory life science classes; 2) summer Bridge Science Challenge Academy for 1st-year students; 3) full summer internship program; and 4) Community Voices lecture series. We found the integrated nature of SomosSTEM represents an engaging learning environment that positively impacted students' perceptions of their development of psychosocial attributes. This paper's significance is it outlines specific, integrated activities that are also community-based and culturally engaging. We discuss community-based and culturally engaging learning environments as a viable solution to the problem of individualistic and exclusionary learning environments.

• Growth of ponderosa pine provenances negatively related to water use efficiency. • Warm provenances have slower growth and higher water use efficiency than cool provenances. • Time-integrated leaf Δ13C better indicator of provenance variation in leaf gas exchange and water-use efficiency than direct short-term measurements during dry conditions. We investigated growth and a suite of physiological and structural traits of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Lawson & C. Lawson var. scopulorum Engelm.) seedlings from different provenances using a field common garden study. Twenty-one provenances from a range of elevations across Arizona and New Mexico were planted in 2018 at a field site in the core of the species range in northern Arizona. We measured stem growth rate for three years (2019–2021), leaf carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C), and leaf nitrogen concentration in 2020 on all provenances, and leaf-level gas exchange, instantaneous water use efficiency, predawn and midday water potentials, soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance and specific leaf area on nine provenances in 2020. Provenances differed significantly in stem growth rate, Δ13C, and specific leaf area, and several traits were correlated with provenance environmental and climatic characteristics. Seedlings with higher growth rate had greater Δ13C suggesting a trade-off between growth rate and water use efficiency. Provenances from warmer sites had lower growth rate and Δ13C (higher water use efficiency) than provenances from cooler sites during the driest year. Growth rate of provenances in the driest year was positively associated with stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and soil-to-leaf hydraulic conductance and negatively associated with instantaneous water use efficiency indicating the importance of maintaining water uptake and gas exchange to growth during drought under dry conditions. Our results enhance understanding of physiological mechanisms of establishment for planted ponderosa pine seedlings and show a trade-off between growth rate and water use efficiency of provenances from different thermal environments that should be useful in selection of seed sources for reforestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]