Effects of Climate Change in the Colorado Alpine

该项目是大学的第三阶段， 科罗拉多长期生态研究计划。 它建立在 与干扰有关的高山过程和模式研究 在项目的第一阶段和第二阶段进行。 领域 将继续在尼沃特岭和绿色湖进行研究 在科罗拉多更广泛的地区进行选定研究的山谷 前线 这项研究的目的是了解 积雪和夏季降水对生态系统影响 过程和景观格局，并利用这种理解， 预测对气候变化的反应。 核心假设是 积雪或降雨的交替会导致 高山生态系统过程和模式的变化， 区域规模。 高山冻原通常被认为是 对气候变化很敏感， 这是冰川消退后12,000年来的变化。 的原因 这种敏感性是其低生产力和紧张的养分 循环和它的情况下，在极端的许多工厂的过程。 在该项目的第三阶段，重点将放在进一步 生态系统过程和模式的实验研究， 他们的建模作为一种预测改变的影响的手段， Showpack和夏季降水模式 特别是规模 考虑将强调分层的方法。 远程 传感将用于检查区域初级生产力 沿着海拔和气候梯度在前线和 便于从尼沃特的主要研究中心外推 山脊到其他高山地区。 这一主题源于 第一阶段，这是基于前提，目前的高山 生态系统反映了过去的气候条件和第二阶段， 重点是冻土系统的恢复力和抵抗力。 许多 从早期的工作中获得的数据库将是至关重要的 我们的第三阶段研究，并将保持在未来六年 年

This project represents a third phase of the University of Colorado Long-Term Ecological Research program. It builds upon research in alpine processes and patterns related to disturbance conducted during Phase I and Phase II of the program. Field studies will be continued at Niwot Ridge and in the Green Lakes Valley with selected studies in the wider region of the Colorado Front Range. The goal of this research is to understand the influence of snowpack and summer precipitation on ecosystem processes and landscape patterns and to use this understanding to predict responses to climate change. The central hypothesis is that alternation of snowpack or rainfall regimes will cause changes in alpine ecosystem processes and patterns at site and regional scale. The alpine tundra is often thought to be sensitive to climate change and is known to have responded to such changes in the 12,000 years since deglaciation. The reasons for this sensitivity are its low productivity and tight nutrient cycling and its situation at an extreme for many plant processes. In Phase III of this project emphasis will be place on further experimental studies of ecosystem processes and patterns and their modeling as a means of predicting the effects of altered showpack and summer precipitation patterns. In particular, scale considerations will be emphasized hierarchical approach. Remote sensing will be used to examine regional primary productivity along elevational and climatic gradients in the Front Range and to facilitate extrapolation from the primary study site at Niwot Ridge to other alpine areas. This theme derives from that of Phase I, which was based on the premise that present alpine ecosystems reflect past climatic conditions and Phase II, which focuses on the resilience and resistance of tundra systems. Many of the databases derived from this earlier work will be crucial to our Phase III research and will be maintained for the next six years.