Effects of Climate Change in the Colorado Alpine: Ecosystem Response to Altered Snowpack and Rainfall Regimes

过去40年在尼沃特岭测得的气候资料 表明这个温带高山地区正在经历 变化 较冷、较湿的条件与工厂的变化相关 群落组成，降低土壤pH值， 控制植物的氮限制。 虽然一些 未来的气候情景是可能的， 阿尔卑斯山可能会继续冷却的趋势，由于增加的降雨量 和蒸散量。 因此，这项新研究将 强调积雪和降水对高山 生态系统的过程和模式。 项目组将确定 并量化控制高山生态系统响应的机制 积雪和降水，并开发预测模型， 在这个知识。 本研究有四个重点：（1） 流域一级的物理和生物过程， 地球化学收支;（2）植物和土壤微生物过程， 强调有机体对营养分配、库和 通量、光合作用和净初级生产力;（3）a 涉及人口和 利用地理信息系统和远程 变化的古生态响应 近几个世纪和几千年来的降雪情况。 所有 研究领域使用面向过程的模型， 和预测能力。 将这些模型与GIS接口 技术将提供空间上明确的表示， 提供一种机制，将相关的生物物理过程按比例缩放， 区域层面。

Climatological data measured over the past 40 years at Niwot Ridge show that this temperate alpine site is undergoing directional change. Cooler, wetter conditions correlate with shifts in Plant community composition, reduced soil pH and modification of controls on nitrogen limitation to vegetation. While a number of future climatic scenarios are possible, enhanced precipitation in the alpine may continue the cooling trend due to increased albedo and evapotranspiration. This new research will therefore emphasize the influence of snowpack and precipitation on alpine ecosystem processes and patterns. The project group will identify and quantify mechanisms controlling the alpine ecosystem response to snowpack and precipitation and develop prediction models based on this knowledge. The research has four focal points: (1) watershed-level physical and biological processes affecting geochemical budgets; (2) plant and soil microbial processes, emphasizing organismic controls on nutrient allocation, pools and fluxes, photosynthesis and net primary production; (3) a hierarchical set of landscape analyses involving populations and communities of plants and animals and employing GIS and remote sensing techniques; and (4) paleoecological responses to changed snow conditions during recent centuries and millennia. All research areas use process-oriented models that provide analytical and predictive capabilities. Interfacing these models with GIS technologies will provide spatially explicit representation and provide a mechanism to scale relevant biophysical processes to regional levels.