U.S.-Italy Dissertation Research: Long-Term Natural CO2 Enrichment of a Mediterranean Mixed-Oak Forests

这个为期两年的奖项将支持圣地亚哥州立大学的Cara Hinkson与意大利佛罗伦萨CNR农业气象和农业环境分析研究所的Franco Miglietta博士合作进行的关于大气中二氧化碳浓度升高对本地生态系统影响的论文研究。研究的主要目的是确定CO2升高对植物-土壤-微生物养分动态和碳分配模式的影响，并确定这些因素如何共同影响原生森林生产力。该论文项目将在意大利托斯卡纳的一个本地copcoped混合橡树林社区进行，那里的天然二氧化碳泉已经丰富了二氧化碳浓度数百至数千年。二氧化碳弹簧提供了一个机会，可以比较自然富集的群落与以前在受控环境中使用幼苗和树苗的短期操作的影响，并观察不同时间尺度和空间尺度上的变化。这项研究将受益于意大利二氧化碳弹簧研究所的工作，以及首席研究员关于二氧化碳升高和气候变化对加利福尼亚、南非、澳大利亚、智利和地中海盆地等地区的地中海型生态系统的影响的工作。

This two-year award will support dissertation research on the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on native ecosystems by Cara Hinkson at San Diego State University in cooperation with Dr. Franco Miglietta at the CNR Institute of Agrometeorology and Environmental Analysis for Agriculture in Florence, Italy. The main objective of the research is to determine the effects of elevated CO2 on the plant-soil-microbe nutrient dynamics and carbon allocation patterns, and to determine how these factors collectively affect native forest productivity. The dissertation project will take place in a native coppiced mixed-oak forest community in Tuscany, Italy, where a natural CO2 spring has enriched CO2 concentrations for several hundreds to thousands of years. CO2 springs provide an opportunity to compare effects from naturally enriched communities to those from previous short-term manipulations using seedlings and saplings in controlled environments and to observe changes over different times scales and spatial scales. The research will benefit from the work of the Italian institute on Italian CO2 springs and from the Principal Investigator's work on the effects of elevated CO2 and climate change on Mediterranean-type ecosystems in such areas as California, South Africa, Australia, Chile, and the Mediterranean Basin.