Long-Term Studies of Disturbances as They Affect Ecological Processes in Landscapes of the Southern Appalachians

对影响南阿巴拉契亚山脉景观生态过程的干扰的长期研究

• 批准号: 9632854
• 负责人: David Coleman
• 金额: $ 600.01万
• 依托单位: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-10-15 至 2004-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9632854&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Long; Term; Studies; Disturbances; They

9632854 Coleman This research will continue investigations on the extent and complexity of natural and human-caused disturbances, and how they interact with ecological processes along environmental gradients in the landscape. This work builds upon extensive long-term studies of landscape processes in the southern Appalachians and spans four levels of resolution (plot, watershed, landscape and region) in the Little Tennessee and French Broad River basins. Individual and interacting effects of disturbance and environmental heterogeneity on populations, communities, and ecological processes forms the unifying theme of this proposed LTER research. The research team will focus on three areas of inquiry: (1) characterization of disturbance and environmental heterogeneity in the southern Appalachians, (2) effects of disturbance and environmental heterogeneity on populations and communities, and (3) effects of disturbance and environmental heterogeneity on biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem processes. The project builds on extensive understanding of disturbances occurring with the Coweeta basin and continues to characterize environmental heterogeneity, maintaining continuity in the 60+ year record for some variables. As the focus expands to the southern Appalachian region, historical fire regime and socio-economic drivers of land-use change will also be considered. The effects of disturbance and environmental heterogeneity on plant and animal populations will be assessed at a range of scales and key questions will be addressed on the effects of resource variability on terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. Using a combination of new studies and continued long-term measurements, investigators will examine the role of environmental heterogeneity and disturbance in regulating ecosystem pools and processes in streams, riparian zones, and forests. This research approach utilizes an integrated program of long-term field measurements, experiments and modeling.

9632854科尔曼这项研究将继续调查自然和人为干扰的程度和复杂性，以及它们如何与生态过程沿着环境梯度的景观。这项工作建立在广泛的长期研究景观过程中，在阿巴拉契亚山脉南部，跨越四个层次的分辨率（情节，流域，景观和区域）在小田纳西州和法国宽河流域。干扰和环境异质性对种群、群落和生态过程的个体和相互作用的影响形成了这一拟议的LTER研究的统一主题。研究小组将集中在三个领域的调查：（1）在阿巴拉契亚山脉南部的干扰和环境异质性的表征，（2）干扰和环境异质性对种群和群落的影响，（3）干扰和环境异质性对地球化学循环和生态系统过程的影响。 该项目建立在对Coweeta盆地发生的扰动的广泛理解的基础上，并继续表征环境异质性，保持某些变量60多年记录的连续性。随着重点扩大到阿巴拉契亚南部地区，历史火灾制度和土地利用变化的社会经济驱动因素也将被考虑。将在一系列尺度上评估扰动和环境异质性对植物和动物种群的影响，并将讨论资源变异性对陆地和水生生物多样性的影响的关键问题。通过结合新的研究和持续的长期测量，研究人员将研究环境异质性和干扰在调节溪流、河岸带和森林中的生态系统池和过程中的作用。这种研究方法利用了长期实地测量，实验和建模的综合方案。