Urban LTER: Central Arizona - Phoenix LTER

格林9714833这个项目是对凤凰城大都市区和亚利桑那州中部边缘地区的长期研究，凤凰城正在迅速扩展到这些地区。该LTER项目的目标是：1)在城市环境中产生和测试一般生态学理论；2)增进对城市生态的理解；3)确定生态和社会经济因素之间的反馈；4)让K-12的学生参与到科学发现的事业中来。凤凰城是美国西部干旱和半干旱地区最大、发展最快的城市之一。由于凤凰城还很年轻，与城市边缘的扩张相比，城市重建是次要的，那里的农地和天然沙漠栖息地正在迅速转变为郊区。将使用地图、规划文件、航空照片和卫星图像重建历史增长模式，以生成基于地理信息系统的城市变化记录。建模将以基于土地利用斑块类型的分层、空间显式、斑块动态方法为中心。在中等尺度上，将开发景观模型以确定多个斑块的配置效果。将开发整个地区的区域模拟模型，以预测和测试未来发展替代模式的生态后果。将在五个核心区域监测特定斑块的生态特征：初级生产力、自然人口和群落特征、有机物的储存和动态、物质(包括水)的运动以及重建、火灾和洪水造成的干扰模式。演替模型将指导这项工作；将跟踪与斑块尺度上的土地利用变化相关的短期生态趋势，以及随着斑块成熟而发生的长期变化。特别令人感兴趣的是城市中心到郊区边缘梯度上给定斑块类型内的生态变化。本研究包括社会经济因素，作为土地利用决策与生态特征之间的反馈。也就是说，生态特征如何影响土地利用决策，反过来，生态后果如何改变未来的土地利用政策？研究将确定生态因素对个人生活质量感知的重要性。此外，将评估对财产价值变化和城市景观内不断变化的人口结构的客观分析，作为生态和其他价值的指标。与各机构和市政当局建立多个伙伴关系将丰富这些努力。这项研究工作包括通过让教师和学生作为实践研究伙伴，通过与开发城市科学课程的互动，以及通过互联网提供与研究发现的实时电子接口，对K-12教育做出了实质性的承诺。由于与大凤凰城地区的众多教育伙伴建立了强有力的联系，该项目的这一组成部分得到了加强。

Grimm 9714833 This project is a long-term study of the Phoenix metropolitan area and fringing regions of central Arizona into which Phoenix is rapidly expanding. Objectives of this LTER program are to: 1) generate and test general ecological theory in an urban environment, 2) enhance understanding of the ecology of cities, 3) identify feedbacks between ecological and socio-economic factors, and 4) involve K-12 students in the enterprise of scientific discovery. Phoenix is one of the largest and most rapidly growing cities of the arid and semi-arid American west. Because Phoenix is young, urban redevelopment is minor compared to expansive growth of the city's edges, where agricultural lands and natural desert habitats are being rapidly converted to suburbia. Historic patterns of growth will be reconstructed using maps, planning documents, aerial photographs and satellite imagery to generate a GIS-based record of urban change. Modeling will be centered on a hierarchical, spatially-explicit, patch-dynamic approach, based on land-use patch types. At intermediate scales, landscape models will be developed to determine configuration effects of multiple patches. A regional simulation model of the entire area will be developed to predict and test ecological consequences of alternative patterns of future development. Patch-specific ecological characteristics will be monitored in five core areas: primary production, natural population and community characteristics, storage and dynamics of organic matter, movement of materials (including water), and patterns of disturbances by redevelopment, fire and flood. A successional model will guide this work; both short-term ecological trends associated with land-use change at the patch scale, and long-term changes as patches mature will be followed. Of special interest is ecological change within a given patch type on the city-center to suburban-edge gradient. Socioeconomic factors are included in this study as feedbacks between land-use decisions and ecol ogical characteristics. That is, how do ecological features shape land-use decisions and how, in return, do ecological consequences modify future land use policy? Research will determine the importance of ecological factors to individual perceptions of quality of life. In addition, objective analyses of change in property values and shifting demographic patterns within the urban landscape will be assessed as an indicator of ecological and other values. These efforts will be enriched by multiple partnerships with agencies and municipalities. This research effort includes a substantial commitment to K-12 education by involving teachers and students as hands-on research partners, through interaction with developing urban science curricula, and by providing a real time electronic interface with research discoveries via the Internet. This component of the project is enhanced by a strong interface with numerous educational partners in the greater Phoenix area.