Doctoral Dissertation Research: Long-Term Reconstruction of Oak Mast in the Southern Appalachian Region

橡树（Quercus spp.）在美国东南部的阿巴拉契亚山脉南部，大部分年份都结橡子。 然而，在某些年份，橡子（也称为桅杆）的生产对一个地区的所有橡树来说都特别重。 这些极端的桅杆事件代表了树木的重大资源消耗，它们对野生动物和野生动物动态产生了深远的影响。 在阿巴拉契亚山脉南部的桅杆详细纵向记录的发展提供了信息，允许科学检查的长期桅杆周期的动态，以及是否发生了任何变化，以应对气候变化或其他因素。 这个博士论文研究项目将采用新的方法，树木年代桅杆重建，探索空间方面的桅杆在南部阿巴拉契亚山脉的橡树。 一百年的桅杆历史将在阿巴拉契亚山脉南部的几个地点开发，这些重建将被用来检查桅杆生产的时间趋势，探索气候和桅杆事件之间的联系，并调查桅杆事件的空间动态。 该项目将产生一套长期的橡树年表，在空间上分布在整个阿巴拉契亚山脉南部。 多个年表将使气候对树木生长的影响的空间分析，通过比较个人的立场记录与20个美国历史气候网络（USHCN）气象站在整个地区。 该项目将广泛地促进树木年代学技术的发展。 通过该项目开发的长期桅杆重建将使林业工作者，生态学家和生态学家通过回顾过去更好地了解桅杆生态。 该项目还将增加对自然系统动态中规模作用的见解。 对桅杆结构进行不同尺度的分析，有助于加深对驱动机构在桅杆动力学中作用的理解。 桅杆记录也可以被野生动物管理人员用来检查桅杆在过去野生动物种群波动中的作用，生态学家也可以用来检查极端桅杆事件对橡树建立脉冲的贡献。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

Oak trees (Quercus spp.) in the southern Appalachians of the southeastern U.S. produce fruit in the form of acorns in most years. During some years, however, the production of acorns (also known as mast) is especially heavy for all oak trees in an area. These extreme mast events represent a significant resource expenditure for the trees, and they have profound impacts on wildlife and wildlife dynamics. The development of detailed longitudinal records of masting in the southern Appalachians is making available information that permits scientific examination of the dynamics of longer-term masting cycles and whether any changes have occurred in response to climate change or other factors. This doctoral dissertation research project will employ new methods for dendrochronological mast reconstruction to explore spatial aspects of masting in oaks in the southern Appalachians. One hundred-year mast histories will be developed for several locations in the southern Appalachians, and these reconstructions will be used to examine temporal trends in mast production, to explore links between climate and mast events, and investigate the spatial dynamics of mast events. The project will generate a set of long-duration oak chronologies that are spatially distributed throughout the southern Appalachians. Multiple chronologies will enable a spatial analysis of the effect of climate on tree growth by comparing individual stand records with twenty U.S. Historical Climate Network (USHCN) meteorological stations throughout the region. This project will contribute broadly to the development of dendrochronological techniques. The long-term mast reconstructions developed through this project will allow foresters, ecologists, and biogeographers to better understand mast ecology by looking back in time. The project also will add insights into the role of scale in the dynamics of natural systems. The analysis of masting at different scales will enhance understandings of the roles of driving mechanisms in mast dynamics. The mast records also can be used by wildlife managers to examine the role of mast in past wildlife population fluctuations and by ecologists to examine how extreme mast events contribute to oak-establishment pulses. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.