LTER: Comparative Study of a Suite of Lakes in Wisconsin

摘要(NTL更新)湖泊是景观中显著的、具有重要生态意义和社会价值的组成部分。湖泊从土地和大气中收集水、能量、溶质和污染物，为生物提供栖息地和资源，并与各种人类活动相互作用。北温带湖泊(NTL)长期生态研究计划旨在了解湖泊的生态与相关的大气、地球化学、景观和人类过程。最主要的研究问题是生物物理环境、气候以及土地利用和覆盖的变化如何随着时间的推移(过去、现在和未来)相互作用来塑造湖泊的特征和动态？NTL将通过五个相互关联的目标来解决这个问题：(1)感知湖区物理、化学和生物特性的长期变化，(2)了解湖泊和湖区时间变异性的驱动因素，(3)了解空间过程与长期变化的相互作用，(4)了解生态系统快速广泛变化的原因和可预测性，以及(5)建立预测湖区未来生态的能力。将在四个空间尺度上研究湖泊、景观和人的格局、过程和相互作用：单个湖泊、带有几个湖泊的小流域系统、整个湖区，以及北美西部五大湖区。在时间上，将考虑从一天的几分之一到几十年的规模。NTL将使用长期观察、跨生态系统比较、实验操作和过程建模的多种方法。在这项提案中，专门讨论了生态系统变化的十年预测，这些预测成为未来长期研究的假设。这个跨学科研究小组包括生态学家、水文学家、气候学家、化学家、人口学家、一名经济学家、农村社会学家以及遥感和信息管理专家。这项研究应该对湖区动态产生新的概念，包括对入侵物种的动态和影响的新见解，对湖泊空间位置在景观动态中的作用的理解，人类与生态过程的反射性相互作用，以及地貌环境、气候和人类活动对湖区长期变化的交互影响。通过NTL方案发展的对综合景观-湖泊-社会系统的了解将有助于关心西部大湖区未来及其居民福利的个人和机构的决策。

ABSTRACT (NTL Renewal)Lakes are conspicuous, ecologically important, and socially valued components of landscapes. Lakes collect water, energy, solutes and pollutants from the land and atmosphere, provide habitats and resources for organisms, and interact with diverse human activities. The North Temperate Lakes (NTL) Long-Term Ecological Research program aims to understand the ecology of lakes in relation to relevant atmospheric, geochemical, landscape and human processes. The overarching research question is how do biophysical setting, climate, and changing land use and cover interact to shape lake characteristics and dynamics over time (past, present, future)? NTL will address this question through five inter-related goals: (1) perceive long-term changes in the physical, chemical, and biological properties, of lake districts, (2) understand the drivers of temporal variability in lakes and lake districts, (3) understand the interaction of spatial processes with long-term change, (4) understand the causes and predictability of rapid extensive change in ecosystems, and (5) build a capacity to forecast the future ecology of lake districts.Patterns, processes, and interactions of lakes, landscapes and people will be examined at four spatial scales: individual lakes, small drainage systems with several lakes, entire lake districts, and the western Great Lakes region of North America. Temporally, scales from a fraction of a day to decades will be considered. NTL will use multiple approaches of long-term observation, comparison across ecosystems, experimental manipulations, and process modeling. In this proposal, decadal forecasts of ecosystem change are specifically addressed, which become the hypotheses for future long-term research. The interdisciplinary research group includes ecologists, hydrologists, climatologists, chemists, demographers, an economist, rural sociologists, and specialists in remote sensing and information management. The research should produce new conceptualizations of lake district dynamics, including new insights on the dynamics and impacts of invasive species, understanding of the role of spatial location of lakes in landscape dynamics, the reflexive interactions of human and ecological processes, and the interactive effects of geomorphic setting, climate and human activity on long-term change in lake districts. The understanding of integrated landscape-lake-social systems developed through the NTL program will be useful for decision making by individuals and institutions concerned with the future of the western Great Lakes region and the welfare of its residents.