Long-Term Ecological Research at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (LTER5)

和谐0218088安德鲁斯LTER计划旨在了解太平洋西北地区森林和生态系统的长期动态。指导Andrews LTER研究的中心问题是：土地利用、自然干扰和气候变化如何影响三组关键的生态系统服务：碳和养分动态、生物多样性和水文学？这些生态系统服务代表了科学和社会上重要的、易处理的变量，它们的响应被认为代表了景观尺度上不同类别的生态系统行为。气候、土地利用和自然干扰是太平洋西北地区变化的主要驱动力。用于解决这个问题的方法将是多方面的，包括回顾性分析、时间序列观察、实验以及使用模拟模型进行综合、时间外推和空间内插。LTER研究的主要空间尺度是安德鲁斯森林和邻近的上游蓝河流域，面积为16，000公顷。与LTER有关的工作将与针对区域问题的研究相协调。拟议的LTER研究的主要时间范围跨越过去的500年，并预测到未来的几个世纪。这一建议代表了旨在促进单个学科、综合和跨站点比较科学的活动的战略计划。因此，Andrews LTER被用作更大的综合研究集的核心。必要的长期研究将继续进行，其他研究将增加尺度的空间和时间重叠。标准的5个LTER核心活动将通过七个组成领域的工作来解决：（1）气候，（2）水文，（3）干扰，（4）生态生理学，（5）碳和营养动态，（6）生物多样性，（7）河流-森林相互作用。在这个资助周期中，研究继续检查变化的驱动因素和响应过程和分类的相互作用，但概念上的重点将是时间行为，其原因及其对生态系统变化的后果。我们将研究从几天到几百年的时间尺度上的时间行为，重点是：（1）调制，（2）时间滞后，（3）空间相干性，（4）路径依赖性，（5）滞后，（6）替代稳定状态。探索这些方面的时间行为有助于解决中心问题，量化自然的时间变异性和提供洞察机制，控制过程。一个主要目标是测试预测规则（即，假设）调节时间行为。综合的另一个重点是小流域，这是一个重要的景观单元，为气候、生态系统和水文过程的整合以及时空尺度的知识提供了机会。在这种整合的最终目标是创建一个空间三维（包括地下和空气流动）的时间动态的3个国家ofmatter参与流域内的地球化学和水文循环的理解。过去的实验，长期记录的气候，水流，营养输出，植被变化，以及建模将加强这一整合的努力。通过了解这一关键景观单元，未来更广泛的努力将得到加强。安德鲁斯科学和科学家继续通过与学生，教师，政策制定者，土地管理者和公众的沟通，促进对太平洋西北部森林和溪流的理解和管理。信息管理是研究和教育的一项重要活动，强调多种形式信息的易用性、可访问性和可移植性。

Harmon0218088The Andrews LTER program seeks to understand the long-term dynamics of forest and riverecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. The Central Question guiding Andrews LTER research is:How do land use, natural disturbances, and climate change affect three key sets ofecosystem services: carbon and nutrient dynamics, biodiversity, and hydrology? Theseecosystem services represent scientifically and socially important, tractable variables, and theirresponses are posited to represent different classes of ecosystem behavior at the landscape scale.Climate, land use, and natural disturbances are the major drivers of change in the PacificNorthwest region. The approach used to address this question will be multi-faceted involvingretrospective analysis, time series observations, experiments, and use of simulation models forsynthesis, extrapolation in time, and interpolation in space. The principal spatial scale ofinference for LTER studies is the Andrews Forest and adjacent upper Blue River watershed, anarea of 16,000 ha. Work associated with the LTER will be coordinated with studies aimed atregional questions. The principal temporal extent of proposed LTER studies spans the past 500yr and to several centuries projected into the future. This proposal represents the strategic plan ofactivities designed to advance science for individual disciplines, integration, and cross-sitecomparisons. Thus, the Andrews LTER is used as the core of a larger set of integrated studies.Essential long-term studies will be continued and others added to increase spatial andtemporal overlap of scales. The standard 5 LTER core activities will be addressed by work inseven component areas: (1) climate, (2) hydrology, (3) disturbance, (4) ecophysiology,(5) carbon and nutrient dynamics, (6) biodiversity, and (7) stream-forest interactions. In thisgrant cycle, studies continue to examine the interaction of the drivers of change and respondingprocesses and taxa, but the conceptual emphasis will be on temporal behavior, its causes, andits consequences for ecosystem change. We will examine temporal behavior over time scales ofdays to hundreds of years focusing on: (1) modulation, (2) temporal lags, (3) spatial coherence,(4) path dependence, (5) hysteresis, and (6) alternative stable states. Exploring these aspects oftemporal behavior help to address the Central Question by quantifying natural temporalvariability and providing insights into mechanisms that control processes. A major goal will beto test predictive rules (i.e., hypotheses) regulating temporal behaviors. Another focus ofsynthesis will be small watersheds, an important landscape unit providing opportunity forintegration of climatic, ecosystem, and hydrological processes as well as knowledge of temporaland spatial scaling. The ultimate goal in this integration is to create a spatially 3-dimensional(including subsurface and air flow) understanding of the temporal dynamics of the 3 states ofmatter involved in biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles within a watershed. Past experiments,long term records of climate, stream flow, nutrient exports, and vegetation change, as well asmodeling will enhance this integration effort. By understanding this key landscape unit, futurebroader-scale efforts will be strengthened.Andrews science and scientists continue to advance understanding and management offorests and streams of the Pacific Northwest through communication with students, teachers,policy makers, land managers, and the general public. Information management, an essentialactivity for both research and education, emphasizes ease of use, increased accessibility, andportability of many forms of information.