Collaborative Research: Vegetation and Paleoecology of an Amazon-Andean Elevational Transect

安第斯山脉的东侧有着世界上最丰富的植物群和动物群。气候变化和森林破坏威胁着这些栖息地。将进行研究，以提供关于秘鲁南部安第斯山脉一侧现代森林群落组成的第一批详细资料，以及这些群落如何沿着海拔梯度（海拔600米至3 000米）变化。与此同时，将在该梯度上的八个地点进行调查，以确定自上一次冰河时代高峰以来当地森林群落的变化。从古代湖泊沉积物中发现的化石花粉和硅藻将详细记录湖泊系统和当地森林对过去突然气候变化的反应，例如最后一个冰河时期的快速冷却事件，以及与当前间冰期开始相关的快速变暖。将提供关于森林群落多样性如何随时间变化的资料，以及群落的变化是否仅限于稀有物种或同样影响所有物种。这些数据将帮助生物学家了解具有高比例特有物种的高多样性动植物群如何在气候变化中生存，以及保护它们所需的条件。

The eastern flank of the Andes supports the richest flora and fauna in the world. Climate change and forest destruction threaten these habitats. Research will be undertaken to provide the first detailed information on the composition of modern forest communities on the Andean flank of southern Peru, and how those communities change along an elevational gradient (600 m to 3000 m elevation). Simultaneously, an investigation will be made at eight sites on that gradient to determine the changes of local forest communities since the peak of the last ice age. Fossil pollen and diatoms recovered from ancient lake sediment will provide a detailed record of how lake systems and local forests responded to past sudden climatic change, such as rapid cooling events within the last ice age, and the rapid warming associated with the start of the present interglacial. Information will be provided on how forest community diversity has changed through time, and whether changes in communities were restricted to just the rare species or affected all species equally. These data will help biologists understand how high diversity floras and faunas, with a high proportion of endemic species, can survive climate change, and what will be required to conserve them.