Climatic Variation and Disturbance Interactions in Subalpine Rocky Mountain Forests

亚高山落基山脉森林的气候变化和干扰相互作用Veblen，托马斯T.科罗拉多大学博尔德分校气候变化预计将通过对火灾和昆虫爆发频率的影响加剧对森林景观的干扰。 本项目将解决需要更好地了解这种干扰的空间和时间性质、气候变化对森林动态的作用以及这些景观遗产在改变森林对未来干扰的敏感性方面的重要性。 具体而言，这项工作将研究如何森林干扰变化有关的广泛的环境梯度在南部落基山脉森林生态系统。 这项研究要解决的关键问题包括：在地形和广泛的气候梯度上，什么样的气候条件有利于火灾和致命昆虫的爆发;地形的变化如何影响火灾和昆虫爆发后森林恢复的性质和速度以及未来对干扰的敏感性;以及以往因火灾和虫害而造成的严重干扰所遗留下来的景观如何影响其后干扰的频率、范围和严重程度？ 该项目将为森林景观中的干扰过程如何对空间异质环境中的气候变化作出反应提供新的知识。 在方法上，这项研究将结合联合收割机详细的树木年轮分析的干扰和气候变化与地理信息系统分析的空间相互作用的过去的干扰事件的地形设置。 这种多尺度的实证分析将阐明精细与粗尺度的干扰过程的约束的相对作用。 该项目的结果将对科罗拉多国家公园和国家森林的森林资源规划和管理具有重要意义。 特别是，遗留下来的景观由火灾和昆虫爆发之前的干扰时，需要考虑规划未来干扰事件的蔓延和严重程度。

Climatic Variation and Disturbance Interactions in Subalpine Rocky Mountain ForestsVeblen, Thomas T.University of Colorado at BoulderClimate change is expected to exacerbate disturbances to forested landscape through impacts on frequency of fire and insect outbreaks. This project will address the need for an improved understanding of the spatial and temporal nature of such disturbances, the role of climate variability on forest dynamics, and the significance of these landscape legacies in altering forest susceptibility to future disturbance. Specifically, this work will examine how forest disturbances vary in relation to broad environmental gradients in southern Rocky Mountain forest ecosystems. Key questions to be addressed in this research include: what climatic conditions are conducive to fire and lethal insect outbreaks across topographic and broad climatic gradients; how does topographic variability affect the nature and rate of forest recovery following fire and insect outbreaks and future susceptibility to disturbance; and how do landscape legacies resulting from major previous disturbance by fire and insect outbreaks affect the subsequent frequency, spread and severity of disturbances? This project will contribute new knowledge to how disturbance processes in forested landscapes respond to climatic variation in spatially heterogeneous environments. Methodologically, this research will combine detailed tree-ring analyses of disturbance and climatic variation with GIS-analyses of the spatial interactions of past disturbance events in relation to topographic setting. This multi-scale empirical analysis will elucidate the relative roles of fine- versus coarse-scale constraints on disturbance processes. The results of the project will be of importance to forest resource planning and management in National Parks and National Forests in Colorado. In particular, legacies left in the landscape by prior disturbance by fire and insect outbreaks need to be considered when planning for the spread and severity of future disturbance events.