SGER: Development of Technology for Remote Monitoring of Contact Processes in Animal Populations and Communities

落基山亚高山森林的气候变化和干扰相互作用气候变化通过影响火灾和昆虫爆发的频率，预计会加剧对森林景观的干扰。该项目将解决提高对这些干扰的时空性质、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易感性方面的重要性的理解的需要。具体地说，这项工作将研究在落基山脉南部森林生态系统中，森林干扰如何随着广泛的环境梯度而变化。本研究需要解决的关键问题包括：什么样的气候条件有利于跨越地形和广泛的气候梯度的火灾和致命昆虫的爆发；地形变化如何影响火灾和虫害爆发后森林恢复的性质和速度以及未来对干扰的易感性；以及由先前的火灾和昆虫爆发造成的重大干扰所产生的景观遗产如何影响随后的干扰频率、传播和/或严重程度？该项目将为森林景观的扰动过程如何响应空间异质性环境中的气候变化提供新的知识。在方法上，该研究将结合对扰动和气候变化的详细树木年轮分析，以及与地形环境相关的过去扰动事件的空间相互作用的gis分析。这种多尺度的经验分析将阐明精细与粗尺度约束对扰动过程的相对作用。该项目的结果将对科罗拉多州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，在规划未来干扰事件的蔓延和严重程度时，需要考虑先前火灾和昆虫爆发干扰在景观中留下的遗产。

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/or 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, the 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.