LTER: Alaska's Changing Boreal Forest: Resilience and Vulnerability

博南扎溪LTER（BNZ）的重点是通过研究推动生态系统恢复力和脆弱性变化的潜在机制，提高我们对阿拉斯加北方森林气候变化和干扰机制的长期后果的理解。总的目标是记录在气候变化的情况下对森林动态、生物地球化学和干扰及其相互作用的主要控制。研究工作力求查明缓冲系统结构和功能急剧变化的因素（复原力）和可能加速变化到其他状态的因素（脆弱性），并分为三个主题：森林动态、生态地球化学和景观动态。在这个资助周期中，BNZ的研究将与长期监测数据建立更直接的联系，PI增加了几个新的项目元素。研究设计结合了长期的观察和实验过程的研究，以确定生态变化和文件控制生态系统过程中的两种类型的演替序列，河漫滩的初级继承和高地火灾后的二级继承，在广泛的空间和时间尺度。通过操纵选定的交互式控制扩展到更大的空间尺度上的分层研究设计，使用广泛的测量，遥感和建模在广泛的时间尺度上的假设，对生态系统动态的控制进行测试。更广泛的影响。BNZ的研究通过了解气候变化，干扰，人类活动和外来物种对北方森林生态系统服务（如气候调节，娱乐，美学和森林资源可用性）的影响，具有广泛的社会影响。新西兰银行的外联和教育部分通常非常强大和有效，并与州和联邦资源管理机构有许多联系。BNZ Schoolyard LTER计划非常成功，并与其他两个科学教育计划合作，在38个阿拉斯加城镇培训科学教师。这涉及到让大多数代表性不足的学生参与进来，这些学生发起了自己的长期生态研究项目，并开发了自己的网站。开发了一个非常有创意的物候单元，让K-12学生参与遥感数据的地面验证测量，这对阿拉斯加农村社区的许多儿童来说是第一次这样的机会。该活动现已纳入《地球仪教师指南》并在国际上使用。BNZ研究为本科生和研究生提供培训，并与创新和令人兴奋的IGERT项目相联系。新西兰银行通过各种媒体宣传向公众进行宣传，参与者与关心可持续林业和阿拉斯加土著人的地方和区域团体密切合作。BNZ网站和相关研究人员在研究和出版物方面有着良好的记录，通过信息管理，强调对收集的数据进行安全存档，促进其在综合中的使用，以及开发基于网络的数据库，以促进科学界的使用，从而使数据可供更广泛的社区使用并对其有用。

The Bonanza Creek LTER (BNZ) focuses on improving our understanding of the long-term consequences of changing climate and disturbance regimes in the Alaskan boreal forest by examining the underlying mechanisms that drive ecosystem resilience and vulnerability toward change. The overall objective is to document the major controls over forest dynamics, biogeochemistry and disturbance and their interactions in the face of a changing climate. Research seeks to identify factors that buffer systems from radical changes in structure and functioning (resilience) vs. factors that might precipitate changes to alternative states (vulnerability), and is organized into three themes: forest dynamics, biogeochemistry and landscape dynamics. In this funding cycle, BNZ research will make a more direct connection to long-term monitoring data and the PIs have added several new program elements. The research design combines long-term observations and experiments with process studies to identify ecological changes and document controls over ecosystem processes in two types of successional sequences, floodplain primary succession and upland post-fire secondary succession, over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Hypotheses about controls over ecosystem dynamics are tested by manipulating selected interactive controls extended to larger spatial scales in a hierarchical research design, using extensive measurements, remote sensing, and modeling over a broad spectrum of temporal scales. Broader Impacts. BNZ research has broad societal implications through the understanding of impacts of climate change, disturbance, human activities and exotic species on boreal forest ecosystem services such as climate regulation, recreation, aesthetics and forest resource availability. BNZ outreach and educational components are generally very strong and effective and have numerous connections to state and federal resource management agencies. The BNZ Schoolyard LTER program has been very successful and has partnered with two other science education programs to train science teachers in 38 Alaskan towns. This has involved engaging largely under-represented students who have initiated their own long-term ecological research projects and developed their own web sites. A very creative phenology unit was developed that involves K-12 students in ground validation measurements of remotely sensed data, a first such opportunity for many children in rural Alaskan communities. This activity has now been incorporated into the GLOBE Teachers Guide and is used internationally. BNZ research provides training for undergraduate and graduate students and is connected with an innovative and exciting IGERT project. BNZ public outreach to the general public is via diverse media publicity, with participants working closely with local and regional groups concerned with sustainable forestry and Native Alaskans. The BNZ site and associated researchers have an excellent track record of research and publications with data made available and useful to a broader community through information management emphasizing secure archival of collected data, promotion of its use in synthesis, and development of web-based databases to facilitate its use by the scientific community.