Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER: Phase 2

CAP-2建议延长对亚利桑那州中部和凤凰城大都会的长期研究，这是一个沙漠地区，在经历快速城市化和人口增长的同时，支持农业和城市/郊区土地利用。CAP研究人类对生态变化的驱动和反馈。以往的研究主要集中在城市化模式和进程对城市生态条件和周边环境的改变，以及生态反馈-社会系统的相互作用。CAP-2将该计划重组为五个新的综合项目区域（IPAs），以帮助明确纳入社会经济驱动因素和反馈：1)土地利用和土地覆盖变化，2)气候和生态系统动态，3)水政策、使用和供应，4)物质通量和社会生态系统响应，5)人类对生物多样性的控制。长期监测、实验、信息管理、场址管理、网络参与和教育/外联的工作方式是在第1章试点项目期间确定的。持续进入CAP-2的项目包括：在CAP的200个地点进行长期监测；土地利用的历史分析；土地覆盖分类；记录土地覆盖和土地利用的变化；城市上下河流监测；建立密集的地点，进行深入的气候、生态和社会调查和实验。将继续进行三个长期试验，并启动第四个试验（沿沉积梯度长期因子氮磷肥施用）。最近建立的北沙漠村“实验郊区”将是同类实验研究中的第一个，包括在社区尺度上对植被类型和灌溉方法的操纵，以及对人-生态环境相互作用的研究。更广泛的影响。拟议的CAP项目的更广泛影响包括：1)提高科学和社会对城市生态学的形象和认识；2)促进各级教育和宣传；3)为快速变化的社会生态系统建立和维护一个全面的、长期的生态和社会变量数据库；4)促进与社区和政府决策者的知识交流。CAP LTER的K-12教育推广项目“生态探索”将继续发展，同时保持现有项目的多样性，并努力在全区范围内采用“生态探索”课程。引入了两个新项目来促进本科生的参与，包括研究学者和实习生社区。CAP LTER的参与者开发了亚利桑那州立大学城市生态学的IGERT项目，并将继续支持研究生参与研究，为CAP-2的独立研究提供夏季支持。信息管理将继续发展创新的新技术，以保持CAP数据库的长期完整性和可访问性。最后，在知识交流方面，CAP LTER将继续在与城市环境有关的科学政策推广方面与若干相关项目和倡议合作。

CAP-2 proposes to extend long-term study of central Arizona and metropolitan Phoenix, a desert region supporting agricultural and urban/suburban land uses while undergoing rapid urbanization and population growth. CAP studies human drivers and feedbacks of ecological change. Previous work concentrated on the central themes of urbanization patterns and processes altering the city's ecological conditions and surrounding environment, and ecological feedback-social system interactions. CAP-2 reorganizes the program into five new Integrative Project Areas (IPAs) to aid in the explicit inclusion of socioeconomic drivers and feedbacks: 1) land-use and land-cover change, 2) climate and ecosystem dynamics, 3) water policy, use and supply, 4) material flux and socio-ecosystem response, and 5) human control of biodiversity. The modus operandi for long-term monitoring, experiments, information management, site management, network participation and education/outreach was established during CAP-1 pilot projects. Projects continued into CAP-2 include: long-term monitoring at 200 sites across CAP; historical analyses of land use; classification of land cover; documentation of change in land cover and use; river monitoring above and below the city; and establishment of intensive sites for in-depth climatic, ecological, and social surveys and experiments. Three long-term experiments will be continued and a fourth initiated (a long-term factorial N+P fertilization along a deposition gradient). The recently established North Desert Village "experimental suburb" will be the first experimental study of its kind, with manipulations of vegetation types and irrigation methods alongside examination of people-ecological environment interactions at the neighborhood scale. Broader Impacts. The broader impacts of the proposed CAP project include: 1) raising the profile and awareness of urban ecology in both science and society, 2) contributing to education and outreach at all levels, 3) producing and maintaining a comprehensive, long-term database of ecological and social variables for a rapidly changing socio-ecosystem, and 4) promoting knowledge exchange with community and governmental decision makers. Ecology Explorers, CAP LTER's K-12 education-outreach program, will see continued growth while maintaining its existing diversity of programs and working toward district-wide adoption of the Ecology Explorers curriculum. Two new programs are introduced to promote undergraduate involvement, including the Communities of Research Scholars and Interns. CAP LTER participants developed the ASU IGERT program in urban ecology and will continue to support graduate participation in research, introducing summer support for independent research in CAP-2. Information management will continue to develop innovative new techniques to preserve the long-term integrity and accessibility of the CAP LTER database. Finally, for knowledge exchange, CAP LTER will continue to partner with several related projects and initiatives in science-policy outreach relating to the urban environment.