PIRE: Ecological and Evolutionary Effects of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Influences in Mongolia

提案编号：0729786PI名称：Petratis，Peter S.PI的机构：宾夕法尼亚大学提案标题：PERE：气候变化和人为影响在蒙古的生态和进化影响这个PIRE项目研究了蒙古霍夫斯戈尔湖地区放牧压力增加和气温上升的生态、进化和社会后果。气候模型预测蒙古的气温将显著上升。在蒙古北部，气温和生长季长度的增加已经很明显，这是科学家和关注气候变化对环境和当地人民生计影响的政府官员特别感兴趣的。这个PERE项目是宾夕法尼亚大学、费城自然科学院、蒙古科学院、蒙古科技大学和蒙古国立大学的生态学家、进化学家和人类学家共同努力的成果。推进对来自蒙古和美国的本科生、研究生和教师的培训是该项目的一个主要目标，包括蒙古科学界的能力建设，以及以鼓励他们继续参与全球研究的方式培训美国学生。该项目开发了一个基础设施，使长期的科学交流能够延伸到赠款期限之外。它还为在面临环境条件快速变化的其他地区进行国际合作研究和教育努力提供了一个模板。该项目侧重于了解放牧和气候变化在一个游牧牧民使用的地区的综合影响，该地区拥有两个重要的生态系统(泰加森林和草原草原)。该项目集监测、实验和建模为一体，因为气候变化、游牧民族的土地利用和迁移以及泰加森林和草原草原生态系统过程的差异之间存在复杂的相互作用。监测包括气象条件、永久冻土深度、水文循环、生态系统过程以及游牧家庭及其牲畜的活动。田间对照实验考察了气温升高和放牧对植物群落组成、物候、生产力、凋落物分解和土壤呼吸的影响。该项目还通过检查树木年轮的碳和氧同位素比率来研究森林生态系统的长期反应，因为蒸发通量的长期变化可能会影响区域降水和生态系统的可持续性。建模工作强调整合可为气候变化背景下的新研究问题、政府政策和可持续做法的发展提供信息的结果。这项研究对正在积极制定土地保护和管理政策的蒙古人和努力了解全球变暖未来后果的世界各地的科学家具有实际意义。该项目由国际科学与工程办公室(OISE)通过PERE和生物复杂性倡议以及生物科学局(BIO)环境生物学司(DEB)的生态系统科学集群资助。

ABSTRACTProposal No.: 0729786PI Name: PETRAITIS, Peter S.PI's Institution: University of PennsylvaniaProposal Title: PIRE: Ecological and evolutionary effects of climate change and anthropogenic influences in MongoliaThis PIRE project examines the ecological, evolutionary and societal consequences of increased grazing pressures and rising temperatures in the Lake Hovsgol region of Mongolia. Climate models predict significant temperature increases in Mongolia. Increases in both temperature and the length of the growing season are already apparent in northern Mongolia, and this is of special interest to both scientists and governmental officials concerned with the impacts of climate change on the environment and the livelihood of local people. This PIRE project is a collaborative effort between ecologists, evolutionists and anthropologists at the University of Pennsylvania, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolia University of Science and Technology, and National University of Mongolia. Advancing the training of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty from Mongolia and the U.S. is a major goal of the project and includes capacity building within the Mongolian scientific community and the training of U.S. students in a way that encourages their continued involvement in global research. The project develops an infrastructure that will enable long-term scientific exchanges to extend beyond the duration of the grant. It also provides a template for conducting international collaborative research and educational efforts in other regions facing rapid shifts in environmental conditions.This project focuses on understanding the combined effects of grazing and climate change in a region that is used by nomadic herders and is home to two important ecosystems (the taiga forest and the steppe grasslands). The project integrates monitoring, experiments and modeling because of the complex interactions between climate change, land use by and movements of nomadic herders, and differences in ecosystem processes in taiga forests and steppe grasslands. Monitoring includes meteorological conditions, permafrost depth, hydrological cycles, ecosystem processes, and activities of nomad families and their livestock. Controlled experiments in the field examine how temperature increases and grazing affect plant community composition, phenology, productivity, litter decomposition and soil respiration. The project also addresses long-term responses of the forest ecosystem by examining carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of tree rings because long-term alteration of evaporative flux could affect regional precipitation and ecosystem sustainability. Modeling efforts emphasize the integration of results that can inform the development of new research questions, governmental policy and sustainable practices in the context of climate change. The research is of practical importance to the Mongolians, who are actively developing policy on land preservation and management, and to scientists worldwide, who strive to understand the future consequences of global warming.The project is funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) through the PIRE and the biocomplexity initiative and the Ecosystem Science cluster of the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) in the Directorate of Biological Sciences (BIO).