PIRE: Carbon, Water and Vegetation Dynamics of Amazon Forests Under Climatic Variability and Change

这个由亚利桑那大学和哈佛大学、S和保罗大学、帕拉联邦大学、国家亚马逊研究所、巴西农业研究机构和贝伦博物馆组成的国际合作伙伴关系解决了一个基本的地球系统科学问题，如果没有美国和南美洲科学家之间的强有力的智力合作，这个问题是无法回答的：在气候变化下，亚马逊森林的未来是什么？模拟气候与碳和水循环的耦合作用的模型表明，由于全球变暖导致的干旱，这些森林将会崩溃。但其他模型预测的是弹性。由于目前的知识不足以解决不一致的预测，该项目正在进行一系列长期观察，并结合建模，以提高我们对阿马佐尼亚森林-气候相互作用机制的理解。这项工作的重点是亚马逊森林对厄尔尼诺和热带大西洋循环造成的干旱的反应。综合研究计划采用3种方法：(1)长期观测站点网络上的二氧化碳、水和能量的生态系统通量；核心站点的植被动力学和生态生理学；以及区域到大陆尺度的森林-大气过程，通过遥感和飞机和塔式大气二氧化碳、痕量气体和生物气溶胶采样活动。由于自1997/98年上一次与厄尔尼诺现象有关的大旱灾以来建立了地面和卫星基础设施，大量现有的和新的数据集使COIRE的学生现在才有可能进行观测测试。(2)亚利桑那大学S生物圈二号新计划的一部分，对一片面积0.2公顷、可精确控制的实验热带森林内的降水和二氧化碳进行长期控制，以测试在环境二氧化碳水平下无法观察到的机制。(3)使用生态系统人口学(ED)模型、大气环流模型(GCMS)和高分辨率中尺度和全球模型(巴西-RAMS，OLAM)，多尺度模型模拟将碳和水循环与森林植被组合的演化联系在一起。这些研究方法与一个创新的教育项目相联系，该项目结合了国际合作和地球系统科学的跨学科培训，研究生和本科生将在亚马逊雨林工作，首先作为热带生态学和生物地球化学年度野外课程的学生，然后(对于研究生)作为教师，进行有结构的实地研究项目的研究生指导。该项目涉及与巴西科学家和学生的密集合作，包括在巴西科学机构的交流，以及利用密切的国际合作所提供的广泛的数据集和设施来开发项目。该项目还将包括关键学科的培训，以利用遥感和建模方面的最先进工具进行阿马索尼亚和环境的科学研究。这一伙伴关系将通过扩大国际合作来影响更广泛的社会，以提高对亚马逊未来的科学理解，包括亚马逊森林在全球生物地球化学循环和气候变化中的作用。为本科生和研究生提供教育，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生，将严格的跨学科课程与基于经验的国际实地工作相结合，将促进美国和巴西研究小组之间的密集国际合作。该项目将涉及美国和巴西合作伙伴之间的密集合作，利用巴西对巴西合作伙伴的支持带来的巨大附加值，以及美国国家航空航天局和巴西过去支持的广泛基础设施和尖端现场仪器。预计该项目将成为可持续国际合作的基础，这将培养新一代具有文化经验的科学领袖，为解决全球环境问题做好准备。该项目由国际科学与工程办公室(OISE)资助，环境生物学司(DEB)联合资助。

0730305SaleskaThis international partnership involving University of Arizona and Harvard University, University of São Paulo; Federal University of Pará; National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA); Brazilian Agricutural Research Agency (EMBRAPA); and the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi (Belém) addresses a fundamental earth system science question that cannot be answered without a strong intellectual collaboration between scientists in the U.S. and in South America: what is the future of Amazon forests under climate change? Models that simulate the coupled interaction of climate with carbon and water cycles, mediated by vegetation, suggest that these forests will collapse due to global warming-induced drying. But other models predict resilience. Since current knowledge is insufficient to resolve the discrepant predictions, this project is conducting a suite of long-term observations, integrated with modeling, to improve our understanding of the mechan¬isms of forest-climate interactions in Amazônia. The work focuses on the response of Amazon forests to drought such as that caused by the El Niño and Tropical Atlantic cycles. The integrated research program uses 3 approaches: (1) Long-term observations of ecosystem fluxes of carbon dioxide, water, and energy on a network of sites; vegetation dynamics and ecophysiology at a core site; and regional to continent¬al scale forest-atmosphere processes, by remote sensing and by aircraft and tower sampling campaigns of atmospheric carbon dioxide, trace gases, and biogenic aerosols. Extensive existing and new datasets allow PIRE students to make observational tests only now possible due to ground-based and satellite infrastructure put in place since the last large El Niño-related drought in 1997/98. (2) Long-term manipulation of precipitation and carbon dioxide inside a precisely controllable 0.2 ha experimental tropical forest, part of the University of Arizona?s new program at the Biosphere 2, in order to test mechanisms not observable at ambient carbon dioxide levels. (3) Multiscale model simulations linking carbon and water cycles with evolution of the forest vegetation assemblage, using the Ecosystem Demography (ED) model, general circulation models (GCMs), and high-resolution mesoscale and global models (Brazil-RAMS, OLAM).These research approaches are linked with an innovative education program combining international collaboration with interdisciplinary training in earth system science, in which graduate and undergraduate students will work in the Amazon rainforest, first as students in an annual field course in tropical ecology and biogeochemistry, and then (for graduate students), as teachers in a structured graduate mentoring of field research projects. The project involves intensive collaborations with Brazilian scientists and students including exchanges at Brazilian scientific institutions, and the development of projects leveraging the extensive datasets and facilities available as a result of close international collaboration. The project will also include training in key disciplines for the scientific study of Amazônia, and the environment using state of the art tools in remote sensing and modeling.This partnership will impact broader society by expanding International collaboration to improve scientific understanding of the future of the Amazon, including the role of Amazon forests in global biogeochemical cycling and climate change. Provide education for undergraduate and graduate students, including students from underrepresented groups, that integrates a rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum with experience-based international field work that will foster intensive international collaborations between U.S. and Brazilian research groups. The project will involve Intensive collaboration between U.S. and Brazilian partners, leveraging significant added value from Brazilian support of Brazilian partners, and from extensive infrastructure and sophisticated field instrumentation, a result of past NASA and Brazilian support. It is expected that the project will be the foundation for a sustainable international collaboration that will foster a new generation of culturally experienced scientific leaders prepared to address global environmental problems. This project is funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) with co-funding from the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB).