RCN: Tropical Forests in a Changing World

全球热带雨林的变化是一个真实而紧迫的问题。这些变化中的许多都归因于伐木和焚烧等明显的破坏性干预。全球气候变化对热带森林的影响也被记录在案。树木在炎热的年份生长较慢，许多热带溪流在厄尔尼诺年份更酸性。有证据表明，还有其他因素可能也起到了重要作用。热带青蛙物种的灭绝可能是由于气候变化和对一种致命真菌疾病的易感性的复杂相互作用。该项目的首要目标是利用长期数据集建立一个由热带实地科学家组成的跨学科网络，以检验有关热带森林正在发生变化的原因的假设。网络会议和由此产生的研究将使该项目能够评估森林动态变化的可能影响，将这些影响预测到未来几十年，并规划减少变化破坏性影响的方法。这个项目的更广泛的重要性涉及到热带环境的健康如何通过扁虱和蚊子等病媒的传播和农作物授粉中断等机制与整个地球的状况以及人类居民的健康和经济福祉联系在一起。这一引人注目的科学重要性，加上在网络活动中纳入了对K-12和成人学习小组的宣传，以促进更好地了解热带森林的变化如何对世界产生影响。

Changes in tropical forests worldwide are a real and urgent problem. Many of these changes are attributed to obvious destructive interventions such as logging and burning. The influences of global climate change on tropical forests have been documented also. Trees grow more slowly in hot years and many tropical streams are more acidic in El Niño years. Evidence suggests there are other factors that may play a significant role as well. Extinction of tropical frog species is probably due to a complex interaction of climate change and susceptibility to a fatal fungal disease. The overarching goal of this project is the creation of an interdisciplinary network of scientists from tropical field sites with long-term data sets to test hypotheses about the causes of ongoing changes in tropical forests. The network meetings and the resultant research will enable the project to evaluate the likely effects of changes in forest dynamics, project these impacts into future decades, and plan ways to lessen the destructive impact of the changes. The broader importance of this project concerns how the health of the tropical environment is connected to the condition of the entire planet and to the health and economic well-being of its human inhabitants through mechanisms such as the spread of disease vectors like ticks and mosquitoes and disruption of crop pollination. This compelling scientific importance is coupled with the integration of outreach to K-12 and adult learning groups in the network activities to facilitate greater understanding about how changes in tropical forests have world-wide implications.