Collaborative Research: Will Climate Change Alter Rates of Old Field Succession Across the U.S. Eastern Deciduous Forest? A Cross-latitude Experimental Network

对生态群落如何随时间变化的研究为影响群落内物种身份和丰度的机制提供了关键见解。大多数关于演替的研究都集中在局部地区的变化上，而不是比较广泛的地理区域的变化模式。比较已发表的研究表明，温度可能是一个重要的因素，在美国东部的落叶林干扰后，在树木覆盖率的限制。实验在6个地点，沿着纬度梯度从锡拉丘兹，纽约州，塔拉哈西，佛罗里达州，将被用来测试的重要性，温度，土壤肥力和植物物种池的发芽率，生长和东部落叶林生态系统的先锋树的生存率的主要驱动程序。使用广泛分布的网站，跨越北部到南部的东部落叶林范围是这项研究的关键，因为它允许类似的操作土壤和物种组成在一个显着的温度梯度。这些实验的数据将被纳入一个分层建模结构，该结构将评估对森林演替速率的控制，并将深入了解气候变化对这些森林管理策略的潜在影响。两名年轻的教师调查员将由这个项目的支持，因为将有一些本科生谁将参与研究的许多方面。

Studies of how ecological communities change over time have provided key insights into mechanisms that influence the identity and abundance of species within communities. Most studies of succession have focused on changes within a local area, rather than comparing patterns of change over broad geographic regions. Comparison of published studies suggests that temperature may be an important factor in limiting the rate at which tree cover is reestablished following disturbance in deciduous forests in the eastern United States. Experiments at 6 sites, along a latitudinal gradient from Syracuse, NY, to Tallahassee, FL, will be used to test the importance of temperature, soil fertility, and plant species pools as major drivers of rates of germination, growth, and survival of pioneer trees in eastern deciduous forest ecosystems. Use of widely distributed sites spanning the north-to-south extent of eastern deciduous forests is key to this study as it allows similar manipulations of soils and species composition across a significant temperature gradient. Data from these experiments will be incorporated into a hierarchical modeling structure that will assess the controls on rates of forest succession, and they will provide insights into a potential effect of climate change on management strategies for these forests. Two young faculty investigators will be supported by this project, as will a number of undergraduate students who will participate in many aspects of the research.