OPUS: Synthesis of Three Decades of Research on Tree Growth in Northern Forests in Relation to Global Climatic Change

该项目将支持一项跨越三十多年研究的综合，重点是对北方森林的树木年轮分析。北美和欧亚大陆大片地区的北部森林生态系统是地球碳循环的高度敏感指标。在过去的几十年里，这些森林产生了关于北方森林生长的变化以及过去千年的气候和环境变化的宝贵信息。这个项目将产生两个主要产品。首先，一本全面的、可广泛访问的专著，将综合这一广泛的来自北方森林的与全球变化研究相关的年轮分析。这本专著将研究所谓的“发散效应”，即弄清楚近几十年来，许多北方地区的树木生长和温度模式是如何以及为什么没有排列起来的。记录这种分化效应对于识别和理解未来气候变化对树木生长的影响至关重要。第二，将在汇编长期树轮数据、说明和重建的基础上制作光盘地图集。这一光盘产品将向全世界的研究人员和学生提供，并将提供有关科学状况的重要观点，并为学校课程的制定提供材料。这份综合报告提供了对科学决策过程的见解，并与关注全球变化及其影响的决策者有关。

This project will support a synthesis spanning more than three decades of research, focused on tree-ring analyses of northern forests. The northern forest ecosystems of the great land masses of North America and Eurasia are highly sensitive indicators of the Earth's carbon cycle. Over the past decades, these forests have yielded valuable information on variation in boreal forest growth as well as climatic and environmental change for the past millennium. Two main products will result from this project. First, a comprehensive, widely-accessible monograph that will synthesize this extensive body of tree-ring analysis from northern forests related to global change studies. The monograph will examine the so-called 'divergence effect', which means figuring out how and why tree growth and temperature patterns are not lined up at many northern sites, in recent decades. Documenting the divergence effect is critical for identifying and understanding the implications of future climate change on tree growth. Second, a CD atlas will be produced based on compilation of long-term tree-ring data, descriptions and reconstructions. This CD product will be made available to researchers and students worldwide and will provide important perspectives regarding the state of the science and provide materials for development of school curricula. This synthesis provides insights into the scientific decision-making process and is relevant to policy makers concerned with global change and its impacts.