LTREB: Progressive Responses to Climate Change Across Multiple Ecosystems

该项目研究了美国西南部四种不同的陆地生态系统，从高沙漠草原到亚高山草原，如何对温度升高和降水量变化做出反应，使用模拟100年内预期未来气候的实验处理。这些处理方法已经实施了近十年，并计划再持续十年，在多种生态系统类型中进行长期的气候变化实验。该项目的目标是测试这些生态系统对模拟气候变化的最初反应是否随时间而一致，或者随着生态系统适应新的气候条件而变化。将记录的反应包括植物生长，碳循环和储存，以及甲烷和一氧化二氮等温室气体的土壤释放。这个项目很重要，因为气候变化影响陆地生态系统，但也因为这些生态系统影响气候。因此，生态系统如何应对将影响气候系统未来变化的速度和轨迹。该项目填补了一个关键的知识空白，因为生态系统对气候变化的长期反应对于了解未来气候特别重要，但这些反应很难记录，需要持续数十年的实验。该项目将通过提供有竞争力的本科生实习机会，将全球变化研究与科学教育结合起来。通过当地保护组织组织的推广活动将把这项研究置于公众可以接触到的广泛背景下。

This project investigates how four different terrestrial ecosystems from the southwestern US, from high desert grassland to subalpine prairie, respond to increased temperature and altered precipitation, using experimental treatments that simulate the expected future climate in 100 years. These treatments have been imposed for nearly a decade and are planned to continue for a decade more, creating a long-term climate change experiment across multiple ecosystem types. The goals of this project are to test whether the initial responses of these ecosystems to simulated climate change are consistent over time, or whether they change over time as the ecosystems adjust to the new climatic conditions. The responses that will be documented include plant growth, carbon cycling and storage, and soil release of greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide. This project is important because climate change affects terrestrial ecosystems, but also because these ecosystems affect climate. Therefore, how ecosystems respond will influence the pace and trajectory of future changes in the climate system. The project fills a key knowledge gap, because long-term responses of ecosystems to climate change are especially important for understanding the future climate, but these responses are difficult to document, requiring experiments that last for decades. The project will integrate global change research with science education through provision of competitive undergraduate internships. Outreach activities organized through local conservation organizations will place this research in a broad context accessible to the general public.