RAPID: Regional and landscape initiatives at Harvard Forest LTER

哈佛森林LTER研究新英格兰的森林如何在从单个地点到整个地区的空间尺度上对自然和人类干扰以及环境变化做出反应。拟议的工作将侧重于这一较大任务的两个具体方面。首先，研究人员将调查新英格兰南部海岸橡树意外大范围死亡的原因和后果。这项工作将与正在进行的关于新英格兰各地铁杉和山毛榉树类似衰退的研究相结合，并将解决与重要生态物种衰退或丧失相关的科学和管理挑战。其次，将在哈佛森林的展望山地区安装无线(无线电)网络。无线网络将使人们能够从森林中的各种科学项目中实时收集数据，以便对设备进行远程监控，并在收集数据时将选定的数据发布到网上。在区域范围内，由多种压力造成的物种减少或损失，包括入侵病虫害、气候变化以及城市和郊区的发展，是全国科学家、政策制定者和土地管理人员面临的日益严重的问题。拟议的工作将阐明这类事件对关键树种的机制和影响。在地貌尺度上，传感器、网络和无线技术的最新进展现在使在大范围和高采样率下进行测量成为可能，这在几年前是不可想象的。拟议中的哈佛森林无线网络将支持广泛的新研究，实际上为哈佛森林、LTER网络以及更大的科学和教育社区的研究人员和学生创建了一个“户外实验室和教室”。

The Harvard Forest LTER studies how forests in New England respond to natural and human disturbance and environmental change at spatial scales ranging from individual sites to the entire region. The proposed work will focus on two specific aspects of this larger mandate. First, researchers will investigate the causes and consequences of the unexpected and widespread death of oak trees on the southern New England coast. This work will be integrated with ongoing studies of similar decline in hemlock and beech trees across New England and will address the scientific and management challenges associated with the decline or loss of important ecological species. Second, a wireless (radio) network will be installed on the Prospect Hill Tract at the Harvard Forest. The wireless network will make it possible to collect data in real time from a wide range of scientific projects in the forest so that equipment may be monitored and controlled remotely and so that selected data may be posted online as it is collected.At a regional scale, the decline or loss of species caused by multiple stresses, including invasive pests and disease, climate change, and urban and suburban development, is a growing problem for scientists, policy makers, and land managers across the nation. The proposed work will shed light on the mechanisms and impacts of such events for critical tree species. At the landscape scale, recent advances in sensor, network, and wireless technologies now make it possible to conduct measurements over broad areas and at high sampling rates in a way that was unthinkable just a few years ago. The proposed wireless network at Harvard Forest will support a wide range of new studies, in effect creating an 'outdoor laboratory and classroom' for researchers and students at Harvard Forest, in the LTER Network, and in the larger scientific and educational community.