Doctoral Dissertation Research: Vegetation Dynamics of Endangered Pine Rockland Communities in the Lower Florida Keys

博士论文研究：佛罗里达群岛下游濒临灭绝的松石罗克兰社区的植被动态

• 批准号: 1002479
• 负责人: Henri Grissino-Mayer
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Tennessee Knoxville
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-06-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1002479&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Vegetation; Dynamics

South Florida slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa) is the dominant woody species and sole canopy tree in pine rocklands of the Lower Florida Keys. These globally endangered communities support a diverse subcanopy of West Indian hardwoods and palms as well as a variety of endemic herbs that are alternately encouraged or held back by fire. This doctoral dissertation research project will use dendrochronology to investigate the structure and disturbance history of declining pine rockland communities in the Lower Florida Keys. The ecological and climatological factors contributing to the distribution of South Florida slash pine at the southern extent of its range will be examined. In addition, the reconstruction of spatial and temporal variability of past fire regimes will provide a better understanding of how fire affects the structure and extent of these communities. This project also will investigate the interaction between regional climate oscillations (e.g. the El Nino-Southern Oscillation) and wildfire activity. Quantitative information on the historical fire occurrence and climate response of slash pine communities is essential to the long-term management and restoration of pine rockland communities.This project will increase basic understanding of how human-related and natural disturbance events have decreased the spatial distribution of South Florida slash pine in the Lower Florida Keys. This project will apply techniques of dendrochronology in extreme southern Florida, in a subtropical region where tree?]ring science has never been applied, and it will produce climate proxy datasets that will add to the growing global network of low?]latitude climate proxy data. Results from this research will contribute to the understanding of how climate oscillations affect the region, particularly South Florida, and they will advance understanding of the complex dynamics of pine rocklands that will aid management efforts aimed at preserving these declining communities. The vegetation data produced by this project will provide valuable information regarding stand age distribution and composition in relation to natural and human-related disturbance regimes, and data on the association between pre-settlement wildfire and climate mechanisms will provide a better understanding of how fires shaped pine rocklands and the extent to which climate oscillations affected fire occurrence. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award will provide support for a doctoral student to establish a strong independent research career.

南佛罗里达湿地松（Pinus elliottii var. densa）是下佛罗里达群岛松岩地的优势木本树种和唯一的冠层乔木。这些全球濒危的群落支持着西印度群岛硬木和棕榈树的不同亚冠，以及各种地方性草本植物，这些植物交替受到火灾的鼓励或抑制。本博士论文研究项目将使用树木年代学来研究下佛罗里达群岛松树岩地群落的结构和扰动历史。本文将研究影响南佛罗里达湿地松分布的生态和气候因素。此外，重建过去火灾状态的时空变化将更好地了解火灾如何影响这些群落的结构和范围。该项目还将研究区域气候振荡（如厄尔尼诺-南方涛动）与野火活动之间的相互作用。湿地松群落历史火灾发生和气候响应的定量信息对松林的长期管理和恢复至关重要。该项目将增加对人类活动和自然干扰事件如何减少南佛罗里达泥松在下佛罗里达群岛的空间分布的基本理解。该项目将在佛罗里达州最南部的亚热带地区应用树木年代学技术。它将产生气候代理数据集，这些数据集将增加不断增长的全球低？纬度气候代理数据。这项研究的结果将有助于了解气候波动如何影响该地区，特别是南佛罗里达，它们将促进对松岩地复杂动态的理解，这将有助于保护这些衰落群落的管理工作。该项目产生的植被数据将提供有关林分年龄分布和与自然和人为干扰有关的组成的宝贵信息，而关于定居前野火与气候机制之间关联的数据将更好地了解火灾如何塑造松林岩石地以及气候波动对火灾发生的影响程度。作为博士论文研究进步奖，该奖项将为博士生建立强大的独立研究生涯提供支持。