CAREER: Ecosystem processes in regenerating tropical dry forests: linking plant functional traits, stands, and landscapes

职业：热带干燥森林再生的生态系统过程：将植物功能性状、林分和景观联系起来

• 批准号: 1053237
• 负责人: Jennifer Powers
• 金额: $ 67.5万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-03-01 至 2017-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1053237&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Ecosystem; processes; regenerating; tropical

Tropical dry forests have unique biodiversity and high potential for carbon sequestration, but they have been greatly reduced in area by deforestation. In countries such as Costa Rica, dry forests are now regenerating following centuries of grazing. The goal of this project is to determine how tropical dry forest carbon dynamics (i.e. processes like photosynthesis that add carbon to the ecosystem or decomposition that remove it) depend upon plant characteristics, disturbance history, and environmental factors. The methods include experimental studies of seedling growth and traits, observations of forest-level carbon dynamics in plots that vary in soils and forest age, and computer modeling of carbon dynamics. Results of these studies will: 1) provide benchmark, long-term datasets of carbon dynamics in dry forests, and 2) by extrapolating to coarser spatial and temporal scales, forecast how tropical dry forests worldwide may respond to changes in climate and land use. Educational activities include training advanced undergraduate students in tropical ecology through a field course, increasing ecological literacy by development of active learning materials for undergraduate non-majors courses, and developing materials on tropical dry forest ecology that will be distributed to thousands of Costa Rican school children.

热带干燥的森林具有独特的生物多样性和碳固执的高潜力，但由于森林砍伐而大大降低了区域。 在哥斯达黎加等国家，几个世纪以来，干燥的森林现在正在再生。 该项目的目的是确定热带干燥的森林碳动态（即光合作用的过程，这些过程为生态系统添加碳或将其删除的分解）取决于植物特征，干扰历史和环境因素。 这些方法包括对幼苗生长和性状的实验研究，在土壤和森林时代变化的森林水平碳动力学的观察以及碳动力学的计算机建模。 这些研究的结果将：1）在干林中提供基准，长期的碳动态数据集，以及2）通过外推到更粗的空间和时间尺度，预测全球热带干燥森林如何对气候和土地使用的变化做出反应。 教育活动包括通过现场课程培训热带生态学的高级本科生，通过开发活跃的学习材料来提高生态素养，以供本科非律师课程开发，并开发有关热带干燥森林生态学的材料，这些材料将分配给数千名哥斯达黎加里坎学校的儿童。