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.

热带干燥森林具有独特的生物多样性和很高的固碳潜力，但由于砍伐森林，它们的面积已大大减少。在哥斯达黎加等国，经过几个世纪的放牧，干燥的森林现在正在再生。该项目的目标是确定热带干燥森林的碳动态(即，光合作用等向生态系统增加碳或分解碳的过程)如何依赖于植物特征、干扰历史和环境因素。这些方法包括苗木生长和特征的实验研究，在不同土壤和林龄的地块中观察森林层面的碳动态，以及碳动态的计算机模拟。这些研究的结果将：1)提供干燥森林碳动态的基准长期数据集，以及2)通过外推到更粗的空间和时间尺度，预测世界各地的热带干燥森林可能如何应对气候和土地利用的变化。教育活动包括通过实地课程培训热带生态学高级本科生，通过为本科非专业课程编写积极的学习材料来提高生态素养，以及编写将分发给数千名哥斯达黎加学童的热带干燥森林生态学材料。