Collaborative Research: Experimental Macroecology: Effects of Temperature on Biodiversity

从两极到热带，生物体多样性的增加是地球上生命最显着的特征之一。但仍然缺乏解释。从陆地、海洋、湖泊和河流中可以看出，这种关系的一个普遍特征是，较热的环境有更多的各种生物：动物、植物和微生物。 在这项研究中，将采用宏观或宏观生态学方法来研究温度对生物多样性的影响。它将生成数学模型，说明温度如何通过其对化学和生物过程的影响，影响生态相互作用和生物多样性模式。这些模型将在森林中发挥关键作用的三种生物体上进行测试：产生叶子的树木、吃腐烂叶子和植物其他物质的小动物，以及消耗剩余物质的微生物。 沿着从科罗拉多州高海拔针叶林到巴拿马热带雨林的温度升高梯度进行标准化实地调查，将与实地和实验室的受控实验相结合，以记录遗传多样性、功能多样性和生态过程的变化。拟议的研究将预测全球气候变化对生物多样性和生态过程的影响，这是政策制定者和社会主要关注的主题。该项目还将培养新一代本科生、博士生和博士后科学家，进行新的多学科、多研究者、协作研究，以解决社会面临的具有挑战性的环境问题。

The increased diversity of living organisms from the poles to the tropics is one of the most pronounced features of life on Earth. But it still lacks an explanation. One universal feature of this relationship, as seen across the land, oceans, lakes and rivers, is that hotter environments have more organisms of all kinds: animals, plants, and microbes. In this study, a big picture, or macroecological, approach will be used to study the effect of temperature on biodiversity. It will generate mathematical models for how temperature, through its effect on chemical and biological processes, affects ecological interactions and patterns of biodiversity. The models will be tested on three kinds of organisms that play key roles in forests: trees that produce leaves, small animals that eat decaying leaves and other material from plants, and microbes that consume whatever remains. Standardized field surveys along a gradient of increasing temperature from a high-elevation conifer forest in Colorado to a tropical rainforest in Panama will be combined with controlled experiments in the field and laboratory to document changes in genetic diversity, functional diversity and ecological processes.The proposed research will predict impacts of global climate change on biodiversity and ecological processes, topics of major concern to policymakers and society. The project will also train a new generation of undergraduates, doctoral students, and postdoctoral scientists in the new multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator, collaborative research needed to address the challenging environmental problems that societies face.