Ecosystem transformations along the Colorado Front Range: Prairie dog interactions with multiple components of global environmental change

科罗拉多州前沿山脉沿线的生态系统转变：草原土拨鼠与全球环境变化的多个组成部分的相互作用

• 批准号: 1120390
• 负责人: Timothy Seastedt
• 金额: $ 85.17万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 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: 2011-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1120390&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ecosystem; transformations; along; Colorado; Front

Grassland plant communities along the Colorado Front Range are responding to directional changes in climate, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, increased nitrogen deposition, and invasion by many non-native plant species introduced by humans over the last century. A warmer climate and relatively wetter non-growing season appear to support a new group of plant species adapted to the new conditions. These species may also be affecting the ecological role of an important plant consumer known to have very large impacts on the biological diversity of grasslands. Prairie dogs, animals whose presence is critical to the presence of many other species, are believed to interact with invasive plants such that plant community dynamics are dramatically altered from what they were under historical reference conditions. This study will measure how the new plant species are exploiting climate and resource changes, document how grazing activities by prairie dogs are influenced by these species, and assess the effects of the interactions on plant species change and soil erosion. This research is important because it tests the hypothesis that directional changes in climate and concurrent changes in plant species can alter the role that an animal has in maintaining the structure and function of grassland communities. This project will train undergraduate students, graduate students, and a postdoctoral researcher in environmental change ecology, and will provide the subject material for a senior-graduate course in scenario planning for natural areas in an era of rapid environmental change. The researchers will use this study to engage K-12 students, teachers, stakeholders and managers in searching for solutions to conservation problems.

沿着科罗拉多前山脉的草原植物群落正在对气候的方向性变化、大气二氧化碳的增加、氮沉降的增加以及在上个世纪人类引入的许多非本地植物物种的入侵做出反应。温暖的气候和相对潮湿的非生长季节似乎支持一组新的植物物种适应新的条件。这些物种也可能影响到重要的植物消费者的生态作用，而植物消费者对草原的生物多样性有着非常大的影响。草原犬鼠是一种对许多其他物种的存在至关重要的动物，它被认为与入侵植物相互作用，使得植物群落动态与历史参考条件下的植物群落动态发生了巨大变化。这项研究将衡量新的植物物种如何利用气候和资源变化，记录草原土拨鼠的放牧活动如何受到这些物种的影响，并评估相互作用对植物物种变化和土壤侵蚀的影响。这项研究很重要，因为它检验了一个假设，即气候的方向性变化和植物物种的同步变化可以改变动物在维持草原群落结构和功能方面的作用。该项目将培养环境变化生态学的本科生、研究生和博士后研究员，并将为环境快速变化时代自然地区情景规划的高级研究生课程提供主题材料。研究人员将利用这项研究，让K-12学生、教师、利益相关者和管理者参与寻找保护问题的解决方案。