US-Mexico Collaborative Research: Afforestation Effects on Nitrogen Cycling in Mexico's Eastern Highlands

在这个美国-墨西哥项目中，来自美国和墨西哥的研究人员将初步了解热带植树造林的后果及其在整个景观中对氮循环的空间配置，并确定种植园建设可能对氮素生物地球化学产生最大影响的景观并建立模型。在这项初步研究中，将进行氮素通量和氮素循环的基线测量，并将检查松林和草原凋落物和土壤中碳、氮、磷的比例(C：N：P)。通过量化松林和草原之间氮素循环的差异，这项研究将揭示生态系统对植树造林的反应，无论是自然的还是有意的，以及对不断增加的氮沉积水平的反应。需要进行这类调查，以便衡量空间异质地貌的硝化作用等生态系统过程速率，并更准确地预测流域氮素损失。这项试验将由来自北得克萨斯大学和卡里生态系统研究所两家美国机构的研究人员组成的跨学科团队与墨西哥韦拉克鲁扎纳大学的同事一起进行。该项目提供了一个宝贵的机会来回答生态系统科学、全球变化和土地覆盖变化的交叉领域的重要问题。该项目应使研究人员能够确认以前的研究结果，并开发植树造林的氮循环效应模型，特别是在全球热带发展中国家土地利用变化、城市化造成的氮沉积增加以及森林磷素有限的背景下。这项研究的结果将为未来的国际合作研究提案提供基础，该提案可以为政策制定者提供重要数据，以考虑重新造林和植树造林的影响以及两者的潜在权衡和意想不到的后果。来自代表性不足群体的研究生和职业生涯早期科学家将受益于与国际研究伙伴一起参与这些研究。青年研究人员参与国际合作活动是oise的一个主要目标。

In this U.S.-Mexico project researchers from the U.S. and Mexico will gain a preliminary understanding of the consequences of tropical afforestation and its spatial configuration across the landscape for nitrogen cycling, and to identify and model landscapes where plantation establishment is likely to have the greatest impact on nitrogen biogeochemistry. In this pilot study baseline measurements of nitrogen fluxes and nitrogen cycling will be conducted, and the ratios of carbon to nitrogen to phosphorus (C:N:P) in the litter and soils of pine plantations and grasslands will be examined. By quantifying differences in nitrogen cycling between pine plantations and grasslands, the research will shed light on ecosystem response to afforestation, whether natural or intentional, and to increasing levels of nitrogen deposition. Such investigations are needed in order to scale ecosystem process rates such as nitrification across spatially heterogeneous landscapes and to predict watershed nitrogen losses more accurately. This pilot will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from two U.S. institutions, the University of North Texas and Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in conjunction with colleagues from Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico. This project affords a valuable opportunity to answer important questions at the intersection of ecosystem science, global change, and land-cover change. This project should enable the researchers to confirm previous findings and develop a model of the nitrogen-cycling effects of afforestation, especially within the context of land-use change, increased nitrogen deposition from urbanization, and phosphorus-limited forests of tropical developing countries worldwide. The results of this study will provide the foundations for a future international collaborative research proposal that can provide important data for policy makers considering the implications of reforestation and afforestation and the potential trade-offs and unintended consequences of each. Graduate students and early-career scientists from underrepresented groups will benefit from inclusion in these studies with international research partners. Involvement of young researchers in collaborative international activities is a major goal of OISE.