RCN: The Novus Project for Integrating Paleo- and Neo-ecosystem Ecology

就其性质而言，诸如甲虫爆发、灾难性火灾、大风暴和严重干旱等事件被认为是干扰。虽然我们现在知道一些生态系统需要某些类型的干扰，但是关于生态系统如何对干扰作出反应并没有普遍的规则。因此，很难制定处理干扰的战略，在一些生态系统中，由于气候变化，干扰变得更加频繁和严重。Novus网络将汇集研究不同类型干扰的科学家团体，特别是研究干扰在不同时间尺度上的影响和后果的科学家，目的是协调和促进生态系统对干扰的响应研究。该网络的一个重要贡献将是加强研究当代生态系统对干扰反应的科学家与研究数百至数千年前历史反应的科学家之间的交流。该网络将举办四个研讨会，开发一个互动网站（www.ksu.edu/novus），共同指导一名博士后研究员，发表合作手稿，在科学会议上组织会议，并促进科学交流计划。此外，数据将被添加到一个公共数据库，使其广泛可用。该网络将吸引和培训年轻科学家，分享有关方法新发展的信息，并与政府机构和非政府组织互动，以提供有关干扰影响的信息（特别是昆虫爆发和野火管理）。将通过广泛的征求工作和各种机制将参与者招募到该网络。

By their very nature, events such as beetle outbreaks, catastrophic fires, large windstorms, and severe droughts are considered to be disturbances. Although it is now understood that some ecosystems require certain kinds of disturbance, there are no general rules about how ecosystems respond to disturbance. As a result, it is difficult to develop strategies for dealing with disturbances, which are in some ecosystems becoming more frequent and more severe as a consequence of changing climates. The Novus network will bring together groups of scientists who study different types of disturbance, and in particular scientists who have studied the impacts and consequences of disturbance on different time scales, with the goal of coordinating and promoting research about ecosystem responses to disturbance. An important contribution of the network will be to enhance communication between scientists studying contemporary ecosystem responses to disturbance and scientists studying historical responses at time scales of hundreds to thousands of years ago. The network will conduct four workshops, develop an interactive website (www.ksu.edu/novus), jointly mentor a postdoctoral researcher, publish collaborative manuscripts, organize sessions at scientific meetings, and foster a science exchange program. Additionally, data will be added to a public database, making them widely available. The network will engage and train young scientists, share information about new developments in methods, and interact with government agencies and NGOs to provide information about the effects of disturbance (especially insect outbreaks and wildland fire management). Participants will be recruited to the network through broad solicitation efforts and a variety of mechanisms.