Collaborative Research: How Mountains Maintain Biodiversity: A Multidisciplinary Characterization of a Pleistocene Refugium in the Interior Pacific Northwest

了解物种对历史气候变化的反应有助于预测人类介导的全球变化对生物生态系统的未来影响。 山区地形包含了广泛的栖息地和多样的物种，这是由上一个冰河时代以来的重大气候变化历史形成的。 这些变化包括植被的快速和重大变化（即，从苔原到森林的转变）。 山区也被认为是生物多样性的避难所，在其他不适宜居住的气候时期。 该项目将描述一个冰河时期的避难所，可能在北方爱达荷州陡峭的地形中拥有多种多样的植物和动物物种，从而阐明山区地形如何通过重大气候变化缓冲人口。 该项目将重点关注北方针叶林中的两种主要树种（西部红杉和山地铁杉），将综合三种方法，利用它们在推断过去种群规模和地点方面的互补优势。 首先，尖端的DNA测序方法将揭示物种迁移途径的遗传足迹，并测试避难所的存在。 其次，新的花粉和大型化石古生态记录将揭示过去5万年来最冷时期的区域植物物种组成和气候。 第三，对复杂山区景观的历史气候模拟将与每个物种的生理耐受性信息相结合（例如，抗寒性），以揭示该地区最有可能的避难所的位置。该项目的跨学科方法提供了一个机会，以培养下一代的生态学家，谁将需要这些传统上独特的技能集在遗传学，古生物学和景观建模预测未来气候变化的生态影响。 研究生将在遗传学，古生态学和景观生态学实验室之间轮换，以实现这一培训目标。 此外，还将为高中教师举办一次课程讲习班，用于编写实践活动的课程。

Understanding the responses of species to historical shifts in climate informs predictions of the future impacts of human-mediated global changes on biological ecosystems. Mountainous terrain contains a wide range of habitats and diverse species, which have been shaped by a history of major climate changes since the last ice age. These changes include rapid and major changes in vegetation (i.e., shifts from tundra to forest). Mountainous regions are also thought to harbor biodiversity in refugia during otherwise inhospitable climate periods. This project will characterize an ice-age refugium that may have harbored a wide diversity of plant and animal species in steep terrain in northern Idaho, and thus illuminate how mountainous terrain may buffer populations through major climate changes. Focusing on two, dominant tree species in northern coniferous forests (western redcedar and mountain hemlock), this project will integrate three methodological approaches to leverage their complementary strengths in inferring past population sizes and locations. First, cutting-edge DNA-sequencing methods will reveal the genetic footprints of species' migration pathways and test for the existence of refugia. Second, new paleoecological records of pollen and macrofossils will reveal the regional plant species composition and climate during the coldest periods in the past 50,000 years. Third, simulations of historical climate across the complex mountainous landscape will be combined with information on the physiological tolerances of each species (e.g., cold hardiness), to reveal the most likely locations of refugia within this region. The interdisciplinary approach of this project provides an opportunity to train the next generation of biogeographers, who will need these traditionally distinct skill sets in genetics, paleontology, and landscape modeling to forecast ecological impacts of future climate change. Graduate students will rotate among genetics, paleoecology and landscape ecology labs to achieve this training goal. In addition, a curriculum workshop will be conducted for high school teachers, and used to develop lessons for hands-on activities.