The influence of plant functional traits on ecosystem responses to altered rainfall

植物功能性状对生态系统对降雨变化响应的影响

• 批准号: 1153958
• 负责人: David Lipson
• 金额: $ 29.91万
• 依托单位: San Diego State University Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-03-01 至 2017-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1153958&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: influence; plant; functional; traits; ecosystem

In the coming decades, ecological communities will experience numerous environmental changes, including shifting climates and invasion by exotic species. Plant and microbial communities may exhibit non-linear responses to these environmental changes as species encounter physiological thresholds that constrain their growth and reproduction. Ultimately, ecosystem responses to environmental change will depend both on short-term shifts in species physiology or growth, and long-term shifts in species composition. This project will help develop the understanding of ecosystem responses to environmental change that will be needed for sustainable long term management of chaparral ecosystems.Experimental, observational, and modeling approaches will be used to quantify chaparral ecosystem responses to altered rainfall regimes. Rainout shelters will be used to produce a gradient of rainfall quantity, and initial species composition of the experimental plots will be controlled by removing invasive annual grasses. Short-term physiological measurements will be taken on focal species, which will also be monitored over the course of the experiment to measure growth and survival. To complement these experiments, similar measurements will be taken on dominant plant species along a natural rainfall gradient across Southern California. Results from these experiments and surveys will be used to parameterize a Dynamic Global Vegetation Model to predict how predicted shifts in rainfall regimes will influence plant species composition and, ultimately, influence regional ecosystem processes.This project will contribute to undergraduate, graduate, and public education, it will provide data to the broader scientific community, and it will inform land-management agencies. The experiment will provide research opportunities both for undergraduate and graduate students. Further, the research will evaluate how invasion influences ecosystem responses to global change, and whether interannual variation in rainfall may create opportunities for native shrub restoration. Communicating these findings with relevant conservation and land-management organizations will be one of the most important outcomes from this experiment. Finally, the project will make all of the data available and support communication about the ecological impacts of global change through evening lectures in public venues.

在接下来的几十年中，生态社区将经历许多环境变化，包括改变气候和外来物种的入侵。植物和微生物群落可能会对这些环境变化表现出非线性反应，因为物种会遇到限制其生长和繁殖的生理阈值。最终，生态系统对环境变化的反应将取决于物种生理或生长的短期变化以及物种组成的长期变化。该项目将有助于发展对生态系统对环境变化的反应的理解，这将是对Chaparral生态系统的可持续长期管理所需的。经验，观察和建模方法将用于量化Chaparral生态系统对改变降雨的响应的响应。 Rainout避难所将用于产生降雨量的梯度，并且通过去除侵入性的年草来控制实验地块的初始物种组成。将对焦点物种进行短期生理测量，该焦点还将在实验过程中进行监测以衡量生长和生存。为了补充这些实验，将对南加州自然降雨梯度沿着主要的植物物种进行类似的测量。这些实验和调查的结果将用于参数化动态的全球植被模型，以预测预测的降雨状况如何影响植物物种的组成，并最终影响区域生态系统过程。该项目将有助于本科，研究生和公共教育，它将向更广泛的科学界提供数据，并将其提供给更广泛的科学界，IT将为土地掌握范围提供信息。该实验将为本科生和研究生提供研究机会。此外，研究将评估入侵如何影响生态系统对全球变化的反应，以及降雨际变化是否可能为本地灌木恢复创造机会。将这些发现与相关的保护和土地管理组织进行交流将是该实验最重要的结果之一。最后，该项目将使所有数据可用，并支持有关通过公共场所的晚间演讲对全球变化产生的生态影响的沟通。