Collaborative Research: Field course in next-gen forest survey and monitoring in tropical China

合作研究：中国热带地区下一代森林调查和监测实地课程

• 批准号: 1203609
• 负责人: David Lohman
• 金额: $ 3.85万
• 依托单位: CUNY City College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-01 至 2015-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1203609&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Field; course; next

The rapid loss of biological diversity, due in large part to changes in land use related to agriculture and development, has lent a new urgency to efforts to document and understand patterns of biodiversity and the potential impacts of its loss. This project will bring US graduate students, recruited nationally, to tropical China for four weeks where they will work with Asian graduate students, recruited from the many tropical countries in the region, to study issues of forest management and restoration and to learn protocols for rapid biological surveys using cutting-edge technologies. The course will be based at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, a well-established research institute in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This project will substantially increase our knowledge of the biological diversity of the forests of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China, which are home to a unique complement of species and which are under severe pressure from expanding plantation forests. Several experimental trials have been established to develop environmentally-friendly mixed agro-forestry management systems and to promote the restoration of natural forest on degraded and unproductive sites. Digital imagery, audio, and web-based sharing technologies will be used to study forest biodiversity, from micro- to macro-scopic scales, and environmental samples will be collected for analysis using next-generation gene sequencing methods. This project will contribute to the training of the next generation of experts in the field of biodiversity and it will pioneer survey methods based on commonly available equipment to accelerate the collection and distribution of meaningful data about forest condition. The resulting protocols will be freely available and actively updated and improved. The course will focus on the development of international collaboration skills, and continued interaction among participants will be encouraged through a 'distributed discussion' course to be offered in the following fall. Beyond the topic of forest restoration, the course will allow students to learn best practices for live web-based interaction and cooperation.This project is jointly supported by the Dimensions of Biodiversity program and the Office of International Science and Engineering.

生物多样性的迅速丧失在很大程度上是由于与农业和发展相关的土地利用变化造成的，这使得记录和了解生物多样性模式及其丧失的潜在影响的努力变得更加紧迫。该项目将把在全国范围内招募的美国研究生带到热带中国，为期四个星期，他们将与从该地区许多热带国家招募的亚洲研究生一起工作，研究森林管理和恢复问题，并学习使用尖端技术进行快速生物调查的协议。该课程将在中国科学院著名的研究机构西双版纳热带植物园进行。该项目将大大增加我们对中国云南西双版纳森林生物多样性的了解，这些森林拥有独特的物种补充，并且面临着人工林扩张的严重压力。已经开展了多项试验，以开发环境友好型农林混合管理系统，并促进退化和非生产性地区天然林的恢复。数字图像、音频和基于网络的共享技术将用于从微观到宏观尺度研究森林生物多样性，并收集环境样本以使用下一代基因测序方法进行分析。该项目将有助于培训生物多样性领域的下一代专家，并将开创基于常用设备的调查方法，以加速收集和分发有关森林状况的有意义的数据。由此产生的协议将免费提供并积极更新和改进。该课程将重点关注国际合作技能的发展，并将通过明年秋季提供的“分布式讨论”课程鼓励参与者之间的持续互动。 除了森林恢复主题之外，该课程还将让学生学习基于网络的实时互动与合作的最佳实践。该项目由生物多样性计划和国际科学与工程办公室联合支持。