Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effects of Forest Fragment Size, Shape, and Structure on Rainfall Redistribution and Solute Flux in Urban Settings

博士论文研究：森林片段大小、形状和结构对城市环境中降雨再分配和溶质通量的影响

• 批准号: 1459116
• 负责人: Delphis Levia
• 金额: $ 1.55万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-03-01 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1459116&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Effects; Forest

This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate the ways in which the shape and structural characteristics of urban forest fragments affect the cycling of water and solutes in wooded ecosystems of metropolitan areas. The doctoral student will seek to disentangle the complex relationship between forest fragmentation and the ecosystem services they can provide by establishing a clearer understanding of the differences in water and solute flux among forest fragments with varying canopy structure and location along an urban-to-rural land-use gradient. This project will enhance basic knowledge of the forms into which precipitation is partitioned when it falls in forest fragments, such as water that is intercepted in forest canopies, water that falls to the ground from leaves (throughfall), and water that flows down the trunks and stems of plants (stemflow). Project findings should help assess the chemistry of throughfall and stemflow in relation to fragment size and shape, location, and structural characteristics. Through these and other measurements, this project will help develop a more accurate quantification of ecosystem services provided by urban forest fragments, particularly the reduction of stormwater runoff and the modification of solute transport to ground- and surface-water pools. In addition to enhancing basic understanding, the project will provide new insights into methods to manage forest fragments for the conservation of green/forested space in urbanizing areas. Data from this work will be made readily available to the public via the Delaware Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Center web portal for those interested in improving the management of urban green spaces. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.The overarching question of this research is: How does the hydrological function of urban forest fragments (namely the partitioning of precipitation into throughfall and stemflow, and the leaching and cycling of solutes) vary among forest fragments within the city and along an urban-rural gradient? This student will investigate interception losses in five forest fragments in Wilmington, Delaware, and along an urban-to-rural gradient in that metropolitan area in order to understand its effect on water inputs and the chemical signature of throughfall and stemflow. She will employ field methods in forest hydrology and hydrochemical laboratory analyses to quantify both precipitation partitioning and solute chemistry of throughfall and stemflow. Additional analyses will elucidate the dynamic nature of precipitation partitioning over space and through time in relation to land use.

本博士论文研究项目将研究城市森林碎片的形状和结构特征如何影响大都市地区树木繁茂的生态系统中水和溶质的循环。 博士生将通过更清楚地了解沿城乡土地利用梯度具有不同树冠结构和位置的森林碎片之间水和溶质通量的差异，寻求理清森林破碎化和它们可以提供的生态系统服务之间的复杂关系。 该项目将增强人们对降水在森林碎片中的分配形式的基本了解，例如森林冠层截获的水、从树叶落到地面的水（直降水）以及沿着植物树干和茎流下的水（茎流）。 项目研究结果应有助于评估与碎片大小和形状、位置和结构特征相关的贯穿物和茎流的化学性质。 通过这些和其他测量，该项目将有助于对城市森林碎片提供的生态系统服务进行更准确的量化，特别是减少雨水径流以及改变溶质向地下水和地表水池的输送。 除了增强基本了解外，该项目还将为管理森林碎片的方法提供新的见解，以保护城市化地区的绿色/森林空间。这项工作的数据将通过特拉华州环境监测和分析中心门户网站向公众开放，供那些对改善城市绿地管理感兴趣的人使用。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将为有前途的学生建立强大的独立研究生涯提供支持。这项研究的首要问题是：城市森林碎片的水文功能（即降水划分为径流和茎流，以及溶质的淋滤和循环）在城市内和沿城乡梯度的森林碎片之间如何变化？ 该学生将调查特拉华州威尔明顿的五个森林片段以及该大都市区沿城乡梯度的拦截损失，以了解其对水输入的影响以及径流和茎流的化学特征。 她将采用森林水文学和水化学实验室分析的现场方法来量化降水分配以及径流和茎流的溶质化学。 其他分析将阐明降水在空间和时间上的分配与土地利用的动态性质。