Linking ecosystem and geomorphic processes to understand the large-scale dynamics of tropical mountains mediated by landsliding

将生态系统和地貌过程联系起来，了解滑坡介导的热带山脉的大规模动态

• 批准号: 1556878
• 负责人: Carla Restrepo
• 金额: $ 49.9万
• 依托单位: University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1556878&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Linking; ecosystem; geomorphic; processes; understand

Landslides are an important agent of change in mountain settings worldwide. Although the basic geological processes underlying landslides are relatively well known, increasing evidence indicates that the living components of ecosystem processes play an important, but largely understudied, role. In particular, plant root and shoot biomass - two important ecosystem attributes - are likely to influence the stability of hill slopes in complex ways. This project investigates the relationships between soil fertility, climate, ecosystem attributes, and slope stability in the Sierra de Las Minas, a mountain range in eastern Guatemala. This study area was selected because it is subject to periodic landslides and has a considerable history of previous research. The project integrates for the first time basic ecosystem concepts to better understand the evolution of landforms and landslides, suggesting that the division of vegetation biomass between roots and shoots is critically important. This is a highly interdisciplinary project that also will contribute to the engagement of women and underrepresented minorities in research and outreach, forge international collaborations, and provide for the dissemination of new knowledge that will be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders and scholars, including those interested in landform evolution, ecosystem and landscape development, carbon cycling, and sustainable management of regions subjected to landslide hazard.Building upon previous work, this project takes advantage of the diverse lithologies and contrasting climates found in the Sierra de Las Minas, to test the overall hypothesis that variation in soil fertility inherited from different lithologies influences the partitioning of biomass between roots and shoots with consequences for slope stability, soil development, and ultimately landslide regimes. Variation in climatic conditions, however, may change the magnitude and direction of the observed effects. The work is organized around three specific goals and corresponding hypotheses: 1) examine the relationship between soil fertility and vegetation attributes that influence slope stability, 2) investigate differences in soil development trajectories in landslides underlain by different parent materials, and 3) evaluate the interactions between different soil fertilities and vegetation dynamics on landslides. These goals will be developed using a combination of geographic information systems and remotely sensed data, fieldwork, tree-ring studies, biogeochemical and geochronological analyses, and modeling.

山体滑坡是全球山区环境变化的一个重要因素。虽然滑坡的基本地质过程是相对众所周知的，越来越多的证据表明，生态系统过程中的生物成分发挥着重要的作用，但在很大程度上研究不足。 特别是，植物的根和枝的生物量-两个重要的生态系统属性-可能会影响山坡的稳定性在复杂的方式。该项目调查了危地马拉东部山脉Sierra de Las Minas的土壤肥力、气候、生态系统属性和边坡稳定性之间的关系。之所以选择这一研究区域，是因为它受到周期性滑坡的影响，并且有相当长的研究历史。该项目首次整合了基本的生态系统概念，以更好地了解地貌和滑坡的演变，表明根和枝之间的植被生物量的划分是至关重要的。这是一个高度跨学科的项目，也将有助于妇女和代表性不足的少数群体参与研究和外联活动，建立国际合作，并传播新知识，使广大利益攸关方和学者感兴趣，包括那些对地貌演变、生态系统和景观发展、碳循环、在以前工作的基础上，该项目利用了在Sierra de Las Minas发现的不同岩性和对比鲜明的气候，为了检验从不同岩性继承的土壤肥力变化影响根系之间生物量分配的总体假设，并对边坡稳定性、土壤发育和最终滑坡状况产生影响。然而，气候条件的变化可能会改变观测到的影响的程度和方向。研究工作围绕三个具体目标和相应的假设展开：1）研究影响边坡稳定性的土壤肥力和植被属性之间的关系; 2）研究不同母质下滑坡土壤发育轨迹的差异; 3）评价不同土壤肥力和植被动态之间的相互作用。这些目标的制定将综合利用地理信息系统和遥感数据、实地考察、树木年轮研究、地球化学和地质年代学分析以及建模。