DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Plant traits as indicators of ecological restoration effectiveness in tropical landscapes

论文研究：植物性状作为热带景观生态恢复有效性的指标

• 批准号: 1600710
• 负责人: Jennifer Powers
• 金额: $ 1.95万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1600710&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Plant; traits; indicators

The majority of tropical forests are regenerating following human disturbance. Some landscapes are so highly degraded that active restoration, such as direct tree planting, is necessary to facilitate forest recovery. In tropical forests requiring active management interventions, a wide range of restoration techniques have been employed to assist forest recovery at various stages of re-growth, although it is not clear how to best select tree species for restoration projects, especially given ongoing changes to the environment. This graduate student project seeks to determine how above- and below-ground plant traits influence the survival and growth of planted trees, to determine if plant traits can be used to efficiently and inexpensively select the best tree species for restoration of Costa Rican tropical dry forests (TDF). These forests are highly endangered, cover an estimated 42% of tropical land area, and are understudied compared to their wetter counterparts. Results from this research have the potential to greatly advance ecological restoration theory, and to aid in the restoration of tropical dry forests, especially those facing significant drought stress due to ongoing environmental change.This project takes a functional trait-based approach to experimentally test the efficiency of using plant traits to select tree species for a large-scale TDF restoration project. Field based quantification of above- and belowground plant traits, as well as genetic analyses of fungal communities associating with plant roots, will be combined with tree seedling growth data to determine the extent to which above- and belowground traits can be used to predict plant performance in a restoration setting. A 6-hectare restoration experiment will be used to determine if species' trait syndromes, grouped by resource acquisition strategies, predict the performance of tree species along successional trajectories. In addition to conducting these projects, the researchers will engage the local conservation, forestry, and farming community in a workshop on TDF adaptive management strategies. These projects will also give undergraduate students the opportunity to conduct independent research projects in collaboration with the researchers. All of this research will be conducted in direct collaboration with TDF restoration practitioners at Horizontes Experimental Forest Station, part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Northwestern Costa Rica.

大多数热带雨林在人类干扰后正在再生。一些景观严重退化，需要积极恢复，如直接植树，以促进森林恢复。在需要积极管理干预的热带森林中，广泛采用了各种恢复技术，以协助恢复生长的不同阶段的森林，尽管尚不清楚如何为恢复项目选择最佳树种，特别是考虑到环境的持续变化。这一研究生项目旨在确定地上和地下植物特性如何影响种植的树木的生存和生长，以确定是否可以利用植物特性来高效和廉价地选择最佳树种，以恢复哥斯达黎加热带干燥森林(TDF)。这些森林高度濒危，估计占热带陆地面积的42%，与更潮湿的森林相比，研究不足。这项研究的结果有可能极大地促进生态恢复理论的发展，并有助于热带干旱森林的恢复，特别是那些由于持续的环境变化而面临严重干旱胁迫的森林。本项目采用基于功能特征的方法来实验测试利用植物特征选择树种的效率，以用于大规模的TDF恢复项目。地上和地下植物特性的田间量化，以及与植物根部相关的真菌群落的遗传分析，将与树苗生长数据相结合，以确定地上和地下特性可在多大程度上用于预测恢复环境中的植物表现。一项占地6公顷的恢复实验将被用来确定物种的特征综合症是否能预测树种沿演替轨迹的表现。除了进行这些项目外，研究人员还将让当地的保护、林业和农业社区参加一个关于TDF适应性管理战略的研讨会。这些项目还将为本科生提供与研究人员合作开展独立研究项目的机会。所有这项研究都将在哥斯达黎加西北部瓜纳卡斯特保护区的Horizontes实验森林站与TDF恢复从业者直接合作进行。