Collaborative Research: Grassland Sensitivity to Climate Change at Local to Regional Scales: Assessing the Role of Ecosystem Attributes vs. Environmental Context

合作研究：地方到区域尺度上草地对气候变化的敏感性：评估生态系统属性与环境背景的作用

• 批准号: 1807529
• 负责人: Yiqi Luo
• 金额: $ 5.53万
• 依托单位: Northern Arizona University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-15 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1807529&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Grassland; Sensitivity; Climate

Although scientists have learned much in the past 20 years about how individual ecosystems are likely to respond to climate change, extending this knowledge to regional and continental scales has been a far greater challenge. At these larger spatial scales, both the environment and the attributes of ecosystems vary dramatically. For example, in the central US, there are strong temperature and rainfall gradients from Texas to North Dakota and the dry plains of Colorado to eastern Kansas, and the types of grasslands differ as well (from short grasslands in the west to tall grasslands in the east). In order to better forecast how entire regions will respond to expected climatic changes, there is a pressing need to understand why ecosystems differ in their sensitivity to changes in climate. This project includes research designed to answer a question of fundamental importance for advancing knowledge of biological processes at large scales: How important are the attributes of ecosystems per se vs. the environmental context in which climate is changing in determining ecological responses to climate change at regional scales? To answer this question, a geographically distributed field experiment will be conducted at six sites in NM, CO, WY and KS and the results from this experiment will be used to strengthen an existing process-based terrestrial ecosystem model. With this model, the relative importance of ecosystem attributes versus the environment for determining responses to climate change will be evaluated and then scaling rules for extending site-based knowledge to regional scales will be developed. The experiment imposed will be a severe multi-year drought in grasslands arrayed along a rainfall gradient (from desert grassland to mesic tallgrass prairie). Key responses measured will include many related to carbon cycling and budgets and plant biodiversity. The project has a number of broader impacts including enhancing existing terrestrial ecosystem modeling approaches, and conducting a field experiment that will provide a platform for others in the scientific community to conduct additional research activities. A project website will make products (datasets, key results, papers, models) available to the scientific community and general public. Research will occur on federal lands and at a number of other research stations where outreach programs are in place, allowing results to be shared with a wide range of stakeholders. The project is also designed to provide training opportunities for numerous graduate and undergraduate students. Because this study is unique in its spatial extent and combination of field and modeling approaches, the collaborative training opportunities available to students differs substantially from traditional degree programs.

尽管在过去的20年里，科学家们已经了解了很多关于单个生态系统如何可能对气候变化做出反应的知识，但将这些知识扩展到区域和大陆尺度上是一个更大的挑战。在这些更大的空间尺度上，环境和生态系统的属性都发生了巨大的变化。例如，在美国中部，从德克萨斯州到北达科他州，从科罗拉多州到堪萨斯州东部的干燥平原，都有很强的温度和降雨梯度，草原的类型也不同（从西部的短草原到东部的高草原）。为了更好地预测整个地区将如何应对预期的气候变化，迫切需要了解为什么生态系统对气候变化的敏感性不同。该项目包括旨在回答一个对推进大尺度生物过程知识具有根本重要性的问题的研究：在区域尺度上，生态系统本身的属性与气候变化的环境背景在决定生态对气候变化的反应方面有多重要？为了回答这个问题，我们将在NM、CO、WY和KS的6个地点进行地理分布的野外实验，实验结果将用于加强现有的基于过程的陆地生态系统模型。利用该模型，将评估生态系统属性相对于环境对气候变化响应的相对重要性，然后开发将基于站点的知识扩展到区域尺度的缩放规则。实验将在沿降雨梯度排列的草原上（从沙漠草原到中等高草草原）进行多年严重干旱。测量的关键响应将包括许多与碳循环和预算以及植物生物多样性有关的响应。该项目具有许多更广泛的影响，包括加强现有的陆地生态系统建模方法，并进行实地实验，为科学界的其他人开展更多的研究活动提供一个平台。项目网站将向科学界和公众提供产品（数据集、关键结果、论文、模型）。研究将在联邦土地上和其他一些研究站进行，这些研究站的外展项目已经到位，允许结果与广泛的利益相关者共享。该项目还旨在为众多研究生和本科生提供培训机会。由于该研究在空间范围和领域与建模方法的结合上是独一无二的，因此学生可以获得的合作培训机会与传统学位课程有很大不同。