Geographic Patterns and Spatial Scales of Alpine Plant Communities

该项目分析了空间尺度如何改变当地栖息地，区域气候和地理分隔影响植物群落组成和多样性的方式。根据植物地理学的基本理论，影响物种共存和多样性的生物和环境因素的相对重要性随空间尺度而变化。 该研究评估了控制因素的相对重要性，以及在不断增加的空间尺度内和孤立变化的地方之间的特定地理位置。 这种规模和孤立的变化与对多样性如何产生和维持的基本理解有关，这项研究有助于指导对当前全球变化影响的观察的解释。 在这个项目中，高山冻原生物群系是一个有用的模型系统，因为它的植物群落组成在山脉和地区之间和内部各不相同。 项目成果将与其他研究人员分享，这些研究人员在全球生态监测方案中进行此类解释，例如阿尔卑斯环境全球观测研究倡议，以及通过国家公园服务的大陆学习中心的皇冠与公众进行外联。 通过培养博士后研究人员和本科生，加强STEM人才队伍。 研究人员将评估高山冻原植物群落组成的变化与三个因素的关系：当地栖息地（如土壤和地形），气候（生物相关的季节性变量）和地理距离（过去扩散的代理）。 这三个因素中的哪一个，每个都有多个变量，对距离从100米到1000公里以上的地块之间的多样性格局最重要，将通过统计来确定。 将分析它们的相对重要性沿着距离增加的梯度的变化模式。 将通过纳入不连续范围来评价分离度的特异性。 这些分析测试了基本理论，即驱动因素随着规模的增加而以规则的模式变化。 该项目增加了对地理学理论及其应用中空间解释重要性的认识。 将研究在从西班牙到罗马尼亚的南欧到东欧的弧形地带发现的高山苔原，因为已经用同样的方法记录了数千块地块的物种组成和环境。 对地理学理论和应用的见解将与其他高山地区有关，如美国西部的高山地区，以及其他biomes.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This project analyzes the way in which spatial scale changes how local habitat, regional climate, and geographic separation affect plant community composition and diversity. According to basic theory in biogeography, the relative importance of the biological and environmental factors that affect species coexistence, and thus diversity, varies with spatial scale. The research assesses the relative importance of the controlling factors as well as specific geographies of location within increasing spatial scales and among places that vary in isolation. This change with scale and isolation is relevant to fundamental understanding of how diversity arises and is maintained, and this research helps guide interpretation of observations of current global change impacts. For this project, the alpine tundra biome serves as a useful model system because its plant community composition varies across and within mountain ranges and regions. Project results will be shared with other researchers working on such interpretation in global ecological monitoring programs, such as the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, as well as with the general public through outreach via the National Park Service's Crown of the Continent Learning Center. The STEM workforce will be strengthened through the training of a postdoctoral researcher and undergraduates.This research examines the role of spatial scale in plant community biogeography. The investigator will assess the variation in plant community composition in alpine tundra in relation to three factors: local habitat (such as soils and topography), climate (biologically relevant seasonal variables), and geographic distance (a proxy for past dispersal). Which of the three factors, with multiple variables for each, is most important to the patterns of diversity among plots within distances ranging from 100 meters to greater than 1000 kilometers, will be determined statistically. The pattern of changes in their relative importance along a gradient of increasing distances will be analyzed. Specifics of isolation will be evaluated through the inclusion of discontinuous ranges. These analyses test the fundamental theory that the drivers change in a regular pattern as scale is increased. The project increases knowledge of the importance of spatial interpretation in biogeographic theory and its applications. The alpine tundra found in an arc across southern-to-eastern Europe, from Spain to Romania, will be studied because the species composition and environment has been recorded for thousands of plots with the same methodology. Insights for biogeographic theory and applications will be relevant to other alpine regions, such as those of the western United States, as well as to other biomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.