Geographic Patterns and Spatial Scales of Alpine Plant Communities

本项目分析了空间尺度如何改变当地生境、区域气候和地理分离对植物群落组成和多样性的影响。根据生物地理学的基本理论，影响物种共存和多样性的生物因素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在孤立变化的地方之间的特定地理位置。这种具有规模和孤立性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结果的解释。在这个项目中，高山苔原生物群落作为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是不同的。项目结果将与其他在全球生态监测项目（如高山环境全球观测研究计划）中从事此类解释的研究人员分享，也将通过国家公园管理局的大陆之冠学习中心与公众分享。通过培养一名博士后研究员和本科生，将加强STEM人才队伍。本文探讨了空间尺度在植物群落生物地理学中的作用。研究者将根据三个因素评估高山冻土带植物群落组成的变化：当地栖息地（如土壤和地形）、气候（与生物学相关的季节变量）和地理距离（过去扩散的代理）。在100米到大于1000公里的距离内，这三个因素（每个因素都有多个变量）中，哪一个对样地之间的多样性模式最重要，将通过统计来确定。将分析它们的相对重要性沿距离增加的梯度的变化模式。隔离的具体情况将通过包含不连续范围来评估。这些分析检验了一个基本理论，即驱动因素会随着规模的增加而有规律地变化。该项目增加了对生物地理理论及其应用中空间解释重要性的认识。从西班牙到罗马尼亚，在横跨欧洲南部到东部的弧形地带发现的高山苔原将被研究，因为用同样的方法已经记录了数千个地块的物种组成和环境。对生物地理学理论和应用的见解将与其他高山地区有关，例如美国西部地区，以及其他生物群系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.