LTER: Long-Term Ecological Research at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (LTER8)

太平洋西北部正在经历干旱和野火增加，积雪减少。关于其森林、溪流和山地草地生态系统将如何应对，存在很大的不确定性。实际上，这些栖息地正在以非常不同的方式经历环境变化。在社会上，与这些领域相关的公共价值观差异很大，可能相互冲突。这一长期项目的目标是了解森林山地生态系统如何以及为什么对气候变化、土地使用决策以及气候和土地使用决策之间的关系作出反应。在今后六年中，研究将侧重于确定物理和生物过程如何相互作用，以改变生态系统和物种对山区生态系统气候变化的反应。同时，研究人员将研究森林管理人员如何将联合收割机科学和价值观结合起来，做出影响这些生态系统的决策。与艺术和人文领域的非科学家合作，研究人员将提高公众对科学的认识，展示长期生态研究的价值，并传达改善所有利益相关者福祉所需的强烈地方感。该项目将继续为教师和K-12，本科生和研究生开展教育和推广活动。此外，科学家将继续与公众接触，重点是加强妇女、残疾人和来自代表性不足背景的人的参与。该项目解决的问题是：受价值观和决策影响的气候、自然扰动和土地利用如何与生物多样性、水文、碳和养分动态相互作用？研究将采用“相互作用”的生态概念，以评估和表征空间和时间的模式和过程中的古老的温带森林，溪流，和山地草甸的HJ安德鲁斯实验森林在俄勒冈州。长期气候数据的分析将用于调查森林如何调节区域气候的表现，以创造当地的小气候。更具体地说，对温度、雪和植被数据的分析将与树木生理学、树冠微生物组和森林生态系统遥感的短期研究相结合，以研究小气候和土地使用和干扰的遗留问题如何影响人口、社区和生态系统进程。对长期鸟类、鱼类和植被数据的分析，以及对鸟类、地衣、树木、鱼类和蝾螈的综合多分类实验，将研究物种间的相互作用如何放大或减少对小气候的反应。关于保护伦理和长期生态科学对管理的影响的新研究将探索价值观如何过滤土地使用决策中的科学使用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing increased drought and wildfire, and decreased snow packs. There is much uncertainty about how its ecosystems of forests, streams, and mountain meadows will respond. Ecologically, these habitats are experiencing environmental changes in very different ways. Socially, public values associated with these areas vary greatly and can be in conflict with one another. The goal of this long-term project is to understand how and why forested mountain ecosystems respond to changes in climate, land-use decisions, and the relationship between climate and land-use decisions. Over the next six years, research will focus on determining how physical and biological processes interact to alter ecosystem and species responses to changing climate in mountain ecosystems. Simultaneously, researchers will examine how forest managers combine science and values to make decisions that affect these ecosystems. Working with non-scientists in the arts and humanities, researchers will enhance public literacy about science, demonstrate the value of long-term ecological research, and convey the strong sense of place necessary to improve the well-being of all stakeholders. The project will continue education and outreach activities for teachers and K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students. Additionally, scientists will continue to engage the general public, with an emphasis on enhancing participation of women, people with disabilities, and those from under-represented backgrounds.The project addresses the question: How do climate, natural disturbance, and land use -- as influenced by values and decisions -- interact with biodiversity, hydrology, and carbon and nutrient dynamics? Research will employ the ecological concept of “interactions” to evaluate and characterize spatial and temporal patterns and processes in old-growth temperate forests, streams, and montane meadows of the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon. Analyses of long-term climate data will be used to investigate how forests modulate the expression of regional climate to create local microclimates. More specifically, analysis of temperature, snow, and vegetation data will be combined with short-term studies of tree physiology, canopy microbiomes, and remote sensing of forest ecosystems to examine how microclimate and legacies of land use and disturbance influence populations, communities and ecosystem processes. Analyses of long-term bird, fish, and vegetation data and integrated, multi-taxa experiments on birds, lichens, trees, fish, and salamanders will examine how species interactions amplify or reduce responses to microclimate. New studies of conservation ethics and the effects of long-term ecological science on management will explore how values filter the use of science in land-use decisions.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.