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

太平洋西北地区正在经历越来越多的干旱和野火，积雪减少。它的森林、溪流和山地草甸生态系统将如何应对，还存在很多不确定性。在生态方面，这些栖息地正以不同的方式经历着环境变化。在社会上，与这些领域相关的公共价值观差异很大，并且可能相互冲突。这个长期项目的目标是了解森林山区生态系统如何以及为什么对气候、土地利用决策的变化做出反应，以及气候和土地利用决策之间的关系。在接下来的六年里，研究将集中在确定物理和生物过程如何相互作用来改变山区生态系统中生态系统和物种对气候变化的反应。同时，研究人员将研究森林管理者如何结合科学和价值观来做出影响这些生态系统的决策。研究人员将与艺术和人文领域的非科学家合作，提高公众对科学的素养，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必需的强烈的地方意识。该项目将继续为教师、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、残疾人和那些来自代表性不足背景的人的参与。该项目解决了这样一个问题：气候、自然干扰和土地利用——受到价值观和决策的影响——如何与生物多样性、水文、碳和营养动态相互作用？研究将采用“相互作用”的生态学概念来评估和描述俄勒冈州HJ安德鲁斯实验森林的原始温带森林、溪流和山地草甸的时空模式和过程。对长期气候数据的分析将用于研究森林如何调节区域气候的表达以创造局部小气候。更具体地说，对温度、积雪和植被数据的分析将与树木生理学、冠层微生物组和森林生态系统遥感的短期研究相结合，以研究土地利用和干扰的小气候和遗产如何影响人口、群落和生态系统过程。对鸟类、鱼类和植被的长期数据分析，以及对鸟类、地衣、树木、鱼类和蝾螈的综合、多分类群实验，将研究物种相互作用如何增强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如何过滤科学在土地利用决策中的应用。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。

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.