OPUS: Forest Canopy Communities as Arenas to Advance Syntheses and Understanding of Disturbance Ecology

人们日益认识到，生态系统的干扰对影响不同物种在雨林中发挥作用和维持的方式具有重要意义。最近的研究表明，树顶生物群具有重要的生态功能，如保持养分和水分，并为树栖哺乳动物，鸟类和昆虫提供资源。然而，干扰，如森林砍伐和气候变化对冠层生物区系的影响研究很少，从来没有被合成。 Nadkarni建议通过对冠层干扰研究的回顾和综合来推进干扰生态学领域，这将为未来变革性的雨林生态学研究提供见解，并最终以更可持续的方式管理复杂的雨林生态系统。此外，一篇见解论文将借鉴Nadkarni的创新方法，将智力价值和更广泛的影响力结合起来，可以作为未来科学家的指南。这篇论文的火花和基础是Nadkarni在近四十年的国家科学基金会支持的林冠研究中所做的工作。（136核心出版物，包括三本学术书籍，与141名同事，其中45名是女性和科学界代表性不足的人）。会议成果之一是编写了一份关于温带和热带生境树冠植物受干扰和恢复过程的审查文件。第二项成果是一份综合文件，说明森林冠层群落如何为生态学家提供“竞技场”，以检验有关干扰的理论，而使用全尺度生态系统和景观是不可能做到的，因为森林冠层：a）有既定的衡量标准和反应规则; B）由可供实验研究操纵的要素组成; c）允许复制实地要素，以进行合理的定量分析。这些活动将导致针对社区和生态系统生态学家的建议，为未来的问题提供信息，并解决有关生态干扰影响的假设。Nadkarni和她的团队将创建一个可访问的数据和元数据档案，与其他生态学家和其他领域的科学家分享。Nadkarni还将利用她职业生涯中从事的公共参与非传统公共团体的工作来创建三个更广泛的影响活动：1）通过学术和生态旅游网站分发的双语博客; 2）参加在哥斯达黎加蒙特韦尔德举行的现有每月双语系列讲座，（3）反射/该奖项是一份见解论文，讨论了在生态学家的职业生涯中，将知识价值和更广泛的影响活动相结合的好处和挑战。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。

Disturbances in ecosystems are increasingly recognized as being important in influencing the ways that different species function and are sustained in rainforests. Recent research shows that treetop biota play important ecological roles such as retaining nutrients and water, and providing resources for arboreal mammals, birds, and insects. However, effects of disturbances such as deforestation and climate change on canopy biota have been little studied, and have never been synthesized. Nadkarni proposes to advance the field of disturbance ecology through review and synthesis of studies on canopy disturbances, which will provide insights for future transformative rainforest ecology research, and, ultimately, in managing complex rainforest ecosystems in more sustainable ways. In addition, an insight paper will draw on Nadkarni’s innovative approach to integrating intellectual merit and broader impact that can serve as a guide to future scientists.The spark and foundation is the body of work that Nadkarni has produced in nearly four decades of NSF-supported canopy research (136 Core Publications, including three scholarly books, with 141 colleagues, 45 of which are women and people underrepresented in science). One outcome is a review paper on processes of disturbance and recovery of canopy plants in temperate and tropical habitats. A second outcome is a synthesis paper on how forest canopy communities provide ecologists with “arenas” to test theories concerning disturbances, which are not possible using full-scale ecosystems and landscapes because forest canopies: a) have established metrics and response rubrics; b) are comprised of elements that can be manipulated for experimental studies; and c) allow replication of field elements to yield sound quantitative analyses. These activities will lead to recommendations, directed to community and ecosystem ecologists, to inform future questions and address hypotheses about effects of ecological disturbances. Nadkarni and her team will create an accessible archive of data and metadata of her canopy research, for sharing with other ecologists and with scientists in other fields. Nadkarni will also draw from her career-long work in public engagement to non-traditional public groups to create three broader impacts activities: 1) a bilingual blog, distributed through academic and ecotourism websites; 2) participation to an existing monthly bilingual lecture series in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and 3) a reflection/insight paper that discusses the benefits and challenges of integrating intellectual merit and broader impact activities during an ecologist’s career.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.