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

人们日益认识到，对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生存的方式至关重要。最近的研究表明，树顶生物群具有重要的生态作用，如保留养分和水分，为树栖哺乳动物、鸟类和昆虫提供资源。然而，森林砍伐和气候变化等干扰对林冠生物群的影响研究很少，也从未合成过。Nadkarni建议通过对林冠干扰研究的回顾和综合来推进干扰生态学领域的发展，这将为未来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结合起来，这可以作为未来科学家的指南。这个火花和基础是Nadkarni在近40年的nsf支持的树冠研究中产生的工作成果（136份核心出版物，包括3本学术书籍，141名同事，其中45名是女性和科学界代表性不足的人）。一个成果是对温带和热带生境冠层植物的干扰和恢复过程的综述。第二个成果是一篇关于森林冠层群落如何为生态学家提供“舞台”来测试有关干扰的理论的综合论文，这是不可能使用全面的生态系统和景观的，因为森林冠层：A)建立了度量标准和响应准则；B)由可用于实验研究的元素组成；c)允许复制现场元素以产生可靠的定量分析。这些活动将产生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树冠研究数据和元数据档案，以便与其他生态学家和其他领域的科学家分享。Nadkarni还将利用她在非传统公共团体的公共参与方面的长期工作经验，创建三个更广泛的影响活动：1)通过学术和生态旅游网站发布双语博客；2)参加哥斯达黎加蒙特维德现有的每月双语系列讲座；3)一篇反思/洞察论文，讨论在生态学家的职业生涯中整合智力价值和更广泛的影响活动的好处和挑战。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。

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.