Collaborative Research: BoCP-Implementation: Alpine plants as a model system for biodiversity dynamics in a warming world: Integrating genetic, functional, and community approaches

合作研究：BoCP-实施：高山植物作为变暖世界中生物多样性动态的模型系统：整合遗传、功能和社区方法

• 批准号: 2326020
• 负责人: Jacquelyn Gill
• 金额: $ 200.12万
• 依托单位: University of Maine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2326020&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; BoCP; Implementation; Alpine

The mountaintops of the northeastern United States support unique ecosystems of Arctic and alpine plants, which exist as small, isolated patches above the treeline. It is thought that these plant communities have existed since the retreat of the glaciers approximately 13,000 years ago, surviving through the natural climate changes of the past as well as human-caused warming over the last century. These vulnerable ecosystems are culturally important, drawing thousands of hikers to these peaks every year. They also pose a challenge for the management agencies tasked with protecting them from climate change, trampling, overuse, and other threats. At the same time, they may hold clues about how small, isolated populations can survive periods of climate change. Does the answer lie in the plants themselves, in their ability to adapt quickly to changing environments? Or is the secret to their success in the sheltered nooks and crannies of bedrock, which provide a cool refuge during the heat? And to what extent are plants disappearing, and perhaps reappearing, on these mountaintop “islands” over time? To answer these questions, a team of researchers from the University of Vermont and the University of Maine will sample alpine lakes in the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains of Vermont, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and Katahdin in Maine, analyzing the DNA of ancient plants to understand whether species have truly persisted in the thousands of years since the end of the last ice age. At the same time, they’ll be investigating the modern-day plants of the northeast alpine region, both in the field and in experimental gardens. Finally, researchers will share their results in a podcast showcasing alpine plants and the people who work with them, as well as in a new AI-powered app (presented during training workshops at the Northeast Alpine Stewardship Gatherings) that will help managers and others make informed decisions about how best to steward this vital natural heritage through the coming century. The overall goal of this work is to help scientists, volunteers, and managers understand how better to support not only alpine plants across the northeast, but in other parts of the world where rare or isolated species are faced with climate change and other threats.This project will integrate tools from paleoecology, community ecology, trait ecology, population genomics, and geography to develop an understanding of how alpine plant communities in the northeast assembled and persisted. Focusing on the Adirondacks (NY), the Green (VT) and White (NH) Mountains, and Katahdin (ME), the research team will first characterize the last ~13,000 years of vegetation dynamics at the species level using ancient DNA from alpine sediment cores. To characterize changes in response to historic warming, they will then conduct plant surveys to estimate species turnover over the last century by comparing modern-day flora with historic survey records. The team will then combine data from common garden experiments, microclimate sensor arrays, functional trait analyses, and coalescent modeling from population genomic data to reveal past and contemporary demographic dynamics and clarify the relative roles of microrefugia, phenotypic plasticity, and local adaptation in driving biodiversity turnover across millennial, centennial, and decadal timescales. The study will focus on six focal taxa that represent key alpine plant functional types (graminoids, forbs, and dwarf shrubs). The resulting multi-dimensional biodiversity data will inform predictive models that will be shared with regional managers after being tested against past known biodiversity dynamics. Through this novel, integrative approach, the project aims to increase predictive power in forecasting biodiversity dynamics in fragmented populations in a warming world by quantifying the relative roles of climate refugia, metapopulation processes, phenotypic plasticity, and adaptive capacity in an integrative framework.This proposal is jointly funded by the Biodiversity on a Changing Planet program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.

美国东北部的山顶支持着独特的北极和高山植物生态系统，它们以小而孤立的斑块存在于林木线之上。据认为，这些植物群落自大约13000年前冰川消退以来就存在了，经历了过去的自然气候变化以及上个世纪人类造成的气候变暖。这些脆弱的生态系统具有重要的文化意义，每年吸引成千上万的徒步旅行者前往这些山峰。它们也对负责保护它们免受气候变化、践踏、过度使用和其他威胁的管理机构构成了挑战。与此同时，它们可能提供了关于小而孤立的种群如何在气候变化时期生存下来的线索。答案在于植物本身，在于它们快速适应环境变化的能力吗？或者它们在基岩的隐蔽角落和裂缝中成功的秘密是什么，在炎热的天气里，这里提供了一个凉爽的避难所？随着时间的推移，这些山顶“岛屿”上的植物在多大程度上消失了，也许又重新出现了？为了回答这些问题，来自佛蒙特大学和缅因大学的一组研究人员将对阿迪朗达克山脉、佛蒙特州的格林山脉、新罕布什尔州的怀特山脉和缅因州的卡塔丁的高山湖泊进行取样，分析古代植物的DNA，以了解物种是否真的在上一个冰河时代结束后的数千年里持续存在。与此同时，他们将调查东北高山地区的现代植物，包括田间和实验花园里的植物。最后，研究人员将在一个展示高山植物和与他们一起工作的人的播客中分享他们的研究结果，以及一个新的人工智能应用程序（在东北高山管理会议的培训研讨会上展示），这将帮助管理人员和其他人做出明智的决定，如何在未来的一个世纪里最好地管理这一重要的自然遗产。这项工作的总体目标是帮助科学家、志愿者和管理人员了解如何更好地支持东北地区的高山植物，以及世界上其他稀有或孤立物种面临气候变化和其他威胁的地区。该项目将整合古生态学、群落生态学、性状生态学、种群基因组学和地理学的工具，以了解东北高山植物群落是如何聚集和持续的。以阿迪朗达克山脉（纽约州）、格林山脉（纽约州）和怀特山脉（新罕布什尔州）以及卡塔丁山脉（加利福尼亚州）为研究对象，研究小组将首先利用来自高山沉积物岩心的古代DNA，在物种水平上表征最近~ 13000年的植被动态。为了描述对历史性变暖的响应变化，他们将进行植物调查，通过将现代植物区系与历史调查记录进行比较，估计上个世纪的物种更替。然后，该团队将结合来自普通花园实验、微气候传感器阵列、功能性状分析和种群基因组数据的凝聚模型的数据，揭示过去和当代的人口动态，并阐明微避难所、表型可塑性和局部适应在推动生物多样性在千禧年、百年和十年时间尺度上的转换中的相对作用。该研究将重点关注代表高山植物关键功能类型的6个焦点分类群（禾本科植物、草本植物和矮灌木）。由此产生的多维生物多样性数据将为预测模型提供信息，这些模型将在与过去已知的生物多样性动态进行测试后与区域管理人员共享。通过这种新颖的综合方法，该项目旨在通过量化气候避难、超种群过程、表型可塑性和适应能力在综合框架中的相对作用，提高预测变暖世界中碎片化种群生物多样性动态的预测能力。本提案由“变化中的地球上的生物多样性计划”和“促进竞争性研究的既定计划”（EPSCoR）共同资助。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。