Understanding the processes behind Boreal landscape disturbances

虽然生态系统通常是有弹性的，但如果超过临界点，强大的正反馈机制将导致生态系统功能的灾难性转变。在北方，这不仅会导致生态系统的局部状态转变，而且由于相邻生态系统单元之间的相互作用和反馈，还会导致景观弹性的丧失。这样的转变可能会通过马赛克层叠而成，导致其大规模的景观破坏。阿萨巴斯卡油砂的开垦需要建造这种以未受干扰的北方平原为特征的湖泊、湿地和林地的马赛克景观。这种景观必须随着时间的推移而发展，以迅速发展广阔的生产性森林，最大限度地发挥景观的经济潜力，同时保持高水通量，以冲刷生态有害盐分。因此，矿场关闭计划必须了解并认识到矿场关闭计划中这种潜在失败的风险，并权衡将失败风险和所需生态系统服务的损失降至最低的愿望与初始地貌建设的经济成本以及矿场关闭计划所针对的生态系统服务的规模和多样性。通过十多年来在西部北方平原进行的行业资助的研究，水文学、生态和干扰方案(水文学、生态和干扰方案)通过经过处理的实地和模型研究，对该地貌的生态水文功能形成了详细的概念性理解；这些知识正在为目前的矿山关闭计划提供信息。这项研究表明，气候循环是不同强度和不同阶段的不同气候信号的叠加，提供了这些景观系统生态水文行为的主要驱动因素。这一循环通过不同配置、连接范围和规模的景观存储单元进行级联。由此产生的当地水力签名提供了随着时间的推移对不同单位的生态风险的主要控制。该项目是在这一概念的基础上开发的，利用整个头部研究方案近20年的研究活动的遗产(除了一系列补充的水文、气象和生态数据外，还测量了约15000口井和压力计)，以提供对复杂马赛克景观生态水文行为的自上而下的统计分析。测试不同水力单元的水文、生态和生物地球化学对气候循环的反应。以确定可能引发生态系统单元故障的潜在条件的风险来源、其驱动因素以及在复杂的镶嵌景观系统中此类局部故障的影响。这些知识将指导未来的矿山关闭设计计划，以及正在进行的基于流程的现场和建模研究。

While ecosystems are generally resilient, if pushed beyond a tipping point, a catastrophic shift in ecosystem function will occur as the result of strong positive feedback mechanisms. Within the boreal, this will result not only in a local transformative state shift in the ecosystem, but also a loss of landscape resilience due to the interactions and feedbacks between adjoined ecosystems units. Such a transition could cascade through the mosaic and lead to its large scale landscape failure. The reclamation of the Athabasca Oil Sands requires the construction of such mosaic landscapes of lakes, wetlands and forestlands that characterize the undisturbed Boreal Plains. Such landscapes must develop over time to rapidly develop expansive productive forests, maximizing the economic potential of the landscape, whilst maintaining high water fluxes to flush ecological harmful salts. Mine closure plans must therefore understanding and recognize the risk of such potential failures in mine closure plans, and weigh the desire to minimize risk of failure, and the loss of desired ecosystem services, against the economic costs of initial landscape construction, and the magnitude and diversity of ecosystem services that are targeted by the mine closure plan. Through over decade of ongoing industry funded research within the western Boreal Plain, the Hydrology, Ecology and Disturbance programme (HEAD) has developed a detailed conceptual understanding of the ecohydrological functioning of the landscape through processed based field and modelling research; knowledge that is informing current mine closure plans. This research has demonstrated that the climate cycle, a superposition of varying climate signals of different intensities and phases, provides the overarching driver of the ecohydrology behavior of these landscape systems. This cycle cascades through landscape storage units that vary in configuration, extent and scale of connectivity. The resulting local hydraulic signature provides the primary control on the ecological risk to the different units over time. This project develops on this conceptual foundation, utilizing the legacy of close to two decade of research activities across the HEAD research programme (measurements from ~15000 wells and piezometers in addition to a range of supplementary hydrological, meteorological and ecological data) to provide a top-down statistical analysis of the ecohydrological behavior of the complex mosaic landscape. To test how the hydrology, ecology and biogeochemistry of the diverse array of hydraulic units respond to the climate cycle. To determine the sources of risk for potential conditions that would likely instigate failure of the ecosystem units, their drivers and the impact such local failures within the complex mosaic landscape system. This knowledge will direct future mine closure design plans, in addition to ongoing process based processes based field and modeling studies.