Ecosystem degradation, climate change and tropical ecosystem stability - Tanzania as a case study

生态系统退化、气候变化和热带生态系统稳定性——以坦桑尼亚为例

• 批准号: 2892582
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2892582
• 关键词: Ecosystem; degradation; climate; change; tropical

Tropical ecosystems in Africa face unprecedented anthropogenic impacts over the next few decades, posing serious challenges to the resilience of ecosystems. Unpredictable and extreme weather conditions that result from climate change place additional pressures on these highly diverse ecological systems, with detrimental local, national and international impacts for biodiversity and human wellbeing. To address this developing situation, and design environmental solutions that will protect both nature and people, it is essential to first understand the mechanistic pathways that lead to reductions in ecosystem functionality and service delivery; to a loss of resilience; and ultimately to ecosystem collapse.This project aims to assess the impacts of ecosystem degradation and climate change on ecosystem functioning stability within and across ecosystems where impacts are predicted to have some of the most severe effects: Tanzania. The country is a renowned biodiversity hotspot undergoing rapid changes in climate and land use. The project will (1) assess ecosystems' ability to maintain functioning in the face of increased degradation, and (2) examine how ecosystem degradation alters ecosystem resistance and resilience to environmental perturbations. For the purpose of this research, the project will focus on 27 sites where camera-trap information on species distribution was collected over the period 2004-2017. These sites are exposed to variable levels of anthropogenic pressures: they represent a selection of reserves with variable levels of protection and are distributed across a selection ofecosystem types.Using satellite remote sensing and ground-based information from these 27 sites, thestudent will (i) explore how fragmentation relates to functional and phylogenetic diversity aswell as ecosystem functioning; (ii) assess how fragmentation alters ecosystem resistance and resilience to natural disturbances, focusing on droughts and/or floods. A central output of this research is an enhanced knowledge of how changes in ecosystem functions relate tochanges in ecosystem composition and structure. This understanding will be of immediate applied value and improve our ability to safeguard biodiversity. This research will also identify ecosystems likely to be most sensitive to future ecological change, helping prioritise intervention.

非洲热带生态系统在今后几十年将面临前所未有的人为影响，对生态系统的复原力构成严重挑战。气候变化造成的不可预测和极端的天气状况给这些高度多样化的生态系统带来了额外的压力，对地方、国家和国际的生物多样性和人类福祉产生了有害影响。为了应对这一不断发展的情况，并设计既能保护自然又能保护人类的环境解决方案，必须首先了解导致生态系统功能和服务提供减少、丧失复原力的机械途径;并最终导致生态系统崩溃。该项目旨在评估生态系统退化和气候变化对生态系统内部和跨生态系统功能稳定性的影响，其中预计这些影响将产生一些最严重的影响：坦桑尼亚。该国是一个著名的生物多样性热点，气候和土地利用正在发生迅速变化。该项目将（1）评估生态系统在退化加剧的情况下保持功能的能力，（2）研究生态系统退化如何改变生态系统对环境扰动的抵抗力和复原力。出于本研究的目的，该项目将重点关注2004-2017年期间收集物种分布摄像机捕获信息的27个地点。这些地点暴露在不同程度的人为压力之下：它们代表了一系列保护程度不同的保护区，并分布在一系列生态系统类型中。利用来自这27个地点的卫星遥感和地面信息，学生将（i）探索破碎化与功能和系统发育多样性以及生态系统功能的关系; ㈡评估破碎化如何改变生态系统对自然干扰的抵抗力和复原力，重点是干旱和/或洪水。这项研究的一个中心产出是增强了对生态系统功能变化如何与生态系统组成和结构变化相关的知识。这一认识将具有直接的应用价值，并提高我们保护生物多样性的能力。这项研究还将确定可能对未来生态变化最敏感的生态系统，帮助优先考虑干预措施。