Northern Alpine Ecology

虽然山脉覆盖了加拿大西北部的大部分地区，但人们对这些环境的了解相对较少。现有证据表明，气候变化将广泛影响北部山区植被和食草哺乳动物的分布和生产力。我的研究项目的长期目标是为一个多学科研究项目提供背景，该项目专注于北部高山生态系统中植物-草食动物-气候相互作用的动态。通过与学生、大学和政府科学家以及北部合作伙伴的合作，该研究项目将最终解决北部山区生态系统长期变化的后果。育空地区西南部Kluane湖以东的Ruby Range山脉现有的野外营地和研究基础设施为对这些环境的结构、维持和改变过程进行深入研究提供了机会。在接下来的十年中，将进一步发展几个主题，包括：(1)评估哺乳草食动物对资源可用性、捕食风险、季节物候和极端天气事件的年际变化的人口和行为反应；(2)在生理、人口和群落水平上测量高寒植被对不同水平的自然和实验草食和非生物因子（特别是雪）变化的响应；(3)开发地方、区域和全球模式，以评估不同尺度上景观水平过程（如积雪、树线/灌丛动态、扩散）对生物多样性的影响；(4)通过长期监测、教育、推广以及科学和社区知识的整合，确保北部冻土带和高山环境可持续性的机制。

Although mountains cover most of northwestern Canada, relatively little is known about these environments. Existing evidence suggests that the distribution and productivity of vegetation and mammalian herbivores in northern mountains will be extensively affected by climate change. The long-term objectives of my research program provide the context for a multidisciplinary research program focused on the dynamics of plant-herbivore-climate interactions in northern alpine ecosystems. In collaboration with a diverse group of students, university and government scientists, and northern partners, this research program will ultimately address the consequences of long-term change in northern mountain ecosystems. Existing field camp and research infrastructure in the Ruby Range mountains east of Kluane Lake in the southwest Yukon provides an opportunity to conduct intensive research into the processes that structure, sustain and alter these environments. Over the next decade several themes will be developed further, including (1) evaluation of demographic and behavioural responses of mammalian herbivores to inter-annual variation in resource availability, predation risk, seasonal phenology and extreme weather events; (2) measurement of responses of alpine vegetation to different levels of natural and experimental herbivory and variation in abiotic factors (especially snow), at physiological, demographic and community levels; (3) development of local, regional and global models to assess the influence of landscape-level processes (e.g. snowcover, treeline/shrubline dynamics, dispersal) on biodiversity at different scales; and (4) mechanisms for ensuring sustainability of northern tundra and alpine environments, through long-term monitoring, education, outreach, and integration of scientific and community-based knowledge.