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，北方山区植被和食草哺乳动物的分布和生产力将受到气候变化的广泛影响。我的研究计划的长期目标提供了一个多学科的研究计划，重点是在北方高山生态系统的植物-草食动物-气候相互作用的动态背景。通过与学生、大学和政府科学家以及北方合作伙伴的合作，这项研究计划将最终解决北方山区生态系统长期变化的后果。育空地区西南部克卢恩湖以东的红宝石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。在未来十年中，将进一步发展几个主题，包括（1）评估食草哺乳动物对资源可用性、捕食风险、季节性物候和极端天气事件的年际变化的人口和行为反应;（2）高山植被对不同水平的天然和实验性草食动物和非生物因子变化的响应测定（3）建立地方、区域和全球模型，以评估气候变化过程的影响（如积雪、树线/灌木线动态、扩散）对不同尺度生物多样性的影响;以及（4）通过长期监测、教育、推广以及科学知识和社区知识的结合，确保北方苔原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.