"Ecosystem disturbances, interactions, and landscape resilience"

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Ecological disturbances play a significant role in community and ecosystem ecology by re-setting the stage on which plant and animal communities assemble. Vegetation fires and insect outbreaks are natural ecological disturbances that, along with anthropogenic disturbance from forest harvesting, contribute to forest structure and function across British Columbia (BC). The causes and effects of these disturbances are typically studied independently however a recent mountain pine beetle insect epidemic of unprecedented extent raises important questions about how disturbances regulate one another and the ecological outcome generated by multiple disturbances that occur in quick succession. The long-term objective of this research program is to develop a model framework to test hypotheses about interactions of ecological disturbances in northern forest regions of BC as a cornerstone to understanding resilience of these ecosystems in the context of changing climate. The research program has four objectives: 1. develop models of spatially varying constraints of mountain pine beetle outbreak across BC; 2. test the resilience of northern lodgepole pine forest communities to compound disturbances generated by mountain pine beetle and followed by fire; 3. determine whether mountain pine beetle outbreaks affect spatial patterns of burning by wildfire; and 4. examine the relationship between fire weather and fire climate, as a step toward improving our ability to model past and future fire activity.