Climate Change Impacts on Boreal Tree Function: Implications for Carbon and Water Fluxes

气候变化对北方树木功能的影响：对碳和水通量的影响

• 批准号: 430580-2013
• 负责人: Way, Danielle
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=630282
• 关键词: Climate; Change; Impacts; Boreal; Tree

Climate change is already affecting Canada's boreal forest, reducing carbon uptake and sequestration during hot, dry years through reduced growth and large-scale mortality events. Because of the vast amount of stored carbon in these forests and their extensive geographic span, even relatively small changes in boreal carbon cycling or species composition can have global impacts on climate, many of which can further accelerate high latitude climate warming. My research program focuses on understanding how Canada's major boreal tree species respond to elevated temperatures, high CO2 concentrations and water stress, to determine the mechanisms underlying recent forest decline. Over the next five years, my lab will focus on assessing how these climate change factors alter photosynthesis, respiration, water transport, and drought tolerance in economically and ecologically important Canadian boreal tree species, as well as how acclimation of these physiological traits affects tree growth and survival. I will then use process-based models that take this mechanistic data and use it to predict how forest productivity and vulnerability to drought and heat stress will change under various future climate scenarios. My work on understanding functional tree responses to global change environmental factors has already led to a strong record of publishing high-quality research in premier journals. The proposed work will provide crucial information for predicting how Canada's forests will respond to climate change to improve forest management plans and climate change mitigation strategies. This grant will allow me to directly support the training of five graduate students and six undergraduate summer researchers, as well as fifteen undergraduate student volunteers, in pressing forestry and stress physiology-related issues that directly impact Canada's economy and environment.

气候变化已经在影响加拿大的北方森林，通过降低生长和大规模死亡事件，在炎热，干燥的年份减少了碳吸收和隔离。由于这些森林中的碳储存大量及其广泛的地理跨度，即使是北方碳循环或物种组成的相对较小的变化也可能对气候产生全球影响，其中许多可能会进一步加速高纬度气候变暖。我的研究计划着重于了解加拿大主要的北方树种如何应对升高的温度，高二氧化碳浓度和水应力，以确定最近森林下降的机制。在接下来的五年中，我的实验室将专注于评估这些气候变化因素如何改变光合作用，呼吸，水运输和在经济上和生态上重要的加拿大北方树种中的光合作用，以及对这些生理特征的适应性影响树木生长和生存。然后，我将使用基于过程的模型来获取这些机械数据，并使用它来预测森林生产力和干旱的脆弱性以及在未来各种气候场景下会发生变化。我在理解对全球变化环境因素的功能性树反应方面的工作已经导致了在首屈一指的期刊上发布高质量研究的良好记录。拟议的工作将提供至关重要的信息，以预测加拿大森林将如何应对气候变化，以改善森林管理计划和缓解气候变化策略。这笔赠款将使我能够直接支持五名研究生和六名本科夏季研究人员以及15名本科生志愿者的培训，以迫使林业和压力生理学相关的问题直接影响加拿大的经济和环境。