Arthropod biodiversity following massive disturbances in western Canadian forests

加拿大西部森林大规模扰乱后的节肢动物生物多样性

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04891
• 负责人: Huber, Dezene
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: University of Northern British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=751477
• 关键词: Arthropod; biodiversity; following; massive; disturbances

Forests in Alberta and the interior of BC naturally experience frequent abiotic and biotic disturbances. These disturbances include insect infestations, disease, windthrow, and fire. Human reliance on forests for fiber and other products also results in disturbances such as clearing, burning, and road building. Examples of large--scale disturbances in western Canadian forests include the mountain pine beetle outbreak in BC and now Alberta, massive fires in both provinces in recent years, and the growing spruce beetle infestation near Prince George. Estimates of the impact of the mountain pine beetle infestation in BC vary but tend towards about 18 million hectares affected. The mountain pine beetle escaped the confines of the northern Rocky Mountains for the first time in recorded history, and is now active in Alberta lodgepole pine, jack pine, and hybrid pine stands and may spread through Canada's boreal region in the coming years. The massive mountain pine beetle infestation in the central interior - combined with hotter, drier summers due to climate change - likely exacerbated the record--setting 1.2 million hectares of forest fires in BC during the summer of 2017. Alberta has also experienced recent massive and dangerous fires (e.g. Slave Lake and Fort McMurray). In what may turn out to be an analogy to the mountain pine infestation, the spruce beetle has begun to erupt over a substantial land base, particularly to the northeast of Prince George. In 2017, the annual provincial aerial pest survey showed 501873 ha affected across the province by the spruce beetle, up from 281497 ha in 2016. These past and ongoing disturbances, combined with human interactions and interventions, mean that there is now a great deal of uncertainty about what the future forest in western Canada will look like - although it will certainly be different from the forest of the past. The arthropod community is a vital component of any healthy ecosystem - the ongoing provision of ecosystem services and long term stand--level recovery depend on the composition and succession of arthropod assemblages. The in-stream habitat of riparian ecosystems depends on the terrestrial arthropods present in the riparian zone. However, very little work has been done on arthropod biodiversity and community ecology in western Canadian forests in the context of current massive disturbances. There are few contemporary checklists of arthropod species in these regional disturbance contexts, so baseline information is also less--than--adequate. My overall objective is to use insect trapping methods and morphological and DNA barcode-assisted taxonomic analyses to examine differences between affected and unaffected disturbed western Canadian forests and riparian zones in terms of both taxonomic and functional diversity in order to understand shifts in ecological services following disturbance and to provide managers with tools to monitor the recovery of stands.

阿尔伯塔和不列颠哥伦比亚省内陆的森林自然会经历频繁的非生物和生物干扰。这些干扰包括虫害、疾病、风吹和火灾。人类对森林纤维和其他产品的依赖也导致了砍伐、燃烧和道路建设等干扰。加拿大西部森林大规模干扰的例子包括BC省和现在的阿尔伯塔省的山松甲虫爆发，近年来两个省的大规模火灾，以及乔治王子附近日益严重的云杉甲虫侵扰。对不列颠哥伦比亚省山松甲虫虫害影响的估计各不相同，但受影响的面积约为1800万公顷。山松甲虫在有记录的历史上第一次逃离了北方落基山脉的范围，现在活跃在阿尔伯塔的短柱松、短叶松和杂交松林中，并可能在未来几年内蔓延到加拿大的北方地区。中部内陆的大规模山地松甲虫侵扰-加上气候变化导致的更热，更干燥的夏季-可能加剧了记录-在2017年夏天，不列颠哥伦比亚省发生了120万公顷的森林火灾。阿尔伯塔最近也经历了大规模和危险的火灾（例如奴湖和麦克默里堡）。云杉甲虫已经开始在一个相当大的陆地基地爆发，特别是在乔治王子的东北部。2017年，年度省级航空害虫调查显示，全省有501873公顷受云杉甲虫影响，高于2016年的281497公顷。这些过去和持续的干扰，加上人类的互动和干预，意味着现在有很大的不确定性，未来的森林在加拿大西部将是什么样子-虽然它肯定会不同于过去的森林。节肢动物群落是任何健康生态系统的重要组成部分，持续提供生态系统服务和长期的林分恢复取决于节肢动物群落的组成和演替。河岸生态系统的河流内生境取决于河岸带中的陆生节肢动物。然而，很少的工作已经做了节肢动物的生物多样性和社区生态在加拿大西部的森林在目前的大规模干扰的背景下。在这些区域干扰背景下，当代节肢动物物种的清单很少，因此基线信息也不足。我的总体目标是使用昆虫诱捕方法和形态和DNA条形码辅助分类分析，以研究受影响和未受影响的干扰加拿大西部森林和河岸带的分类和功能多样性方面的差异，以了解生态服务的变化后，干扰和管理人员提供的工具，以监测恢复的立场。