Biodiversity and Landscape Modeling

生物多样性和景观建模

• 批准号: CRC-2021-00271
• 负责人: He, Fangliang
• 金额: $ 14.57万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Canada Research Chairs
• 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=764511
• 关键词: Biodiversity; Landscape; Modeling

Knowing how many species are in nature or a given landscape and understanding how they are assembled in ecosystems are arguably among the most important questions in ecology. This knowledge is essential for predicting ecosystem responses to natural and anthropogenic disturbances and informs critical decisions about biodiversity conservation and management. Although numerous methods have been proposed to tally and estimate the number of species in landscapes, there is little consensus about their performance. Also, current data about real world diversity change suggests that we have much to learn about mechanisms that maintain or drive changes in biodiversity. I will address these knowledge gaps through innovative research in the context of a CRC renewal. Building on my existing strengths and ongoing work in this field, I aim to develop methods and theory to improve for estimation of species diversity, to synthesize diversity patterns, and to test hypotheses about primary biodiversity mechanisms. Specifically, I will address four interrelated research components critical to understanding biodiversity patterns and how they develop and are maintained. These are as follows: (1) Develop a `Calculus of Biodiversity' for measuring and synthesizing biodiversity patterns; (2) Test ecological processes that maintain species assemblages, with special interest in testing the role of plant-soil feedback on plant species diversity; (3) Predict impact of climate and land use change on biodiversity; and (4) Apply cutting-edge results to support sustainable management of ecosystems and to inform innovative land use policies in Canada and other countries. This research, involving theoretical development, conceptual synthesis, empirical data analysis and field experiments, will be based on two primary networks of long-term forest inventory plots: the global ForestGEO network and the network of long-term national forest inventory plots maintained in Canada, the USA and Europe. This research will contribute new knowledge about mechanisms of biodiversity maintenance and will provide evidence to interpret global biodiversity change in forests across several spatial scales. The deliverable concepts, models, methods and syntheses developed will enhance our ability to understand and predict the impact of changes in climate and land-use on forest dynamics and ecological function to guide for better conservation and management of biodiversity in Canada and elsewhere.

了解自然界或特定景观中有多少物种，并了解它们如何在生态系统中组装，可以说是生态学中最重要的问题之一。这种知识对于预测生态系统对自然和人为干扰的反应至关重要，并为生物多样性养护和管理的关键决策提供信息。虽然已经提出了许多方法来计算和估计景观中的物种数量，但对其性能几乎没有共识。此外，目前有关真实的世界多样性变化的数据表明，我们有很多东西要了解维持或推动生物多样性变化的机制。我将通过在CRC更新的背景下进行创新研究来解决这些知识差距。基于我在这一领域的现有优势和正在进行的工作，我的目标是开发方法和理论，以改善物种多样性的估计，综合多样性模式，并测试有关主要生物多样性机制的假设。具体来说，我将讨论四个相互关联的研究组成部分至关重要的了解生物多样性的模式，以及他们如何发展和保持。这些措施如下：（1）开发一种“生物多样性演算法”，用于衡量和综合生物多样性模式;（2）测试维持物种组合的生态过程，特别关注测试植物-土壤反馈对植物物种多样性的作用;（3）预测气候和土地使用变化对生物多样性的影响;（4）应用前沿成果支持生态系统的可持续管理，并为加拿大和其他国家的创新土地使用政策提供信息。这项研究，涉及理论发展，概念综合，经验数据分析和实地实验，将基于两个主要网络的长期森林清查地块：全球森林全球环境组织网络和网络的长期国家森林清查地块保持在加拿大，美国和欧洲。这项研究将为生物多样性维持机制提供新的知识，并将为解释全球森林生物多样性在几个空间尺度上的变化提供证据。开发的可交付概念、模型、方法和综合将提高我们理解和预测气候和土地利用变化对森林动态和生态功能的影响的能力，以指导加拿大和其他地方更好地保护和管理生物多样性。