SGER: Short- and Long-Term Effects of Hurricane Opal on a Forest Ecosystem

这个项目将调查飓风Opal对北卡罗莱纳州Coweeta LTER站点生态系统过程的短期影响。飓风是一次罕见的戏剧性事件，导致大量木质碎屑和绿叶沉积在森林地面上。这一事件的罕见性质，以及尽快启动其影响研究的必要性，使这项研究非常适合SGER资助。这项研究将调查飓风引发的绿落对森林地面养分有效性和分解过程的短期影响。研究人员将验证一种预测，即飓风Opal造成的绿叶组织损失将影响树木的碳营养平衡，因为在衰老之前，营养物质没有被吸收到内部循环中。相反，营养物质流失到森林的地面上。绿组织损失引起的营养胁迫可能导致树木碳营养比偏高，碳被分配给单宁和其他多酚类物质，而不是分配给生长。这种向防御系统的碳分配可能会影响食草动物随后的叶组织质量，以及森林冠层的落叶水平。该项目为研究极端气候事件后生态系统变化对植物生理和植物食草动物动态的影响提供了一个独特的机会。

9615661 Hunter This project will investigate the short term effects of Hurricane Opal on ecosystem processes at the Coweeta LTER site, North Carolina. The hurricane was a rare and dramatic event that resulted in considerable deposition of woody detritus and green leaves on the forest floor. The rare nature of this event, and the need to initiate studies of its effects as soon as possible, make this research well suited for SGER funding. This research will investigate the short-term effects of hurricane-derived greenfall on nutrient availability and decomposition processes on the forest floor. The investigators will test the prediction that loss of green leaf tissue from hurricane Opal will influence the carbon-nutrient balance of trees because nutrients were not resorbed for internal recycling prior to senescence. Rather, nutrients were lost to the forest floor. The nutrient stress caused by the loss of green tissue may result in high carbon:nutrient ratios in trees, and the allocation of carbon to tannins and other polyphenols instead of allocation to growth. This allocation of carbon to defenses may influence the subsequent quality of leaf tissue for herbivores, and levels of defoliation in the forest canopy. This project represents a unique opportunity to study the effects of altered ecosystem processes on plant physiology and plant herbivore dynamics following an extreme climatic event.