Urban LTER: Central Arizona - Phoenix LTER

这个项目是对凤凰城大都市区和亚利桑那州中部边缘地区的长期研究，凤凰城正在迅速扩张。这个LTER项目的目标是：1)在城市环境中产生和测试一般生态理论，2)增强对城市生态的理解，3)确定生态和社会经济因素之间的反馈，4)让K-12学生参与科学发现的事业。凤凰城是美国西部干旱和半干旱地区最大、发展最快的城市之一。由于凤凰城还很年轻，与城市边缘的扩张相比，城市再开发的规模很小，在那里，农业用地和自然沙漠栖息地正在迅速转变为郊区。将利用地图、规划文件、航空照片和卫星图像重建历史上的增长模式，以产生基于地理信息系统的城市变化记录。建模将以基于土地利用斑块类型的分层、空间明确、斑块动态方法为中心。在中等尺度上，将开发景观模型来确定多个斑块的配置效应。将开发整个地区的区域模拟模型，以预测和测试未来发展的其他模式的生态后果。将在五个核心领域监测特定区域的生态特征：初级生产、自然人口和社区特征、有机物质的储存和动态、物质（包括水）的流动以及再开发、火灾和洪水造成的干扰模式。一个连续模式将指导这项工作；在斑块尺度上与土地利用变化相关的短期生态趋势和斑块成熟后的长期生态变化都将被跟踪。特别令人感兴趣的是在城市中心到郊区边缘梯度的给定斑块类型内的生态变化。本研究将社会经济因素作为土地利用决策与生态特征之间的反馈。也就是说，生态特征如何影响土地利用决策，而生态后果又如何反过来改变未来的土地利用政策？研究将确定生态因素对个人生活质量感知的重要性。此外，将对城市景观内财产价值变化和人口格局变化的客观分析作为生态和其他价值的指标进行评估。与各机构和市政当局建立的多种伙伴关系将丰富这些努力。这项研究工作包括对K-12教育的实质性承诺，包括让教师和学生作为动手研究的合作伙伴，通过与开发城市科学课程的互动，并通过互联网提供与研究发现的实时电子界面。项目的这一部分通过与大凤凰城地区众多教育合作伙伴的强大接口得到加强。

Grimm 9714833 This project is a long-term study of the Phoenix metropolitan area and fringing regions of central Arizona into which Phoenix is rapidly expanding. Objectives of this LTER program are to: 1) generate and test general ecological theory in an urban environment, 2) enhance understanding of the ecology of cities, 3) identify feedbacks between ecological and socio-economic factors, and 4) involve K-12 students in the enterprise of scientific discovery. Phoenix is one of the largest and most rapidly growing cities of the arid and semi-arid American west. Because Phoenix is young, urban redevelopment is minor compared to expansive growth of the city's edges, where agricultural lands and natural desert habitats are being rapidly converted to suburbia. Historic patterns of growth will be reconstructed using maps, planning documents, aerial photographs and satellite imagery to generate a GIS-based record of urban change. Modeling will be centered on a hierarchical, spatially-explicit, patch-dynamic approach, based on land-use patch types. At intermediate scales, landscape models will be developed to determine configuration effects of multiple patches. A regional simulation model of the entire area will be developed to predict and test ecological consequences of alternative patterns of future development. Patch-specific ecological characteristics will be monitored in five core areas: primary production, natural population and community characteristics, storage and dynamics of organic matter, movement of materials (including water), and patterns of disturbances by redevelopment, fire and flood. A successional model will guide this work; both short-term ecological trends associated with land-use change at the patch scale, and long-term changes as patches mature will be followed. Of special interest is ecological change within a given patch type on the city-center to suburban-edge gradient. Socioeconomic factors are included in this study as feedbacks between land-use decisions and ecol ogical characteristics. That is, how do ecological features shape land-use decisions and how, in return, do ecological consequences modify future land use policy? Research will determine the importance of ecological factors to individual perceptions of quality of life. In addition, objective analyses of change in property values and shifting demographic patterns within the urban landscape will be assessed as an indicator of ecological and other values. These efforts will be enriched by multiple partnerships with agencies and municipalities. This research effort includes a substantial commitment to K-12 education by involving teachers and students as hands-on research partners, through interaction with developing urban science curricula, and by providing a real time electronic interface with research discoveries via the Internet. This component of the project is enhanced by a strong interface with numerous educational partners in the greater Phoenix area.