LTER: Alaska's Changing Boreal Forest: Resilience and Vulnerability

Bonanza Creek LTER(BNZ)专注于通过研究驱动生态系统对变化的弹性和脆弱性的潜在机制，提高我们对气候变化和阿拉斯加北部针叶林干扰制度长期后果的理解。总体目标是记录面对气候变化时对森林动态、生物地球化学和干扰的主要控制以及它们之间的相互作用。研究试图找出缓冲系统结构和功能根本变化的因素(复原力)和可能促使变化到替代状态的因素(脆弱性)，研究分为三个主题：森林动态、生物地球化学和景观动态。在这个资金周期中，BNZ研究将与长期监测数据建立更直接的联系，私人投资机构增加了几个新的计划要素。研究设计将长期观察和实验与过程研究相结合，以确定生态变化并记录在两种类型的演替序列中对生态系统过程的控制，这两种演替序列是泛滥平原初级演替和高地火灾后次生演替，涉及广泛的空间和时间尺度。通过在分层研究设计中操纵扩展到更大空间尺度的选定的交互控制，使用广泛的测量、遥感和在广泛的时间尺度上的建模来检验关于控制生态系统动力学的假设。更广泛的影响。BNZ研究通过了解气候变化、干扰、人类活动和外来物种对北方森林生态系统服务的影响，如气候调节、娱乐、美学和森林资源可用性，具有广泛的社会影响。新西兰的外联和教育部门通常非常强大和有效，并与州和联邦资源管理机构有许多联系。BNZ学校LTER计划非常成功，并与另外两个科学教育计划合作，在阿拉斯加的38个城镇培训科学教师。这涉及到让大部分代表不足的学生参与，他们发起了自己的长期生态研究项目，并开发了自己的网站。开发了一个非常有创意的物候单元，让K-12学生参与遥感数据的地面验证测量，这对阿拉斯加农村社区的许多儿童来说是第一次这样的机会。这项活动现已纳入《全球教师指南》，并在国际上使用。BNZ研究为本科生和研究生提供培训，并与一个创新和令人兴奋的IGERT项目相联系。BNZ通过不同的媒体宣传向公众进行公众宣传，参与者与关注可持续林业和阿拉斯加原住民的当地和区域团体密切合作。BNZ网站和相关研究人员在研究和出版物方面有着良好的记录，这些数据通过信息管理向更广泛的社区提供和有用，强调对收集的数据进行安全存档，促进其在合成中的使用，以及开发网络数据库，以便利科学界使用这些数据。

The Bonanza Creek LTER (BNZ) focuses on improving our understanding of the long-term consequences of changing climate and disturbance regimes in the Alaskan boreal forest by examining the underlying mechanisms that drive ecosystem resilience and vulnerability toward change. The overall objective is to document the major controls over forest dynamics, biogeochemistry and disturbance and their interactions in the face of a changing climate. Research seeks to identify factors that buffer systems from radical changes in structure and functioning (resilience) vs. factors that might precipitate changes to alternative states (vulnerability), and is organized into three themes: forest dynamics, biogeochemistry and landscape dynamics. In this funding cycle, BNZ research will make a more direct connection to long-term monitoring data and the PIs have added several new program elements. The research design combines long-term observations and experiments with process studies to identify ecological changes and document controls over ecosystem processes in two types of successional sequences, floodplain primary succession and upland post-fire secondary succession, over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Hypotheses about controls over ecosystem dynamics are tested by manipulating selected interactive controls extended to larger spatial scales in a hierarchical research design, using extensive measurements, remote sensing, and modeling over a broad spectrum of temporal scales. Broader Impacts. BNZ research has broad societal implications through the understanding of impacts of climate change, disturbance, human activities and exotic species on boreal forest ecosystem services such as climate regulation, recreation, aesthetics and forest resource availability. BNZ outreach and educational components are generally very strong and effective and have numerous connections to state and federal resource management agencies. The BNZ Schoolyard LTER program has been very successful and has partnered with two other science education programs to train science teachers in 38 Alaskan towns. This has involved engaging largely under-represented students who have initiated their own long-term ecological research projects and developed their own web sites. A very creative phenology unit was developed that involves K-12 students in ground validation measurements of remotely sensed data, a first such opportunity for many children in rural Alaskan communities. This activity has now been incorporated into the GLOBE Teachers Guide and is used internationally. BNZ research provides training for undergraduate and graduate students and is connected with an innovative and exciting IGERT project. BNZ public outreach to the general public is via diverse media publicity, with participants working closely with local and regional groups concerned with sustainable forestry and Native Alaskans. The BNZ site and associated researchers have an excellent track record of research and publications with data made available and useful to a broader community through information management emphasizing secure archival of collected data, promotion of its use in synthesis, and development of web-based databases to facilitate its use by the scientific community.