Biodiversity, Environmental Change and Ecosystem Functioning at the Prairie-Forest Boarder

雪松溪长期生态研究项目将采用长期的实验、观察和理论来研究（1）人类驱动的变化，特别是生物多样性丧失、气候变化、氮沉降、土地覆盖和利用变化、火灾频率变化、CO2浓度升高和外来物种对群落动态和生态系统结构和功能的影响;（2）物种的性状和进化遗传如何影响群落组成、生态系统动态、生态地球化学和外来物种的入侵，（3）捕食者、病原体和疾病如何影响物种和生态系统动态，（4）多物种共存的原因，（5）物种的多样性和多样性，以及物种的多样性和多样性对生态系统的影响。（5）生态系统提供的服务的数量和经济价值如何取决于生态系统物种组成、多样性和管理。这些问题将在一系列协调的大规模、长期的实地实验、相关的长期观测研究和理论分析中得到解决。这项研究的首要目标是更深入地了解支配群落和生态系统动态和功能的过程和原则。这项研究的中心是实验结果、观测数据和理论预测之间的相互作用。每一个约束，修改和激励对方，提供更深入的了解草原，稀树草原和森林生态系统的动态和功能。这项研究将对若干营养级的许多物种的研究与对生态系统过程和物种与生态系统过程之间的反馈的研究结合起来。它结合和综合了生态生理学，人口，社区和生态系统生态学的不同方法。拟议的新的和持续的工作将建立在该地点积累的丰富知识基础上，该项目产生更广泛的影响，因为拟议研究的结果将提高对人类对生态系统影响的长期社会影响的认识。例如，这项研究将有助于阐明控制生物多样性的因素以及生物多样性丧失对生态系统服务的影响，如生态系统清除大气中的二氧化碳以及将这种碳长期封存在土壤中。此外，将向媒体和政府组织通报研究结果;将向K-12教师、K-12学生、记者和公众介绍科学研究和最新成果;本科生将获得研究经验;研究生和博士后研究人员将接受高级研究培训。

The Cedar Creek Long-Term Ecological Research project would use long-term experimentation, observation and theory to examine (1) the impacts of human-driven changes, especially loss of biodiversity, climatic variation, N deposition, land cover and use change, changes in fire frequency, elevated CO2, and exotic species, on community dynamics and ecosystem structure and function; (2) how the traits and evolutionary heritages of species influence community assembly, ecosystem dynamics, biogeochemistry and the invasiveness of exotic species; (3) how predators, pathogens and diseases influence species and ecosystem dynamics; (4) the causes of multi-species coexistence; and (5) how the quantity and economic value of services produced by ecosystems depends on ecosystem species composition, diversity and management. These questions would be pursued in a coordinated series of large-scale, long-term field experiments, related long-term observational studies, and theoretical analyses.The overriding goal of this research is to provide deeper understanding of the processesand principles that govern the dynamics and functioning of communities and ecosystems. This research centers on the interplay among experimental results, observational data, and the predictions of theory. Each constrains, modifies and inspires the other, providing deeper understanding of the dynamics and functioning of the grassland, savanna, and forested ecosystems of the region. The research combines studies of numerous species in several trophic levels with studies of ecosystem processes and of the feedbacks between species and the ecosystem processes. It combines and synthesizes the often disparate approaches of ecophysiology, population, community and ecosystem ecology. The new and continuing work proposed would build on the rich knowledge base that has accumulated at the site.This project achieves broader impacts because results of the proposed studies wouldimprove understanding of the long-term societal implications of human impacts on ecosystems. For instance, the research would help elucidate both the factors that control biodiversity and the effects of the loss of biodiversity on ecosystem services such as the removal by ecosystems of atmospheric carbon dioxide and the long-term sequestration of this carbon in soil. In addition, results would be communicated to the media and government organizations; K-12 teachers, K-12 students, journalists and the general public would be taught about scientific research and recent results; undergraduates would gain research experiences; and graduate students and post-doctoral researchers would receive advanced research training.