Long-Term Drivers, State Change and Disturbance on the Virginia Coast Reserve: LTER V

人类正在以前所未有的速度改变生态系统，特别是在沿海地区。弗吉尼亚海岸保护区(VCR)LTER旨在发展对长期环境变化和短期干扰如何控制海岸屏障景观动态性质的预测性理解。这里的景观是多种多样的，包括大陆分水岭、潮汐沼泽、泻湖和堰塞岛。中心假设是，生态系统动态和景观格局是由陆地、海洋和地下水自由面的垂直位置以及整个景观中生物和物质的通量相互作用控制的。拟议的和继续进行的研究围绕综合问题进行：(1)长期的变化驱动因素(气候、海平面上升和土地利用变化)和短期干扰如何相互作用来改变生态系统动态和状态变化，以及它们的影响如何被当地尺度的内部过程和反馈所改变？(2)整个景观中的生物和物质通量如何影响生态系统动态和状态变化？(3)未来，景观的结构是什么，什么过程将驱动状态变化？第一个问题是过去录像机研究的延续，而后一个问题是新的。建模和过程水平的研究还涉及到状态变化对景观的生物地球化学和营养后果。该项目采用长期监测和实验、短期过程研究和建模相结合的方法。在景观单元(分水岭、潮汐沼泽、泻湖、堰塞岛)内，在大陆-泻湖-岛屿箱形样带内，以及整个岛屿和泻湖系统内，研究了模式、过程和相互作用。从几个小时(例如元素循环)到几十年(例如继承)到一个多世纪(例如海平面上升)的时间尺度上考虑了这一过程。研究人员包括生态学家、水文学家、生物地球化学家、大气科学家、海洋学家、模型师以及遥感和信息学专家。理解和预测多种因素如何影响生态系统及其服务是环境科学家和资源管理者面临的重大挑战。VCR是一个相对原始的沿海系统，可以与其他地点进行比较，以了解沿海系统总体上是如何应对全球变化的驱动因素的。VCR在外联、培训和网络活动中非常活跃。它的校园方案为当地县的小学和中学提供了重要的培训和基础设施，该县是该州最贫穷的县之一，一半以上的学生是妇女和少数民族。通过参与机构的研究生项目培训未来的环境科学家是该项目的优先事项之一。每个资助周期，VCR培训40多名研究生和约20名本科生，其中约一半是女性和少数民族。科学发现和技术信息通过VCR网站、科学出版物和演示文稿以及媒体广泛传播。VCR通过外展努力与保护组织以及地方、州和联邦机构建立了联系。VCR还与自然保护协会建立了强有力的合作伙伴关系，以解决该地区面临的重要管理和保护问题。这使VCR处于绝佳的地位，为制定与规划、管理和生态系统恢复相关的决策提供坚实的科学基础。这一伙伴关系还可以作为以科学为基础管理其他动态沿海屏障系统的模式。

Humans are altering ecosystems at unprecedented rates, especially in the coastal zone. The Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) LTER aims to develop predictive understanding of how long-term environmental change and short-term disturbances control the dynamic nature of coastal barrier landscapes. The landscape is heterogeneous, comprised of mainland watersheds, tidal marshes, lagoons and barrier islands. The central hypothesis is that ecosystem dynamics and pattern on the landscape are controlled by the interactions of vertical positions of the land, sea, and groundwater free surfaces, and the fluxes of organisms and materials across the landscape. Proposed and continuing research is organized around synthetic questions: (1) How do long-term drivers of change (climate, rising sea level, and land-use change) and short-term disturbances interact to alter ecosystem dynamics and state change, and how is their effect modified by internal processes and feedbacks at the local scale? (2) How do fluxes of organisms and materials across the landscape influence ecosystem dynamics and state change? (3) In the future, what will be the structure of the landscape and what processes will drive state changes? The first question is a continuation of past VCR research, while the latter questions are new. Modeling and process-level studies also address the biogeochemical and trophic consequences of state change on the landscape. The project uses a combination of long-term monitoring and experiments, shorter-term process studies, and modeling. Patterns, processes and interactions are examined within landscape units (watershed, tidal marsh, lagoon, barrier island), within mainland-lagoon-island box transects, and across the entire system of islands and lagoons. Processes are considered at temporal scales from hours (e.g., element cycling) to decades (e.g., succession) to more than a century (e.g., sea-level rise). Research includes ecologists, hydrologists, biogeochemists, atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, modelers, and specialists in remote sensing and informatics.Understanding and predicting how multiple factors influence ecosystems and their services are critical challenges for environmental scientists and resource managers. VCR is a relatively pristine coastal system that can be compared with other sites to understand how coastal systems in general respond to drivers of global change. VCR has been very active in outreach, training and network activities. Its Schoolyard Program contributes important training and infrastructure to the primary and secondary schools in the local county, which is one of the poorest in the state; over half the students are women and minorities. Training of future environmental scientists through graduate programs at participating institutions is one of the priorities of the program. Each funding cycle VCR trains over 40 graduate students and about 20 undergraduates, about half of which are women and minorities. Scientific findings and technical information are broadly disseminated through the VCR website, scientific publications and presentations, and the media. VCR has developed links with conservation organizations, and local, state, and federal agencies through outreach efforts. VCR also has a strong partnership with The Nature Conservancy to address the important management and conservation problems facing this region. This puts VCR in an excellent position to provide a solid, scientific foundation for making decisions related to planning, management, and ecosystem restoration. This partnership can also serve as a model for science-based management of other dynamic coastal barrier systems.