Collaborative Research: Mountain Meadow Restoration with a Changing Climate

Loheide, Steven P.，威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校（cbet -0729838） lundquist, Jessica D.，华盛顿大学（cbet -0729830）气候变化下的山地草甸恢复项目主管indy M. Lee,(703) 292-5356气候变化将影响恢复工程实践，特别是在依赖融雪和地下水在整个生长季节提供水分的生态系统中，例如美国科迪勒拉山脉的山地草甸生态系统，在那里，越来越多的降水是以雨而不是雪的形式出现的，积累的雪融化得更早。夏天更长更干燥。这个合作项目的目标是研究影响草甸生态系统的过程范围和时空尺度。以加利福尼亚州约塞米蒂国家公园仪器完善的图奥勒梅多斯为例，项目团队将1)缩小未来气候模型情景到研究区域，2)使用温度和降水的预期统计变化来调整历史气象记录，使其符合未来的预期。3)在盆地上运行分布式融雪和径流模型，以确定不同地区对气候变化的反应，以及哪些地区对气候变化最敏感和最不敏感；4)将模拟径流与通过草甸的水力路径模型相结合，以估计在有无各种恢复措施的情况下，气候变化对河流水位的影响；5)模拟整个草甸的地下水水位如何响应河流水位的变化。6)模拟植被群落如何最有可能随着预测的地下水位变化而变化。有必要建立明确考虑气候变化的可持续修复工程的科学基础。新的模拟技术和联系将作为一种可转移方法的框架，可用于调查其他区域和生态系统中气候、水文和植被动态的相互影响。这个项目的教育效益包括对研究生和本科生的支持，以及为约塞米蒂国家公园的解说护林员和游客提供的项目，约塞米蒂国家公园每年吸引约400万游客。结果也将在网上公布，供公众和资源管理人员使用。

Loheide, Steven P., PIUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonCBET-0729838Lundquist, Jessica D., PIUniversity of WashingtonCBET-0729830Collaborative Research: Mountain Meadow Restoration with a Changing ClimateCindy M. Lee, Program Director, (703) 292-5356 Climate change will affect restoration engineering practices especially in ecosystems that depend on snowmelt and groundwater to provide moisture through the growing season, such as mountain meadow ecosystems along the American Cordillera, where an increasing percentage of precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow, snow that does accumulate is melting earlier, and summers are longer and drier. The goal of this collaborative project is to investigate the range of processes and spatial and temporal scales affecting a meadow ecosystem. Using the well-instrumented Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park, CA, as a case study, the project team will 1) downscale future climate model scenarios to the study area, 2) use the expected statistical shifts in temperature and precipitation to adjust the historic meteorological record to one that is expected in the future, 3) run a distributed snowmelt and runoff model over the basin to determine how different areas respond to climatic shifts and which areas are most and least sensitive, 4) combine simulated runoff with a hydraulic routing model through the meadow to estimate how stream water levels will be affected by climate change with and without various restoration efforts, 5) model how groundwater levels throughout the meadow will respond to shifts in stream level, and 6) model how vegetation communities are most likely to shift in response to projected water table changes. There is a need to develop the scientific basis for sustainable restoration engineering with explicit consideration of climate change. The new modeling techniques and linkages will serve as a framework for a transferable methodology that can be used to investigate the interrelated effects of climate, hydrology, and vegetation dynamics in other regions and ecosystems. Educational benefits of this project include support for graduate and undergraduate students as well as programs for interpretative rangers and visitors to Yosemite National Park, which attracts about 4 million visitors each year. Results will also be posted online for the general public and resource managers.