Dissertation Research: Understanding the importance of individual variability for population demography using the Bristlecone pine

珊瑚和森林树木等长寿生物在世界范围内具有重要的生态和经济意义。 不幸的是，这些物种的种群趋势很难研究，因为它们发生得很慢，而且要经历许多人的一生。 本研究的重点是调查人口的变化，在一个独特的非常适合的研究系统：森林的高海拔，长寿狐尾松（长叶松）在白色山脉东部加州。 这些树木是独一无二的，因为它们的枯木可以保持完整数千年，并且可以通过树木年轮分析精确地确定年代。 这些年轮的宽度是从数百棵活的和死的树木中取样的，可以用来了解个体之间的差异如何影响种群动态。这些狐尾松种群被认为包含了地球上最长的生命体。 使用这些树作为研究系统遵循经典和成功的科学策略：研究生物极端作为测试和完善一般理论的一种方式。本论文的工作将开发新的方法，可以应用于许多其他物种，特别是其他长寿的物种或种群的个体之间有相当大的变化的数学种群建模。 考虑到全球气候迅速变暖的现实，这类预测工具至关重要。

Long-lived organisms such as corals and forest trees are of great worldwide ecological and economic importance. Unfortunately, population trends for such species are difficult to study because they occur slowly and over many human lifetimes. This research focuses on investigating population change in a uniquely well-suited study system: forests of high-altitude, long-lived bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) in the White Mountains of eastern California. These trees are unique because their dead wood can remain intact for millennia and can be precisely dated with tree-ring analysis. The widths of these annual rings, sampled from hundreds of living and dead trees, can be used to understand how variation among individuals influences population dynamics.These populations of bristlecone pines are believed to contain the longest living organisms on the planet. Using these trees as a study system follows a classic and successful scientific tactic: to study biological extremes as a way of testing and refining general theory. This dissertation work will develop new approaches to mathematical population modeling that can be applied to many other species, particularly other long-lived species or populations with considerable variation among individuals. These kinds of predictive tools are crucial given the realities of a rapidly warming global climate.