SGER: Human and Ecosystem Responses to Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks in the Colorado Front Range

近年来，北美西部的山松甲虫爆发的速度和范围都令人震惊;仅在科罗拉多，自20世纪90年代末以来，就有60多万公顷的土地受到感染。 然而，我们对生态系统和人类如何应对此类疫情以及这些反应如何改变关键生态系统服务的理解仍然很差。 这项研究涉及自然科学家和社会科学家，并将利用一个独特的机会，收集感染前的数据在尼沃特岭长期生态研究网站之前，松甲虫入侵，这是几乎肯定会发生。 要收集的数据不仅包括生态系统的反应，但也对公众和政策的反应爆发在科罗拉多前范围region.The更广泛的影响，综合研究人类和生态系统的反应松甲虫爆发是相当大的。 这项工作将直接解决美国西部和加拿大政府最高层关注的一个现象，在大规模甲虫死亡后，各州和各省都在争先恐后地制定新的管理政策。 这项工作也将有助于对松甲虫管理计划的辩论的关键科学理解。

In recent years, mountain pine beetle outbreaks in western North America have been startling in both their speed and extent; in Colorado alone, more than 600,000 hectares have been infected since the late 1990s. Yet, our understanding of how both ecosystems and humans react to such outbreaks, and how such responses alter critical ecosystem services, remains poor. This research involves both natural and social scientists and will take advantage of a unique opportunity to collect pre-infection data at the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research site just prior to a pine beetle invasion that is virtually certain to occur. Data to be collected include not only those on ecosystem responses, but also on public and policy reactions to the outbreak in the Colorado Front Range region.The broader impacts of an integrated study on human and ecosystem responses to pine beetle outbreaks are considerable. The work will directly address a phenomenon that has the attention of the highest levels of government in the western U.S. and Canada, where states and provinces are scrambling to enact new management policies in the wake of large-scale beetle kills. This work will also contribute key scientific understanding to the debates on pine beetle management plans.