Collaborative Research: Effects of Land-Use Change on the Production of Ecosystem Services in Páramo Grasslands

对陆地碳封存的兴趣日益增加，对水和水电的需求不断增加，使国际和区域的注意力集中在生态系统服务上。本项目考察了北安第斯山脉páramo高海拔草原提供的服务。厄瓜多尔正在实施生态系统服务付费的概念，在páramo草原上植树以吸收碳，并改变传统的焚烧和放牧制度，以增加水资源。然而，人们对这些变化以及相关的土地利用和管理变化的生物物理结果了解甚少，在某些情况下，意图良好的变化可能不会产生预期的结果。在本项目中，研究人员将系统地调查土地利用变化对土壤相关生态系统服务产生的影响，量化生态系统服务之间的潜在权衡，并评估不同土地管理策略的政策含义。主要目标是：1)确定土地利用变化如何影响安第斯山脉páramo土壤的碳储存、水储存和水传输；2)评估哪些土地利用最大化了páramo草地土壤中与碳和水相关的生态系统服务。研究人员将在两个páramo研究地点——Zuleta（厄瓜多尔北部）和Nudo del Azuay（厄瓜多尔南部）——进行实地观察和现场实验，对土壤样本进行实验室分析，并评估协同效应、权衡和相关政策，以量化和预测土地利用变化对碳和水相关生态系统服务的影响。这项研究将为预测生态系统对土地利用变化的响应提供必要的数据，并将通过改善生态系统服务支付计划的科学基础而立即得到社会应用。研究结果将为保护组织提供关键数据，以确定造林是否适合作为研究区域土地恢复的一种形式，并将为旨在加强厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉陆地碳封存和水供应的政策和计划提供信息。这项研究还将为来自美国的几名研究生和一名中学科学教师以及厄瓜多尔阿祖伊大学参与研究的本科生提供教育机会，并将加强研究人员与其厄瓜多尔伙伴之间的合作。

Growing interest in terrestrial carbon sequestration and increasing demand for water and hydropower have focused international and regional attention on ecosystem services. This project examines those services provided by the high altitude páramo grasslands of the northern Andes. The concept of Payment for Ecosystem Services is being implemented in Ecuador, leading to tree planting in páramo grasslands to sequester carbon and alteration of traditional burning and grazing regimes to enhance water resources. However, the biophysical outcomes of these and related changes in land use and management are poorly understood, and in some cases well-intended changes may not be producing the desired outcomes. In this project, the researchers will systematically investigate the effects of land use change on the production of soil-related ecosystem services, quantify potential tradeoffs among ecosystem services, and evaluate policy implications of different land management strategies. The primary objectives are 1) to determine how land use change affects carbon storage, water storage, and water transmission in Andean páramo soils and 2) to evaluate which land uses maximize ecosystem services related to both carbon and water in páramo grassland soils. The researchers will integrate field observations and in situ experiments at two páramo study sites, Zuleta (northern Ecuador) and the Nudo del Azuay (southern Ecuador), with laboratory analyses of soil samples, and assessment of synergies, trade-offs, and relevant policies to quantify and predict effects of land use change on carbon- and water-related ecosystem services. This research will provide essential data for predicting ecosystem responses to land use change and will have immediate societal application by improving the scientific basis for Payment for Ecosystem Services programs. The results will provide key data for conservation organizations on the appropriateness of forestation as a form of land restoration in the study region, and will inform policies and programs intended to enhance both terrestrial carbon sequestration and water provision in the Ecuadorian Andes. The research also will provide educational opportunities for several graduate students and a middle-school science teacher from the U.S. and for participating undergraduate students at the University of Azuay in Ecuador, and it will strengthen the collaboration between the investigators and their Ecuadorian partners.