The Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research Program 2011-2016: Tipping Points in High-Elevation Ecosystems in Response to Changes in Climate and Atmospheric Deposition

Niwot(NWT)LTER项目于1980年启动，自那时以来一直提供实验和观测研究，旨在了解北美高海拔高山生态系统的动态。该项目有一段研究历史，说明了生物体和生态系统对气候和各种大气输入在典型山区生境范围内的反应。该项目将继续这一长期研究方向，并将扩大其范围，以解决以下问题：有机碳沉积的数量和质量；植物-土壤反馈和环境变化在可能包括阈值效应或临界点的群落动态中的作用；生物干扰的可能性，如物种入侵和传染病，导致生态系统进入新的状态和动态；制定方法和开展合作，以预测这种生态系统变化，并更好地了解这些和其他干扰对高海拔生态系统的社会影响。这项研究综合了生态学、水文学、地貌学、大气和社会的观点和研究技术，以了解高海拔生态系统，并在不断变化的环境和社会背景下提供有效管理它们的知识。该项目有助于理解高海拔生态系统的结构、功能和动态，并包括开发建模、预测和更好地了解此类生态系统的一般技术。它汇集和整合了关于气候、水文、生物学、生态学、地貌过程和高海拔生态系统及其所处的更大环境的其他要素的有价值的长期数据集。该项目对增进对高山生态系统及其管理的了解作出了贡献，具有广泛的社会价值。它更广泛的价值还包括广泛的基于研究的培训，包括儿童系列书籍和K-12教师培训在内的教育项目开发，以及公共宣传。

The Niwot (NWT) LTER project was initiated in 1980 and since then has provided experimental and observational research designed to understand the dynamics of high-elevation alpine ecosystems in North America. The project has a history of research that has illuminated the responses of organisms and ecosystems to climate and various atmospheric inputs over the range of habitats that typify mountainous regions. This project will continue that long-term line of research and will expand it to address: the quantity and quality of organic carbon deposition; the role of plant-soil feedbacks and environmental change in community dynamics that may include threshold effects or tipping points; the potential of biotic disturbances, such an species invasions and infectious diseases, to cause ecosystems to tip to new states and dynamics; and, development of methods and collaborations to anticipate such ecosystem shifts and to improve understanding of the social impacts of these and other perturbations to high-elevation ecosystems. The research integrates ecological, hydrologic, geomorphic, atmospheric, and social perspectives and research techniques to understand high-elevation ecosystems and provide knowledge to manage them effectively in changing environmental and social contexts. This project contributes to understanding of the structure, function, and dynamics of a high-elevation ecosystem and includes development of techniques for modeling, forecasting, and better understanding such ecosystems in general. It assembles and integrates valuable long-term data sets on climate, hydrology, biology, ecology, geomorphic processes, and other elements of high-elevation ecosystems and the larger environment in which they are embedded. The project has broad societal value through its contributions to improved understanding of alpine ecosystems and their management. Its broader values also include extensive research-based training, educational program development that includes a children's book series and K-12 teacher training, and public outreach.