Dimensions IRCN: Diversity and Forest Change: Characterizing functional, phylogenetic and genetic contributions to diversity gradients and dynamics in tree communities

该项目将建立一个国际研究协调网络，将美国现有的两个森林网络与中国的一系列森林地块结合起来，以促进对树木生物多样性如何决定森林功能方面的理解，并检验有关森林对全球变化的适应能力的假设。这些网络一起在亚洲和美洲的热带和温带森林中维持着24个大规模的林地，提供关于数千种树种的人口统计、功能特征、系统发育关系和环境偏好的数据。通过一系列专题讨论会、分析讲习班和国际科学交流，这些数据将被用来询问：哪些功能特征是物种在环境梯度上分布的基础；群落的功能特征和系统发育相关性如何与森林功能相联系；物种内个体之间的功能特征和环境耐受性如何不同；以及基因流动如何促进地方和区域一级的遗传多样性。通过结合整个树木群落的长期温带和热带森林研究，该项目将对包含物种间功能和遗传差异的模型进行参数化，以测试对森林当前和未来变化的预测。最终目标是开发森林组成及其遗传和功能基础的详细模型，以便在一系列气候预测中进行模拟。这种跨生物多样性多维度的整合将加强对森林结构的理解，这是预测森林将如何应对全球变化的关键一步。该项目将实施一系列能力建设和培训倡议，以扩大科学和加强美国和中国之间的合作。加强亚洲和美洲的森林研究小区网络将提供对确定森林在不断变化的全球环境中的作用至关重要的信息。该项目将使许多研究生和职业生涯初期的科学家参加关于生物多样性和生态系统过程的分类学、功能和遗传层面的跨学科培训。一个交流项目将使来自美国的学生和早期职业研究人员能够在中国的合作机构度过3个月。通过美国国家科学基金会中国提供的平行资助，中国科学家将在美国获得类似的机会。此外，科学讲习班将开发新的分析工具和数据汇编，并将通过网络公开提供。

This project will establish an international research coordination network that combines two existing forest networks in the United States with a set of forest plots in China, to advance understanding of how tree biodiversity determines the functional aspects of forests, and to test hypotheses concerning the resilience of forests to global change. Together these networks maintain 24 large-scale forest plots in tropical and temperate forests in Asia and the Americas, providing data on the demography, functional traits, phylogenetic relatedness and environmental preferences of thousands of tree species. Through a series of symposia, analytical workshops and international scientific exchanges, these data will be used to ask: what functional traits underlie species distributions across environmental gradients; how functional traits and phylogenetic relatedness of communities link to forest function; how functional traits and environmental tolerances vary among individuals within species; and how gene flow contributes to genetic diversity at local and regional scales. By combining long-term temperate and tropical forest studies across entire tree communities, this project will parameterize models that incorporate functional and genetic variation among species, to test predictions about current and future changes in forests. An ultimate goal is to develop detailed models of forest composition and its genetic and functional basis, to be simulated over a range of climatic predictions. This integration across multiple dimensions of biodiversity will enhance understanding of how forests are structured, a critical step towards predicting how forests will respond to global change.This project will implement a series of capacity building and training initiatives to expand science and enhance collaboration between the United States and China. The strengthening of the network of forest research plots in Asia and the Americas will provide information crucial to determining the role of forests in a changing global environment. This project will engage numerous graduate students and early-career scientists in interdisciplinary training on taxonomic, functional and genetic dimensions of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. An exchange program will enable students and early-career researchers from the United States to spend 3 months in collaborating institutions in China. Chinese scientists will have similar opportunities in the United States through parallel funding provided by NSF-China. In addition, the scientific workshops will result in the development of new analytical tools and data compilations that will be made openly available through the web.