Collaborative Research: Understanding range limits and plant migration in response to climate change in neotropical montane forests

了解物种对气候变化的反应是生态学的中心问题之一。在过去的十年里，将领导这个项目的研究人员使用了从亚马逊低地到安第斯树线的3500米的海拔梯度，作为研究森林和生态系统生态的天然实验室。这项先前的工作记录了树木迁徙对气候变化的反应，并预测了不同变化情景下物种范围的变化。这个项目现在将进一步调查树木生长地点发生这种变化的根本原因。研究人员将比较已知在安第斯山脉和亚马逊地区因气候变化而迁徙的植物物种的生理学与坚守阵地的物种的生理学，并测试环境因素的重要性，如温度、土壤、草食和真菌病原体。这些结果将有助于了解树种在哪里可以生存，什么影响它们的生长，以及什么限制了它们在环境梯度上的活动范围。该项目将提高我们预测和模拟气候变化对自然系统的影响的能力，特别是热带山地森林，这是高度生物多样性的地区。该项目的更广泛影响包括一套旨在向K-12和大学生传授热带生态学和全球气候变化影响的教育活动、资源和机会；为国际学生和少数族裔学生提供培训机会，这将有助于他们在自然科学领域追求高级教育和职业生涯；以及向广大科学和非专业受众传播成果，包括资源的西班牙语翻译和版本。

Understanding species responses to climate change is one of the central problems in ecology. Over the last decade, the researchers who will lead this project have used the elevation gradient spanning 3500 m from the Amazonian lowlands to the Andean treeline as a natural laboratory for investigating forest and ecosystem ecology. That previous work has documented tree migration in response to climate change, and predicted changes in the ranges of species under different scenarios of change. This project will now go further to investigate the underlying causes of such changes in where trees grow. The researchers will compare the physiology of plant species known to be migrating in response to climate change in the Andes and Amazon with the physiology of species that are holding their ground, and test the importance of environmental factors such as temperature, soil, herbivory and fungal pathogens. The results will help understand where tree species can survive, what affects their growth, and what limits their range along environmental gradients. The project will increase our ability to predict and model the effects of climate change on natural systems, particularly tropical montane forests, which are areas of high biodiversity.The broader impacts of this project include a suite of educational activities, resources, and opportunities aimed at teaching K-12 and college students about tropical ecology and the effects of global climate change; training opportunities for international and minority students which will assist them in pursuing advanced education and careers in the natural sciences; and the dissemination of results to a broad scientific and lay audience, including Spanish translations and versions of resources.