RCN: Drought-Net: A global network to assess terrestrial ecosystem sensitivity to drought

气候变化将在一定程度上影响地球上的所有生态系统，预计许多地区将出现更频繁和更严重的干旱。众所周知，陆地生态系统对干旱的反应差异很大，了解为什么会有如此大的差异对于预测一个地区或整个北美干旱的影响非常重要。为了有效地预测沙漠、草原和森林等陆地生态系统将如何应对干旱，生态学家必须首先研究每个系统如何应对给定严重程度的干旱，然后通过纳入导致过去研究中看到的应对干旱的巨大差异的因素来改进现有模型。由于在不同的研究中使用了不同的方法，在给定地点工作的单一调查员进行的传统现场研究不能提供这方面的知识。协调的实验网络具有相同的协议和可比较的测量，非常适合在区域到全球范围内进行比较研究。该项目将建立干旱网研究协调网络，通过召集国际科学家小组开展三项互补的研究协调活动，促进对陆地生态系统对干旱反应的决定因素的了解：1)利用标准化的测量方法规划和协调新的研究，以利用全球现有干旱实验的价值；2)完成设计并促进建立一个新的国际协调干旱实验网络；以及3)通过以干旱为重点的分布式研究生研讨会，培训积极性很高的研究生进行综合和网络层面的研究。合并这些活动的数据将是干旱网参与者在职业生涯的所有阶段，特别是研究生和博士后研究人员开展的一项重要活动。干旱对美国和世界各地的人们都有社会、人类健康和经济影响。由于气候变化可能会增加干旱的频率或严重程度，了解干旱对森林和草原可持续性的影响正成为一个紧迫的问题。干旱网将侧重于在研究这些挑战的研究人员之间建立国际合作。分布式研究生研讨会将培训下一代全球变化科学家进行协作、合成和网络层面的研究，重点是增加代表性不足的群体和地理区域的参与。公开征集参与网络活动和网络相关产品(数据集、时事通讯、论文、报告等)将在干旱网网站上张贴，以鼓励更广泛的科学界和普通公众访问。最后，干旱网将与亚利桑那州立大学的“生物学家问答”计划合作，以干旱对陆地生态系统的影响为中心创建文章和配套活动。凭借其每年150万访问者的庞大网络足迹以及与科学教育工作者的链接，其更广泛的影响将延伸到K-12和终身学习者领域。

All ecosystems on earth will be impacted to some extent by climate change, and more frequent and severe droughts are forecast for many regions. Terrestrial ecosystems are known to vary dramatically in their responses to drought, and understanding why there are such big differences is very important for predicting the impacts of drought in a region or across North America. To effectively forecast how terrestrial ecosystems such as deserts, grasslands, and forests will respond to drought, ecologists must first study how each system responds to drought of a given severity, and then improve existing models by incorporating the factors that cause the large variation that has been seen in response to drought in past studies. Traditional site-based research by a single investigator working at a given site cannot provide this knowledge, as different methods are used in different studies. Coordinated experimental networks, with identical protocols and comparable measurements, are ideally suited for comparative studies at regional to global scales. This project will establish the Drought-Net Research Coordination Network to advance understanding of the determinants of terrestrial ecosystem responses to drought by bringing together an international group of scientists to conduct three complementary research coordination activities: 1) planning and coordinating new research using standardized measurements to leverage the value of existing drought experiments across the globe, 2) finalizing the design and facilitating the establishment of a new international network of coordinated drought experiments, and 3) training highly motivated graduate students to conduct synthetic and network-level research through Distributed Graduate Seminars focused on drought. Merging data from these activities will be an important activity conducted by Drought-Net participants in all career stages, particularly graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Drought has social, human health, and economic impacts for people in the United States and around the world. Because climate change may increase the frequency or severity of drought, understanding the effects that droughts have on the sustainability of forests and grasslands is becoming an urgent issue. Drought-Net will focus on establishing international collaborations among researchers who study these challenges. The Distributed Graduate Seminars will train the next generation of global change scientists in collaborative synthetic and network-level research, with emphasis on increasing the involvement of underrepresented groups and geographic regions. Open calls for participation in network events and network-related products (datasets, newsletters, papers, reports, etc.) will be posted on the Drought-Net website, to encourage access by the broader scientific community and the general public. Finally, Drought-Net will partner with the "Ask-A-Biologist" program at Arizona State University to create articles and companion activities centered around drought impacts on terrestrial ecosystems. With its large Web footprint of 1.5 million visitors per year and links to science educators, broader impacts will be extended into the area of K-12 and life-long learners.