Geographic Patterns and Spatial Scales of Alpine Plant Communities

该项目分析了空间尺度如何改变当地生境、区域气候和地理分隔对植物群落组成和多样性的影响。根据生物地理学的基本理论，影响物种共存和多样性的生物和环境因素的相对重要性随着空间尺度的不同而不同。这项研究评估了控制因素的相对重要性，以及在不断增加的空间尺度内和在孤立变化的地方之间的特定地理位置。这种规模和孤立的变化与对多样性如何产生和维持的基本理解有关，这项研究有助于指导对当前全球变化影响的观察结果的解释。对于这个项目，高山冻原生物群是一个有用的模式系统，因为它的植物群落组成在不同的山脉和地区之间以及在不同的山脉和地区之间有所不同。项目成果将与在全球生态监测项目中从事此类解释工作的其他研究人员分享，如阿尔卑斯山环境中的全球观测研究倡议，以及通过国家公园管理局的大陆之冠学习中心与普通公众进行外联。STEM队伍将通过博士后研究人员和本科生的培训得到加强。这项研究考察了空间尺度在植物群落生物地理学中的作用。研究人员将评估高山冻土带植物群落组成的变化与三个因素的关系：当地生境(如土壤和地形)、气候(与生物相关的季节变量)和地理距离(过去扩散的替代指标)。这三个因素中的哪一个，每个因素都有多个变量，对距离从100米到1000公里范围内的地块的多样性格局最重要，将通过统计来确定。将分析它们的相对重要性沿距离递增的梯度变化的模式。隔离的细节将通过包含不连续的范围进行评估。这些分析检验了基本理论，即驱动因素随着规模的增加而有规律地变化。该项目增加了对空间解释在生物地理学理论及其应用中的重要性的认识。从西班牙到罗马尼亚，在横跨南欧到东欧的弧形地带发现的高山冻土带将被研究，因为已经用同样的方法记录了数千块地块的物种组成和环境。对生物地理学理论和应用的见解将与其他高山地区相关，如美国西部的地区，以及其他生物。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project analyzes the way in which spatial scale changes how local habitat, regional climate, and geographic separation affect plant community composition and diversity. According to basic theory in biogeography, the relative importance of the biological and environmental factors that affect species coexistence, and thus diversity, varies with spatial scale. The research assesses the relative importance of the controlling factors as well as specific geographies of location within increasing spatial scales and among places that vary in isolation. This change with scale and isolation is relevant to fundamental understanding of how diversity arises and is maintained, and this research helps guide interpretation of observations of current global change impacts. For this project, the alpine tundra biome serves as a useful model system because its plant community composition varies across and within mountain ranges and regions. Project results will be shared with other researchers working on such interpretation in global ecological monitoring programs, such as the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, as well as with the general public through outreach via the National Park Service's Crown of the Continent Learning Center. The STEM workforce will be strengthened through the training of a postdoctoral researcher and undergraduates.This research examines the role of spatial scale in plant community biogeography. The investigator will assess the variation in plant community composition in alpine tundra in relation to three factors: local habitat (such as soils and topography), climate (biologically relevant seasonal variables), and geographic distance (a proxy for past dispersal). Which of the three factors, with multiple variables for each, is most important to the patterns of diversity among plots within distances ranging from 100 meters to greater than 1000 kilometers, will be determined statistically. The pattern of changes in their relative importance along a gradient of increasing distances will be analyzed. Specifics of isolation will be evaluated through the inclusion of discontinuous ranges. These analyses test the fundamental theory that the drivers change in a regular pattern as scale is increased. The project increases knowledge of the importance of spatial interpretation in biogeographic theory and its applications. The alpine tundra found in an arc across southern-to-eastern Europe, from Spain to Romania, will be studied because the species composition and environment has been recorded for thousands of plots with the same methodology. Insights for biogeographic theory and applications will be relevant to other alpine regions, such as those of the western United States, as well as to other biomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.