MSA- Will Ongoing Tree Loss Alter Connectivity Among NEON Domains: Evaluating Detectability of Ecoclimate Teleconnections to Enable Use of NEON Data

科学家们已经从理论上证明，一个地方的树木死亡可以影响整个大陆的天气模式，并对遥远的生态系统产生影响。这个概念被称为生态气候遥相关，就像厄尔尼诺一样，北美的气候被数千英里外太平洋的温暖海水改变。该项目将测试亚马逊森林砍伐和北美西部树木死亡的生态气候遥相关是否可以在遥远的温度或降雨观测中检测到。了解这些联系是如何工作的，以及它们的影响有多大，对于我们如何使用土地进行农业和牧场以及协调全球通过种植森林来储存碳的努力做出明智的决定至关重要。这个项目的总体假设，基于最近量化生态气候遥相关理论大小的工作？一个地方的生态系统影响气候，从而影响另一个地方的生态系统，这是“由大规模森林损失事件驱动的生态气候关联在观测网络中是可以检测到的。为了验证这一假设，研究人员将（1）生成历史森林损失事件造成的气候和生态系统影响的假设，（2）使用历史观测来测试生态气候遥相关是否可以在观测中检测到，以及（3）使用国家生态观测站网络（氖）的数据来评估检测未来事件的能力。这项研究将通过展示网络如何用于检测生态气候遥相关事件来推进氖科学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientists have shown theoretically that the death of trees in one place can affect weather patterns across continents with impacts on ecosystems far away. This concept, called ecoclimate teleconnection, is like El Nino, where climate in North America is altered by warm water in the Pacific Ocean thousands of miles away. This project will test whether ecoclimate teleconnection from Amazon deforestation and tree death in western North America are detectable in far-away observations of temperature or rainfall. Knowing how these connections work and how large an affect they have is critical for making well informed decisions about how we use land for agriculture and pasture and for coordinating global efforts to store carbon by growing forests.The overarching hypothesis for this project, based on recent work quantifying the theoretical magnitude of ecoclimate teleconnections?where ecosystems in one location impact climate and thus ecosystems in another, is that "Ecoclimate Teleconnections driven by large forest loss events are detectable in observational networks." To test this hypothesis researchers will (1) generate hypotheses of the climate and ecosystem impacts resulting from historical forest loss events, (2) test whether ecoclimate teleconnections are detectable in observations using historical observations, and (3) assess the ability to detect future events using data from National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). This research will advance NEON science by demonstrating how the network can be used for detection of ecoclimate teleconnection events.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.