Combined effects of altitude, fire and biotic interactions on the regeneration of subtropical mountain forest species in Central Argentina

据预测，气候变化将间接增加野火等极端干扰的发生。全球证据表明，气温上升和更明显的干旱事件，加上土地利用的变化，将加剧许多生态系统的火灾频率和火灾强度，导致相关植被结构、物种组成和生态系统功能的变化。我们的项目解决的问题是，环境压力和干扰如何影响阿根廷中部亚热带地区当地山树和灌木物种在海拔梯度上的火灾后再生，以及木本植物的反应如何通过生物相互作用和当地适应来调节。我们利用2013年在科尔多瓦山脉发生的一场高强度的冠状大火，蔓延到海拔1600米的坡度，我们结合观测和操纵实验研究，阐明气候变化、牲畜影响和植物-植物相互作用对亚热带森林物种对火灾后环境的反应的相互作用。我们的综合方法将沿着相反的温度和湿度梯度进行的观测研究与现场实验相结合，以产生一个动态模型，将极大地增强我们对物种对气候变暖和火灾后干扰的反应的理解。

Climate change is predicted to indirectly increase the occurrence of extreme disturbances such as wildfires. Global evidence indicates that rising temperatures and more pronounced drought events, together with changes in land-use, will exacerbate both fire frequency and fire intensity in many ecosystems, leading to changes in associated vegetation structure, species composition and ecosystem functioning. Our project addresses the questions of how environmental stress and disturbance affect post-fire regeneration of native mountain tree and scrub species in subtropical Central Argentina across an elevational gradient, and how responses of woody species are mediated by biotic interactions and local adaptation. We take advantage of the occurrence of a high-intensity, crown mega-fire that spread across an elevational gradient of 1600 m in the Córdoba mountains in 2013, and we combine observational and manipulative experimental studies to shed light on the interplay of climate change, livestock impact and plant-plant interactions on the responses of subtropical forest species to post-fire environments. Our integrative approach, which joins an observational study along opposing gradients of temperature and moisture with field experiments to produce a dynamic model, will substantially enhance our understanding of species responses to climate warming and to post-fire disturbances.