Linking biotic attack with tree mortality & canopy condition in droughted tropical rainforest

我们建议建立一个国际网络，以探索这一关键知识差距，以了解虫害和病原体在干旱期间加速热带雨林树木死亡的影响。该项目将利用植物生理学、森林生态学以及微生物和昆虫生态学方面的专业知识，进行综合和集中的分析。它还将利用世界上唯一的热带森林长期干旱实验网络的独特优势。我们将在澳大利亚和巴西的两个目前的热带森林干旱实验中利用实地研讨会，将植物功能、虫害和病原体(生物)攻击对木质组织的影响以及植被建模方面的专家聚集在一起。将对新的地面和遥感测量进行检查，以测试在实验性干旱期间生物攻击测量和植物功能测量之间的关系。我们将比较不同大小等级、树种组和森林生态系统水平(大片试验田处理)的反应。其结果将是对热带雨林树木因干旱死亡的原因的新见解，这些原因与植物生理和昆虫或微生物攻击有关。这种洞察力将以新数据、新的科学文章和信息的形式提供，植被建模人员可以利用这些数据、新的科学文章和信息来预测未来干旱对热带森林的影响。利用这些资金建立的专家组将在该学科领域形成一个卓越的多学科联盟，能够将该学科推进到未来，为科学、感兴趣的环境政策制定者和大学教育工作者带来好处。

We propose an international network to explore this key knowledge gap in understanding the effects of pests and pathogens in accelerating tropical rainforest tree mortality during drought. The project will deliver an integrated and focused anlaysis, using expertise in plant physiology, forest ecology and microbial and insect ecology. It will also make use of the unique leverage of the world's only long-term drought experiment network in tropical forests. We will use field-based workshops at two current tropical forest drought experiments, in Australia and Brazil, to bring together experts in plant function, the effects of pest and pathogen ('biotic') attack on woody tissue, and vegetation modelling. New ground-based and remotely-sensed measurements will be examined to test for relationships between measures of biotic attack and metrics of plant function during experimental drought. We will compare responses in different tree size classes, tree species groups, and at the level of the forest ecosystem (large experimental plot treatment). The outcome will be new insights into the causes of tropical rainforest tree death from drought, in relation to plant physiology and insect or microbial attack. This insight will be delivered in the form of new data, new scientfic articles and information that can be used by vegetation modellers to predict the effects of drought on tropical forests in the future.The group of experts built using these funds will form a pre-eminent multi-disciplinary consortium in the subject area, capable of advancing the subject into the future for the benefit of the science, interested environmental policy makers and university educators.