Observing functional change in Canadian arctic & boreal ecosystems

气候变化和干扰正在改变陆地生态系统的组成和功能。北方生态系统，包括冻原和北方森林，由于地表变暖和干燥，以及干旱、火灾和虫害的增加，受到的影响尤其严重。大规模的人类干扰，包括木材采伐和油砂开采，给广大的北方地区带来了额外的干扰。虽然我们了解变化的总体方向，但许多功能细节及其对更大的地球系统过程的全面影响仍不清楚。例如，陆地生态系统对大气组成和气候施加关键的“反馈”，这些反馈随着地表组成的变化而变化，但对这些影响的准确量化仍然难以捉摸(1)。由于北方陆地生态系统的孤立和巨大范围，我们面临着巨大的采样挑战，这阻碍了我们对这些变化在这些广大地区的机制和后果的理解。幸运的是，新兴技术现在为更好地理解北方生态系统变化的速度和重要性提供了潜力。遥感和自动化监测--再加上仔细的实验、实地测量和模型--将是解决这些问题的关键。这项提案审查了这些新技术，并概述了应用这些新方法来提高我们对北方生态系统变化的理解的战略。

Climate change and disturbance are altering the composition and function of terrestrial ecosystems. Northern ecosystems, including tundra and boreal forests, are particularly affected due to warming and drying of the surface and increased exposure to drought, fire and insect damage. Wide-scale human disturbance, including timber harvesting and oil sands extraction, provide additional perturbations to vast boreal regions. While we understand the general direction of change, many functional details and their full implications for larger earth system processes remain unclear. For example, terrestrial ecosystems exert critical "feedbacks" on atmospheric composition and climate, and these feedbacks are changing as surface composition shifts, yet accurate quantification of these effects remain elusive(1). Due to the isolation and enormous extent of northern terrestrial ecosystems, we face tremendous sampling challenges that hinder our understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of these changes in these vast regions. Fortunately, emerging technologies now offer the potential for a greater understanding of both the pace and significance of change in northern ecosystems. Remote sensing and automated monitoring - coupled with careful experiments, field measurements, and models - will be essential to addressing these issues. This proposal examines these new technologies and outlines a strategy for applying these novel methods to improve our understanding of ecosystem change in the North.