Hydrologic transition zones and their influence on biogeochemical cycling in forest landscapes under a changing global climate

森林景观提供生态服务，带来清洁的空气和水。森林可持续性对当地人类社区和全球生物圈的生存至关重要。不幸的是，由于对自然资源的需求增加和土地用途的改变，这些景观正处于危险之中，而这两者都是在气候变化给它们的未来带来更大的不确定性之际。在森林中，水资源科学和管理的基本单位是分水岭。为了保持森林生态系统的完整性，物理、生物和化学科学的研究重点必须指向流域一级。需要对这些过程有一个全面的了解，以便预测流域对气候变化(气候的逐渐变化和洪水和干旱等极端事件)以及自然和人为干扰的反应。实现这一理解至关重要，因为分水岭的反应可能是非线性的，这意味着它们可以达到“临界点”，以应对可能导致意外生态系统反应的环境变化。我的NSERC DG研究计划将：(1)对我们目前对流域过程的理解提供关键进展，特别是与水以及水中携带的溶解物质和颗粒物质有关的过程，以及它们在塑造下游微生物生产力和多样性方面的作用；(2)记录和预测流域过程随时间的变化率(侧重于渐变和极端事件)；(3)探索流域过程中跨空间(从小流域到区域流域)的主导地位转移；以及(4)建立自然和人为干扰对水资源的影响。这一研究计划将开发跨学科和创新的方法来研究分水岭过程将如何应对全球气候变化。

Forested landscapes provide ecological services that result in clean air and water. Forest sustainability is essential for the survival of local human communities as well as the global biosphere. Unfortunately, these landscapes are at risk due to an increasing demand for natural resources and altered land-uses, both at a time when climate change is creating greater uncertainties in their future. In forests, the fundamental unit for science and management of water resources is the watershed. In order to maintain the integrity of forested ecosystems it is essential that the focus of investigation for the physical, biological, and chemical sciences is directed at the watershed level. A comprehensive understanding of these processes is required in order to predict the responses of watersheds to a changing climate (both gradual changes in climate and extreme events such as floods and droughts), coupled with natural and anthropogenic disturbances. It is critical to achieve this understanding since watershed responses may be non-linear, meaning that they can reach "tipping points" in response to an environmental change that can lead to unexpected ecosystem responses. My NSERC DG research program will: (1) provide critical advancements of our current understanding of watershed processes, particularly as they relate to water and the dissolved and particulate substances carried by water and their role in shaping downstream microbial productivity and diversity; (2) document and project the changing rates of watershed processes over time (focusing on gradual change and extreme events); (3) explore the shifting dominance in watershed processes across space (from small catchments to regional drainage basins); and (4) establish the effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on water resources. This research program will develop interdisciplinary and innovative approaches to the study of how watershed processes will respond to a global climate change.