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。森林的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，由于对自然资源需求的增加和土地用途的改变，这些景观正处于危险之中，而气候变化正给它们的未来带来更大的不确定性。在森林中，水资源科学和管理的基本单位是分水岭。为了维持森林生态系统的完整，必须将物理、生物和化学科学的调查重点放在流域一级。为了预测流域对气候变化（包括气候的逐渐变化和极端事件，如洪水和干旱）以及自然和人为干扰的反应，需要全面了解这些过程。实现这种理解至关重要，因为流域响应可能是非线性的，这意味着它们可能达到“临界点”，以响应可能导致意想不到的生态系统响应的环境变化。我的NSERC DG研究计划将：(1)提供我们目前对流域过程的理解的关键进展，特别是因为它们与水和水携带的溶解和颗粒物质及其在塑造下游微生物生产力和多样性中的作用有关；(2)记录和预估流域过程随时间的变化率（重点是渐变和极端事件）；(3)探索流域过程在空间上的转移优势（从小流域到区域流域）；(4)确定自然和人为干扰对水资源的影响。这个研究项目将开发跨学科和创新的方法来研究流域过程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.