Investigating Environmental Risk from Climate Change in Canada: Fire Fuel Consumption, Severity and Ecosystem Response Indicators using LiDAR (FISIL)

由于气候变暖，加拿大西部北方地区的变暖和干燥趋势有所加剧。这使得过去10年被野火烧毁的地区发生了显著的变化，是20世纪70年代的两倍。由于气候持续变暖和火灾季节延长，预计下个世纪被野火烧毁的面积将会增加。虽然火灾是生态系统演替的自然组成部分，但它们也对城市和工业区的经济和社会稳定构成重大威胁。干燥的湿地可能为野火提供额外的燃料，由于持续的空气污染，可能对人类健康产生负面影响。然而，湿地对野火的脆弱性很难量化，尤其是在广阔且往往偏远的地区，但这对于更好地了解野火现在和未来的气候、生态和社会后果是必要的。我的研究项目，FISIL，将提高对森林火灾燃料消耗的植被结构、地形和水文驱动因素的理解，以及在湿地到森林过渡区内经历了最近的自然或人为变化的植被再生轨迹。湿地覆盖物和短植被冠层尤其值得关注，因为它们对火灾严重程度的影响尚未得到很好的理解，而且在实际火灾预测模型中参数化很差。我的整个职业生涯的研究计划将研究生态系统变化和与生态和环境变化反馈相关的环境危害之间的相互作用。我的短期目标是使用多学科的方法来研究野火在干旱生态系统中发生演替的风险和影响。我的研究项目将使用尖端的、罕见的火灾前后3D机载光探测和测距（LiDAR）数据集，现场数据收集/验证，以及当地水文、气象和温室气体仪器的整合，来研究火灾对当地生态系统的影响。地点包括北方平原生态区半湿润地区的一系列湿地，麦克默里堡南部以前受到干扰的油砂地区，以及加拿大西北部永久冻土融化的敏感地区。这项研究的结果将提供迫切需要的量化驱动机制与地面和短植被生物质燃料消耗，潜在的温室气体排放和生态系统更新的变化。此外，我们在这里学到的东西也可用于改进污染模型，并有望对人类健康和社会产生影响，以改进社区防火战略。最后，参与我的研究项目的学生将接触到广泛的学习、实验和拓展经验，这将使他们成为未来非常有价值的领导者。

Warming and drying trends in western Canada's Boreal region have increased due to climate warming. This has caused a marked shift in the area burned by wildfire over the last 10 years, doubling that of the 1970's. The area burned by wildfire is expected to increase over the next century due to continued warming and longer fire seasons. While fires are a natural part of ecosystem succession, they also pose significant threats to the economic and social stability of urban and industrial areas. Drying wetlands may provide additional fuel for wildfires, potentially having negative human health implications as a result of lingering air pollution. Yet the vulnerability of wetlands to wildfire is difficult to quantify, especially over broad and often remote regions, but is required for better understanding of the climatic, ecological and social consequences of wildfires now and in the future. My research program, FISIL, will improve understanding of vegetation structural, topographic and hydrological drivers of forest fire fuel consumption and post-fire vegetation regeneration trajectories within wetland to forest transitional zones that have undergone recent natural or anthropogenic change. Wetland ground cover and short vegetation canopies are of particular concern because their impacts on fire severity are not well understood, and are poorly parameterised in operational fire prediction models. My career-long research program will examine interactions between ecosystem change and environmental hazards associated with ecological and environmental change feedbacks. My short-term objective uses a multi-disciplinary approach to examine risks and effects from wildfire within drying ecosystems undergoing succession. My research program will use cutting-edge, rare pre- and post-fire 3D airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) datasets, in situ field data collection/validation, and the integration of localised hydrological, meteorological and greenhouse gas instrumentation to examine the implications of fire on local ecosystems. Sites include a range of wetlands within sub-humid parts of the Boreal Plains ecoregion, previously disturbed oil sands regions south of Fort McMurray, and sensitive areas of thawing permafrost in north-western Canada. The results of this research will provide urgently needed quantification of the driving mechanisms associated with ground and short vegetation biomass fuel consumption, the potential for greenhouse gas emissions and changes in ecosystem regeneration. Further, what we learn here may also be used to improve pollution models, and is expected to have implications on human health and society for improved community fire mitigation strategies. Finally, students involved in my research program will be exposed to a broad range of learning, experimentation and outreach experiences that will make them highly valued leaders of tomorrow.