Micro to mega-landscapes: harnessing a model system to understand landscape-scale ecological processes in the boreal forest

景观生态学作为一门学科，关注的是空间格局与生态过程之间的联系。作为一名景观生态学家，我感兴趣的是弄清楚物种为什么在哪里，以及它们如何与彼此和环境相互作用。大多数景观生态学工作发生在大小为数万至数千公里的景观上。这意味着景观生态学家很难进行实验操作，更难进行实验复制。一种解决方案是使用模型系统；就像生物医学研究人员使用小鼠和大鼠作为人类生物学的模型系统一样，模型系统类似于“真实世界”的场景，但更容易在实验中使用。我已经开发了一个景观生态模型系统，它由一片片覆盖着地衣的树干组成，生长在纽芬兰的北方森林中。这使得我们可以将树木视为“风景”，将地衣的斑块视为不同土地覆盖的斑块，就像我们可以从飞机窗口看到它们一样。在这份探索基金提案中，我提议利用这个模型系统来解决生态问题，以解决我的长期目标：1)解决不同人为变化对北方物种种群和空间分布的影响；2)开发稳健的模型来解释和预测北方物种在多个空间尺度上的分布；以及3)洞察北方物种的物种栖息地动态，特别是在景观尺度上。我将使用一套复制的地衣覆盖的树木横断面，在从城市中心到接近荒野的坡度中发现，以解决短期目标，这些目标将1)测试关于景观格局和相关动物的破碎的假说；1)测试空气质量如何影响地衣多样性；2)模拟物种分布如何受到环境的影响以及与其他物种在空间尺度上的相互作用；以及3)评估地衣在碳、氮和磷循环中所起的作用。拟议的计划将在野外方法和统计建模方面对9名HQP进行培训，并阐明景观生态学中的重要问题，同时还将深入了解人类活动(生境破碎化、空气污染)对生物多样性的影响。重要的是，这些发现将基于空间-显性分析(景观生态学的范围)，以及使用模型系统复制实验单位的能力(以前对该领域的研究是一个挑战)。这项研究将有助于推动景观生态学的发展，并为北方森林的应用保护问题做出贡献。

Landscape ecology, as a discipline, concerns itself with questions about the links between spatial patterns and ecological processes. As a landscape ecologist, I am interested in figuring out why species are where they are, and how they interact with each other and their environment. Most landscape ecology work happens on landscapes that are tens to thousands of kilometres in size. This means that it is difficult for landscape ecologists to conduct experimental manipulations, and even more difficult to have experimental replicates. One solution is to use a model system; much the way biomedical researchers use mice and rats as model systems for human biology, a model system would be similar to a "real-world" landscape, but easier to use in experiments. I have developed a model system for landscape ecology which is made up of patches of lichen-covered tree trunks, growing in the boreal forest of Newfoundland. This allows us to treat trees as "landscapes" and the patches of individual lichens as analogous to the patches of different land cover as we might view them from an airplane window. In this Discovery Grant proposal, I propose to harness this model system to address ecological questions that address my long-term objectives of: 1) untangling the impacts that different anthropogenic changes have on boreal species populations and spatial distribution; 2) developing robust models to explain and predict the distribution of boreal species at multiple spatial scale; and 3) gaining insights into species-habitat dynamics for boreal species, particularly at landscape scales. I will use a suite of replicated transects of lichen-covered trees, found in a gradient from an urban-centre to a near-wilderness region, to address short-term objectives that will 1a) test hypotheses about the effects of fragmentation on landscape pattern and associated fauna; 1b) test how air quality affects lichen diversity; 2) model how species distributions are affected by their environment and interactions with other species across spatial scales; and 3) assess the role that lichens play in carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous cycles. The proposed program will train 9 HQP in field methods and statistical modelling and shed light on important questions in landscape ecology while also yielding insights into the effects of anthropogenic activities (habitat fragmentation, air pollution) on biodiversity. Importantly, these findings will be based on spatially-explicit analyses (the purview of landscape ecology) coupled with the power of replicate experimental units (previously a challenge to this field of research) using the model system. The research will help advance landscape ecology science and contribute to applied conservation problems in the boreal forest.