Landscape ecology for conservation : Canadian boreal cryptogams in a global context

世界生物圈正在以前所未有的速度发生变化。物种每天因灭绝而丧失的现象现已成为现实；因此，保护物种的努力至关重要，因为行星多样性的侵蚀削弱了生物圈的复原力。对于脊椎动物以外的许多物种来说，由于缺乏基本的生物多样性信息，如分布范围和基本生态，保护工作受到阻碍。这些知识差距并不均匀地分布在生命之树或全球范围内，这些差距对于隐子植物来说尤其明显，在全球可获得的生物多样性信息最少的十个植物家族中，至少有七个是苔藓植物。此外，虽然在温带地区有丰富的信息可用，但可用生物多样性信息的数量向热带和北方地区下降。如果没有物种分布范围、种群规模和功能特征的信息，就不可能评估物种是否受到保护。如果采用世界自然保护联盟的濒危物种标准，就需要关于物种分布范围、它们在该范围内的栖息地以及它们的种群数量的信息。由于生物圈正在迅速变化，还有必要了解物种如何在整个地貌中分布，以及它们追踪栖息地包络的能力，以便了解它们的脆弱性程度。因此，通过这项研究计划，我们将：(I)确定跨尺度效应(即微生境和大气候之间的相互作用)在确定区域生境和物种分布范围方面的重要性；(Ii)确定扩散如何与分布范围和种群规模相互作用；以及(Iii)确定区域和大陆物种的分布范围和种群规模。这项研究在几个方面都是新颖的。首先，我将描述决定物种组成的过程的相对重要性，这些过程超出了未被研究的有机体群体的栖息地斑块。其次，加拿大北部苔藓植物的生物地理长期以来一直被忽视，因为那里有广袤的森林，而且人们认为“到处都是苔藓植物”。然而，我们知道这不是真的，因为对北方苔藓植物的唯一生物地理研究(发表于20世纪70年代)表明了大陆模式，但自那以来没有研究详细研究这个问题。了解加拿大北部森林苔藓植物物种丰富度和群落组成的空间变化，对于了解北部森林中哪些自然区域的苔藓植物区系具有代表性或独特性，从而从其植被成分中识别出具有代表性或独特的生态系统至关重要。在这方面，这一理解对于加拿大2020年生物多样性目标C也至关重要。

The world's biosphere is changing at an unprecedented speed. The daily loss of species to extinction is now a reality; consequently, efforts in species conservation are of primary importance as the erosion of planetary diversity weakens the resilience of the biosphere. For many species outside of vertebrates, conservation efforts are hindered by the lack of basic biodiversity information such as distribution ranges and basic ecology. These knowledge gaps are not evenly distributed across the tree of life or the globe,These gaps are particularly evident for cryptogams, ast seven of the ten plant families with the least amount of biodiversity information available globally were bryophytes. Additionally, while abundant information is available in temperate regions, the quantity of biodiversity information available drops towards the tropical and boreal zones. Without information on species' distribution ranges, population sizes, and functional traits, it is impossible to evaluate whether species are of conservation concern. If the IUCN criteria for species at risk are applied, information is required on the distribution ranges of species, the habitats they occupy within this range, and their population sizes. As the biosphere is rapidly changing, it is also necessary to understand how species disperse across the landscape and their ability to track habitat envelopes in order to understand their level of vulnerability. Consequently, with this research program we will: (i) determine the importance of cross-scalar effects (i.e. the interaction between microhabitats and macroclimates) in determining regional habitats and consequently species' distribution ranges; (ii) determine how dispersal interacts with both distribution ranges and population sizes; and (iii) determine regional and continental species' distribution ranges and population sizes. This research is novel on several fronts. First, I will be describing the relative importance of processes that determine species composition at scales beyond the habitat patch for understudied groups of organisms. Second, biogeography boreal of bryophytes in Canada has long been ignored because of the vast expanse of the forests and an assumption that "everything was everywhere". However, we know this is not true as the only biogeographical study of boreal bryophytes (published in the 1970s) indicated continental patterns but no studies have examined this question in detail since. Understanding the spatial variation in bryophyte species richness and community composition across the Canadian boreal forest is critical to understanding what natural areas within the boreal forest are representative or distinctive in their bryoflora, in order to identify representative or distinct ecosystems from their vegetation components. In that respect, this understanding is also critical to Goal C of Canada's 2020 Biodiversity Targets.