Doctoral Dissertation Research: Urban Sprawl in the Front Range, Colorado: Consequences for Above-Ground Net Primary Productivity and Carbon Storage

博士论文研究：科罗拉多州弗兰特山脉的城市扩张：对地上净初级生产力和碳储存的影响

• 批准号: 0002428
• 负责人: Carol Wessman
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-09-01 至 2002-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0002428&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Urban; Sprawl

Urban and agricultural areas significantly modify the surface of the earth and thereby alter the storage and fluxes of water, energy, and nutrients in "unplanned experiments." Alterations to ecosystem processes such as above-ground primary productivity (ANPP) and carbon storage comprise an important part of these urbanization experiments. Although studies of land-use and land-cover change explore the consequences of human actions upon ecological processes, rarely do these studies include the kinds of land cover that predominate in urban and suburban areas. In addition to the problems of global environmental change, urbanization presents a unique opportunity to explore the effect of pattern on process and scale dependencies. The connection is important in urban systems because many ecological consequences result from changes in pattern as natural areas are converted into a patchwork of agricultural, built, and landscaped units. This doctoral dissertation research project will explore ecological and biogeographic dimensions of urban and suburban land-use and land-cover change in the Front Range of Colorado. The Front Range constitutes the largest area of human settlement adjacent to the Rocky Mountains and is comprised of a matrix of urban, agricultural, and grassland cover types. The project will focus on the following questions: What are the integrated effects of urban, suburban, and agricultural environments on ANPP? How does the C-storage of urban, suburban, agricultural, and grassland areas compare? How does the spatial arrangement of man-made and natural systems influence these processes at a variety of scales? Cover-type specific values for ANPP and C-storage will be acquired from a combination of field measurements and existing data sets. Extensive data sets exist for grassland, agricultural, and riparian cover types. These will be combined with field data collected in urban and suburban cover types. Measurements include aboveground primary productivity, C storage in vegetation, and C storage in soils. Pre- and post-classification change detection analyses will be performed to calculate the location, amount, and rate of land-cover transformation in the 20th century. The data obtained from field work and archival research will be combined with the classified maps, spectral mixture analysis, and change detection products in order to estimate regional ANPP and C-storage through time. The regional estimations will also be examined for spatial and scale relationships. By studying the productivity and C-storage of vegetation and soil in urban and suburban cover types, this study will allow the quantification of ANPP and C-storage as they vary across natural and anthropogenic cover types. A time series of the regional estimates will illustrate how an increasingly developed landscape modifies ecosystem productivity and C-storage. The spatial analyses will add to the understanding of the proposed ecological principle that pattern affects ecosystem process. An assessment of adjacency effects of man-made environments upon natural systems will demonstrate the extent to which development affects a region. This project will quantify how productivity and carbon storage have been changed in Colorado's Front Range as the prairie has been transformed into a sprawling metropolitan area. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.

城市和农业地区显着改变了地球的表面，从而改变了“计划外实验”中的水，能量和养分的储存和通量。 对生态系统过程（例如地面主要生产力（ANPP）和碳存储）等生态系统过程的改变是这些城市化实验的重要组成部分。 尽管对土地利用和土地覆盖变化的研究探讨了人类行为对生态过程的后果，但这些研究很少包括在城市和郊区占主导地位的土地覆盖。 除了全球环境变化的问题外，城市化还为探索模式对过程和规模依赖性的影响提供了独特的机会。 这种联系在城市系统中很重要，因为随着自然区域被转化为农业，建筑和园林美化单元的拼凑而成的许多生态后果。 该博士学位论文研究项目将探索城市和郊区土地利用的生态和生物地理维度，以及科罗拉多州前范围内的土地覆盖。 前范围构成了落基山脉附近的人类定居点最大的区域，由城市，农业和草原覆盖类型组成。 该项目将重点关注以下问题：城市，郊区和农业环境对ANPP的综合影响是什么？ 城市，郊区，农业和草地地区的c储存如何比较？ 人造和自然系统的空间布置如何在各种尺度上影响这些过程？ ANPP和C存储的覆盖型特定值将从现场测量和现有数据集的组合中获取。 草原，农业和河岸覆盖类型存在广泛的数据集。 这些将与城市和郊区覆盖类型中收集的现场数据结合使用。 测量包括地上主要生产力，植被中的C存储和土壤中的C存储。 将进行分类前和后变化检测分析，以计算20世纪土地转化的位置，数量和速率。 从现场工作和档案研究获得的数据将与分类图，光谱混合物分析和更改检测产物相结合，以通过时间估算区域ANPP和C储存。 还将检查区域估计的空间和规模关系。 通过研究城市和郊区覆盖类型中植被和土壤的生产率和c储存，本研究将允许对ANPP和C储存量进行定量，因为它们在天然和人为的覆盖范围内变化。 区域估计的时间序列将说明日益发展的景观如何改变生态系统的生产力和C储存。 空间分析将增加对模式影响生态系统过程的提议生态原理的理解。 对人造环境对自然系统的邻接影响的评估将证明发展影响一个地区的程度。 该项目将量化科罗拉多州的前范围内的生产率和碳储存方式，因为大草原已转变为一个庞大的大都市地区。 作为博士学位论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究职业。