Collaborative Research: Controls Over Nitrogen Loss from Very Wet Tropical Forests

合作研究：控制非常潮湿的热带森林的氮流失

• 批准号: 0919080
• 负责人: Cory Cleveland
• 金额: $ 17.1万
• 依托单位: University of Montana
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0919080&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Controls; Over; Nitrogen

Humans have changed the global nitrogen cycle to an extraordinary degree. Such changes have brought clear benefits to society, but increasingly, the excess of nitrogen now present in many ecosystems is causing a litany of environmental and public health concerns. Thus, it has become critical to understand how ecosystems gain, store and lose nitrogen, and to do so in an increasingly varied range of ecosystems as changes in the nitrogen cycle become truly global in scope. This project seeks to understand the nitrogen balance of a tropical rainforest, in part because current and predicted future changes to the nitrogen cycle are most pronounced in the tropical portions of the world. The project explores why the wettest of tropical forests, as typified by a field site in southern Costa Rica, seem to exhibit a much different nitrogen cycle than do the drier portions of the tropical biome. A variety of techniques will be used - ranging from watershed nitrogen balance, to isotopic measurements, to experimental fertilizer plots - to explore how nitrogen is cycled within this ecosystem, and what forms of nitrogen dominate losses to the surrounding environment. Key aspects of the carbon and phosphorus cycles will be measured in tandem with a focus on nitrogen, because prior work in this site suggests that both elements may play important roles in determining the size and forms of nitrogen loss.The wettest of tropical forests remain one of the more poorly studied ecosystems of the world, and yet they appear to be hotspots for carbon storage and for nutrient export to coastal oceans, as well as key regions for tropical forest conservation. This project will shed light on how such forests work on an ecosystem scale, thereby aiding the ability to predict how they may respond not only to a changing nitrogen cycle, but also to changes in climate and land use. The project will also provide support for numerous junior scientists, including an early stage assistant professor and several undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, the project will support a new collaboration between the P.I. and a professional journalist that is aimed at communicating the importance of tropical forests to a broader audience.

人类已将全球氮循环更改为非同寻常的程度。 这样的变化给社会带来了明显的好处，但是越来越多的氮越来越多，现在许多生态系统中都引起了各种环境和公共卫生的关注。 因此，了解生态系统如何获得，存储和丢失氮，并在越来越多的生态系统中进行生态系统的变化变得至关重要。 该项目试图了解热带雨林的氮平衡，部分原因是目前和预测的氮周期未来变化在世界的热带部分最为明显。 该项目探讨了为什么在哥斯达黎加南部的野外地点的最潮湿的热带森林似乎与热带生物群落干燥的部分相比表现出不同的氮循环。 将使用各种技术 - 从流域氮平衡到同位素测量，再到实验性肥料图 - 探索氮在该生态系统中的循环以及氮形式在周围环境中的损失占据主导的损失。 碳和磷循环的关键方面将与关注氮的重点进行测量，因为该站点的先前工作表明，这两个要素可能在确定氮损失的大小和形式方面起着重要作用以及热带森林保护的关键区域。 该项目将阐明这种森林如何在生态系统量表上工作，从而有助于预测它们不仅对氮气周期变化，而且对气候和土地使用变化的反应。 该项目还将为众多初级科学家提供支持，包括早期助理教授以及几位本科生和研究生。 最后，该项目将支持P.I.之间的新合作。旨在将热带森林的重要性传达给更广泛的受众。