DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Physiological mechanisms in climate-induced forest mortality

论文研究：气候引起的森林死亡的生理机制

• 批准号: 1110058
• 负责人: Christopher Field
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: Carnegie Institution of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-06-01 至 2013-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1110058&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Physiological; mechanisms; climate

In western United States, massive mortality events have occurred recently across many tree species, often linked to severe drought and temperature, and are expected to increase with climate change in the next century. Trembling aspen forests recently experienced a severe and rapid drought-driven mortality across several western states, affecting up to a fifth of aspen forests. Despite the prevalence and impact of these events, there is relatively little known about exactly how forests die from drought and temperature stress. The proposed research would help illuminate the physiological mechanisms of how aspen forests succumb to drought stress over multiple years. Understanding the long term effects of severe drought on water uptake and use by trees is critical to informing pathways and thresholds of such mortality events. This research will shed light on the response of forests to climate change, currently a large uncertainty.Tree death can transform regional landscapes and have severe effects on how forests function and on the services they provide to humans, such as timber, tourism, and wildlife habitat. Furthermore, forest diebacks can lead to dramatic decreases in forest uptake of carbon, resulting in an positive feedback to climate warming. Thus, understanding how and where forests could die in the future would greatly benefit local stakeholders in the western United States. This research will aid in projecting which regions, tree species, and forests could be most vulnerable to drought and climate. Additionally, the research will involve students from local communities in field research and will communicate the results to a broad array of land managers and stakeholders, greatly increasing the impact of the findings.

在美国西部，最近在许多树种中发生了大规模死亡事件，通常与严重的干旱和温度有关，预计下一世纪将随着气候变化的增加。颤抖的阿斯彭森林最近在几个西方国家经历了严重而快速的干旱驱动死亡率，影响了多达五分之一的阿斯彭森林。尽管这些事件的流行率和影响，但对于森林如何死于干旱和温度压力，鲜为人知。拟议的研究将有助于阐明多年来白杨森林如何屈服于干旱压力的生理机制。了解严重干旱对摄入水和树木使用的长期影响对于告知此类死亡事件的途径和阈值至关重要。这项研究将揭示森林对气候变化的反应，目前存在巨大的不确定性。树死亡可以改变区域景观，并对森林的运作和对人类提供的服务的方式以及诸如木材，旅游和野生动植物栖息地的方式产生严重影响。此外，森林死亡可能导致碳吸收森林吸收的急剧减少，从而导致对气候变暖的积极反馈。因此，了解未来森林如何以及在哪里可以死去将极大地使美国西部的当地利益相关者受益。这项研究将有助于预测哪些地区，树种和森林可能最容易受到干旱和气候的影响。此外，这项研究将使来自当地社区的学生参与现场研究，并将结果传达给广泛的土地经理和利益相关者，从而大大增加了调查结果的影响。