COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Will climate change alter rates of old field succession across the U.S. Eastern Deciduous Forest? A cross-latitude experimental network

合作研究：气候变化会改变美国东部落叶林的旧田演替率吗？

• 批准号: 1119743
• 负责人: Jason Fridley
• 金额: $ 31.9万
• 依托单位: Syracuse University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-10-01 至 2016-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1119743&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Will; climate; change

Abandoned agricultural land in the Eastern United States returns to forest in a well-established pattern in which "old fields" of herbs and grasses gradually give way to trees. This field-to-forest transition is a key event in ecosystem development because it drives wildlife abundance, influences how ecosystems store carbon and cycle nutrients, and often changes the balance between landscapes dominated by alien or native plant species. One puzzling aspect of this process is that old fields can persist for decades in the Northeast, but tend to transition to forests in less than 10 years in the Southeast, despite having many of the "field invading" tree species in common. Is this due to the warmer climate of the Southeast, where trees can grow more quickly in competition with herbs and grasses? If so, will "old fields" become forests more quickly as the climate warms? Alternatively, the regions may be different in other ways (e.g. soil quality). In this project the PIs have designed an experiment to definitively answer this question, using a network of six field experiments from New York to Florida. At each site, researchers will control the composition of the old field plants and invading trees (using species common to both the North- and Southeast), as well as varying the soil conditions to approximate northern and southern soils. Researchers will monitor the rate at which trees invade each experimental community, and use the results to formulate a model that can make predictions about how climate, soil fertility, and characteristics of particular species influence the rate of forest development in the Eastern United States.These results will be key for understanding how agricultural landscapes of the Eastern United States will continue to change over the next century, and will inform stakeholders on land management issues with respect to carbon sequestration, biological diversity, and other ecosystem services. Two graduate students and several undergraduates will be trained, through the support of two junior faculty. The project also includes use of several core ecological research facilities in the Eastern United States.

美国东部废弃的农业土地以良好的模式返回森林，其中“旧田地”的草药和草逐渐使树木取代。 这种野外过渡是生态系统开发中的关键事件，因为它驱动了野生动植物的丰度，影响生态系统如何存储碳和循环养分，并且经常改变以外星或本地植物物种为主的景观之间的平衡。 这一过程的一个令人困惑的方面是，尽管有许多共同的“田野入侵”树种，但东北地区可以持续数十年，但在东南不到10年的时间内往往会过渡到森林。 这是否是由于东南部温暖的气候，在与草药和草的竞争中，树木可以更快地生长？ 如果是这样，随着气候温暖，“旧田地”会更快地变成森林吗？ 另外，区域可能以其他方式不同（例如土壤质量）。在这个项目中，PI设计了一个实验，可以使用纽约到佛罗里达的六个实地实验网络确定回答这个问题。 在每个地点，研究人员将控制旧田间植物和入侵树木的组成（使用北部和东南部共有的物种），并改变土壤条件以近似北部和南部土壤。 研究人员将监控树木侵入每个实验社区的速度，并使用结果来制定一个模型，该模型可以预测气候，土壤的生育能力和特定物种的特征如何影响美国东部的森林发展速度生态系统服务。 通过两个初级教师的支持，将对两名研究生和几名本科生进行培训。 该项目还包括在美国东部使用几个核心生态研究设施。