Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effects of Forest Fragment Size, Shape, and Structure on Rainfall Redistribution and Solute Flux in Urban Settings

博士论文研究：森林片段大小、形状和结构对城市环境中降雨再分配和溶质通量的影响

• 批准号: 1459116
• 负责人: Delphis Levia
• 金额: $ 1.55万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-03-01 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1459116&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Effects; Forest

This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate the ways in which the shape and structural characteristics of urban forest fragments affect the cycling of water and solutes in wooded ecosystems of metropolitan areas. The doctoral student will seek to disentangle the complex relationship between forest fragmentation and the ecosystem services they can provide by establishing a clearer understanding of the differences in water and solute flux among forest fragments with varying canopy structure and location along an urban-to-rural land-use gradient. This project will enhance basic knowledge of the forms into which precipitation is partitioned when it falls in forest fragments, such as water that is intercepted in forest canopies, water that falls to the ground from leaves (throughfall), and water that flows down the trunks and stems of plants (stemflow). Project findings should help assess the chemistry of throughfall and stemflow in relation to fragment size and shape, location, and structural characteristics. Through these and other measurements, this project will help develop a more accurate quantification of ecosystem services provided by urban forest fragments, particularly the reduction of stormwater runoff and the modification of solute transport to ground- and surface-water pools. In addition to enhancing basic understanding, the project will provide new insights into methods to manage forest fragments for the conservation of green/forested space in urbanizing areas. Data from this work will be made readily available to the public via the Delaware Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Center web portal for those interested in improving the management of urban green spaces. 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.The overarching question of this research is: How does the hydrological function of urban forest fragments (namely the partitioning of precipitation into throughfall and stemflow, and the leaching and cycling of solutes) vary among forest fragments within the city and along an urban-rural gradient? This student will investigate interception losses in five forest fragments in Wilmington, Delaware, and along an urban-to-rural gradient in that metropolitan area in order to understand its effect on water inputs and the chemical signature of throughfall and stemflow. She will employ field methods in forest hydrology and hydrochemical laboratory analyses to quantify both precipitation partitioning and solute chemistry of throughfall and stemflow. Additional analyses will elucidate the dynamic nature of precipitation partitioning over space and through time in relation to land use.

该博士学位论文研究项目将研究城市森林碎片的形状和结构特征的方式影响大都市地区林木生态系统的水和溶质的循环。 博士生将寻求解散森林破碎化与他们可以提供的生态系统服务之间的复杂关系，通过对森林碎片之间的水和溶质通量的差异建立更清晰的了解，这些森林碎片之间具有变化的树冠结构和沿着城市到农村土地的位置不同 - 使用梯度。 该项目将增强对降水落入森林碎片（例如在森林檐篷中被拦截的水，从叶子（遍布）掉落到地面的水）的基本知识和植物茎（茎流）。 项目发现应有助于评估与碎片的大小和形状，位置和结构特征有关的遍布和干流的化学。 通过这些和其他测量值，该项目将有助于对城市森林碎片提供的生态系统服务进行更准确的量化，尤其是减少雨水径流以及将溶质传输的修改到地面和地表水池中。 除了增进基本理解外，该项目还将为管理森林碎片的方法提供新的见解，以保护城市化地区的绿色/森林空间。这项工作的数据将通过特拉华州环境监测和分析中心网站向公众提供，以便有兴趣改善城市绿色空间的管理。 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。这项研究的总体问题是：城市森林碎片的水文功能如何（即降水分配进入贯穿和干液，以及溶质的浸出和循环）在城市内部以及沿着城市农村梯度之间有所不同吗？ 该学生将调查特拉华州威尔明顿五个森林碎片的拦截损失，并沿着该大都市地区的城市到农村梯度，以了解其对水输入的影响以及贯穿和茎流的化学签名。 她将在森林水文和水化学实验室分析中采用现场方法，以量化降水分配和溶质化学的渗透和干液。 其他分析将阐明降水分配在空间上的动态性质以及与土地使用有关的时间。