Collaborative Research: Intraspecific variation in drought responses of tropical tree seedlings - consequences for species distributions under climate change

合作研究：热带树苗干旱反应的种内变异——气候变化对物种分布的影响

• 批准号: 1464866
• 负责人: Liza Comita
• 金额: $ 37.56万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2018-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1464866&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Intraspecific; variation; drought

Abundant rainfall is one of the reasons that tropical forests are so diverse and productive. Climate change is predicted to shift the length and intensity of the dry seasons that most tropical forests experience. Understanding how these forests will respond to climate change therefore requires that we investigate the responses of tropical trees to drought. From temperate forests, we know that drought responses vary, not only among tree species, but also within species: populations of the same species from different sites can show different responses to drought, increasing the capacity of the species as a whole to persist when climate changes. However, we know very little how drought responses may vary within tropical tree species. This project will measure the variation in response to drought within tropical tree species in Panama, where current rainfall varies from site to site across the isthmus from the Pacific to the Atlantic. To contrast responses of trees in populations from sites with different amounts of rainfall, researchers will combine physiological measurements and genetic analyses with field experiments on the growth and survival of seedlings transplanted between sites. Results will show whether variation is determined by genetic or environmental factors, and which plant traits underlie drought response. This will improve our ability to predict how tropical forests will respond to global climate change. This project is important to society because tropical forests harbor the majority of the Earth's terrestrial biological diversity and provide people with valuable products and ecosystem services. The information generated by the project will be useful for conserving biodiversity and for managing forests to maintain production of commercially important timber species. Besides making findings available to the scientific community, the project will disseminate findings to local managers and stakeholders in a symposium. In addition, the project will strengthen the workforce for science by training young biologists.

大量降雨是热带森林如此多样性和富有成效的原因之一。 预计气候变化会改变大多数热带森林经历的干旱季节的长度和强度。因此，了解这些森林将如何应对气候变化，要求我们研究热带树对干旱的反应。从温带森林中，我们知道，干旱反应不仅在树种中，而且在物种中也有所不同：来自不同地点的同一物种的种群可以显示出对干旱的不同反应，从而增加了整个物种在气候变化时持续存在的能力。但是，我们几乎不知道在热带树种中干旱反应可能会有何不同。 该项目将衡量巴拿马热带树种中干旱的响应变化，那里的当前降雨量因太平洋到大西洋的地峡各地而异。 为了形成造影剂的反应，来自不同降雨量的地点的人群中的树木反应，研究人员将结合生理测量和遗传分析与现场实验有关地点之间移植幼苗的生长和存活的现场实验。 结果将显示变异是由遗传或环境因素决定的，以及哪些植物特征是干旱反应的基础。这将提高我们预测热带森林将如何应对全球气候变化的能力。该项目对社会很重要，因为热带森林藏有地球陆地生物多样性的大部分，并为人们提供有价值的产品和生态系统服务。该项目产生的信息将有助于保护生物多样性和管理森林维持商业上重要的木材物种的生产。 除了提出科学界的发现外，该项目还将在研讨会中向当地经理和利益相关者传播发现。 此外，该项目将通过培训年轻的生物学家来加强科学的劳动力。