NI: The functional ecology of alpine systems; a global network

NI：高山系统的功能生态学；

• 批准号: NE/S008764/2
• 负责人: Robert Mills
• 金额: $ 8.61万
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FS008764%2F2
• 关键词: NI; functional; ecology; alpine; systems

ContextMountain ecosystems are found on every continent, and create one of the most dynamic biomes on earth. They are globally significant in that 50% of the of the planet's drinking water comes from mountain ecosystems, 1.2 billion people live within the vicinity of mountains, 24% of the earth's terrestrial landmass is in mountain regions, and mountain ecosystems are attractive landscapes that provide opportunities for rejuvenation, recreation, and cultural services. Not only do we gain these direct benefits from mountainous landscapes, but they are also highly biodiverse ecosystems, with many species found only in the high alpine environment. These biological refuges for rare species are threatened by climate and land-use change, and there are growing observations that mountain summits especially are losing these rare plant species. Despite our knowledge on the biodiversity above-ground, we have scare knowledge on the biodiversity, and indeed the activity, of organisms that live below-ground, in the soil. It is these organisms that maintain nutrients, cycle carbon into soil organic matter, and underpin the sustainability of mountainous regions worldwide, yet threats to these organisms are poorly reconciled. There is therefore an urgent need to understand the nature of below-ground life in alpine environments, and how these organisms may respond to rapid changes in climate, and shifts in land-use. Aims and objectivesTo address this knowledge gap of functional ecology and sensitivity in the global alpine, we will form a new global network of alpine specialists from around the world, to lead a 'global fingerprint' of the activity of soil organisms in alpine regions. We will cut across all the major alpine regions of the world, and carry out analysis of the size and activity of the microbes that live in soil. We will then focus on key locations, to simulate climate extremes, which may threaten these ecosystems, and then measure the impact on soil organisms. Specifically, we will ask:1. What do we know about the global alpine from the perspective of functional ecology?a. We will use gathered expertise from the network to probe deeply into the literature and expert knowledge to make a scientific synthesis of our current understanding of this global biome2. How will alpine soils respond to extreme climate events?a. We will collect samples from different alpine environments and simulate drought and extreme rainfall events, and measure the impact on soil biology3. How can we design an experiment that will be globally relevant at exploring climate impacts on alpine ecosystems?a. We will use output from our global synthesis, plus data from our extreme events experiment, to guide the design of our future experiments addressing key questions.Potential applications and benefits.We will use this network to generate new data, giving us insight for the first time on the activity of alpine soil organisms. This information will allow us to understand threats to these ecosystems, ultimately to establish long-term experiments that allow us to see how these ecosystems respond to changes in climate and land-use. Only by working together, can we use our expertise and existing networks to tackle this new and urgent challenge, giving us vital understanding of how best to safeguard these valuable ecosystems so that they continue to provide a harbour for plant and animal biodiversity, and provide us with food, water, timber and a place to live. These data will benefit the scientific community through new knowledge generation, but will also underpin a holistic understanding of the alpine that will contribute to sustainable management. We will also, through our outreach activities, engage with people around to explore functional soil ecology, and initiate a discussion on the threats to our mountains through the 'my mountains matter' platform.

背景山地生态系统遍布每个大陆，并创造了地球上最具活力的生物群落之一。它们在全球范围内具有重要意义，因为地球上 50% 的饮用水来自山地生态系统，12 亿人生活在山地附近，地球陆地面积的 24% 位于山地地区，山地生态系统是极具吸引力的景观，可提供恢复活力、娱乐和文化服务的机会。我们不仅可以从山区景观中获得这些直接利益，而且山区也是高度生物多样性的生态系统，其中许多物种仅在高山环境中发现。这些稀有物种的生物避难所正受到气候和土地利用变化的威胁，而且越来越多的观察表明，山峰尤其正在失去这些稀有植物物种。尽管我们对地上生物多样性有了解，但我们对生活在地下、土壤中的生物多样性以及实际上的活动却知之甚少。正是这些生物体维持了养分，将碳循环到土壤有机质中，并支撑了全世界山区的可持续性，但这些生物体面临的威胁却很难协调一致。因此，迫切需要了解高山环境中地下生命的本质，以及这些生物如何应对气候的快速变化和土地利用的变化。目的和目标为了解决全球高山功能生态学和敏感性方面的知识差距，我们将组建一个由来自世界各地的高山专家组成的新的全球网络，以领导高山地区土壤生物活动的“全球指纹”。我们将穿越世界所有主要高山地区，对土壤中微生物的大小和活性进行分析。然后，我们将重点关注关键地点，模拟可能威胁这些生态系统的极端气候，然后测量对土壤生物的影响。具体来说，我们会问：1。从功能生态学的角度我们对全球高山了解多少？我们将利用从网络收集的专业知识，深入探讨文献和专家知识，对我们目前对这一全球生物群落的理解进行科学综合。高山土壤将如何应对极端气候事件？我们将从不同的高山环境中收集样本，模拟干旱和极端降雨事件，并测量对土壤生物学的影响3。我们如何设计一个与全球相关的实验，以探索气候对高山生态系统的影响？我们将使用全球综合的输出，加上极端事件实验的数据，来指导我们未来解决关键问题的实验设计。潜在的应用和好处。我们将使用这个网络生成新数据，为我们提供第一手洞察时间对高山土壤生物活动的影响。这些信息将使我们能够了解这些生态系统面临的威胁，最终建立长期实验，使我们能够了解这些生态系统如何应对气候和土地利用的变化。只有通过共同努力，我们才能利用我们的专业知识和现有网络来应对这一新的紧迫挑战，使我们对如何最好地保护这些宝贵的生态系统有重要的了解，以便它们继续为植物和动物生物多样性提供港口，并为我们提供帮助。有食物、水、木材和住所。这些数据将通过新知识的产生使科学界受益，同时也将巩固对高山的全面了解，从而有助于可持续管理。我们还将通过我们的外展活动，与周围的人一起探索功能性土壤生态，并通过“我的山是问题”平台发起关于我们的山所面临的威胁的讨论。