The importance of functional traits and phenotypic plasticity to the functioning of forests

功能性状和表型可塑性对森林功能的重要性

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-05201
• 负责人: Paquette, Alain
• 金额: $ 2.77万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=713538
• 关键词: importance; functional; traits; phenotypic; plasticity

My long-term objective is to identify the mechanisms through which diversity affects forest ecosystems, their function, and the services they provide. My focus is on the roles that plasticity, scale, and trophic levels play in shifting plant interactions from competition to facilitation. Over the next five years, it is my intention to further the fields of biodiversity - ecosystem functioning and plant functional ecology through: A. determining the role of functional traits in assembly rules and the distribution of tree species in the world's forests B. understanding the importance of phenotypic plasticity in biodiversity effects on forest functioning C. building a model of forest dynamics that accounts for diversity effects, plasticity and stand development The funds now available to me only cover the more applied and technical aspects of my research program. The requested DG funds are necessary if I am going to be successful at isolating the key factors explaining diversity effects in forest, as well as to support graduate students. I will use a global database of national forest inventory for investigating i) how species and functional traits are distributed globally along environmental gradients, and ii) testing the diversity productivity hypothesis at global scales using a functional approach. To do this I will use a new and comprehensive database of functional traits for the world trees. At the experimental scale, I will ask how much of the biodiversity ecosystem functioning effect is due to changes in the values of functional traits of species (phenotypic plasticity) in response to their neighbourhood. This is important because although we know traits are plastic in response to the environment, much less is known in response to neighborhood composition, and how it may affect community level functioning. Existing, carefully designed diversity experiments will be used to test for those mechanisms, including orthogonal gradients of richness and functional diversity. Those will allow for formally testing the hypothesis that phenotypic plasticity drives that relationship, rather than intrinsic differences in traits. I will use drones equipped with multi-spectral cameras, as well as ground measurements (leaf spectral reflectance, fluorescence, and indices related to stress) to measure tree traits and their plasticity. Finally, towards the end of this research program I will bring together the accumulating evidence obtained from tree experiments, each often highlighting a single mechanism by which diversity affects forest stand dynamics, to build a more comprehensive model of forest dynamics. The impact and applications of this work are in identifying key factors to help manage forests for delivering maximum benefits and sustainability. This research program will also be instrumental in pushing further BEF science in general and forest dynamics in particular.

我的长期目标是确定多样性影响森林生态系统、其功能及其提供的服务的机制。我的重点是可塑性、规模和营养水平在将植物相互作用从竞争转变为促进的过程中所发挥的作用。在接下来的五年里，我打算通过以下方式进一步推进生物多样性领域——生态系统功能和植物功能生态学： A. 确定功能性状在世界森林的装配规则和树种分布中的作用 B. 了解表型可塑性在生物多样性对森林功能影响中的重要性 C. 建立考虑多样性效应、可塑性和林分发展的森林动态模型 我现在可用的资金仅涵盖我的研究计划的更多应用和技术方面。如果我要成功地找出解释森林多样性影响的关键因素并支持研究生，那么所请求的总干事资金是必要的。 我将使用国家森林资源清查的全球数据库来调查i）物种和功能性状如何沿着环境梯度在全球范围内分布，以及ii）使用功能方法在全球范围内测试多样性生产力假设。为此，我将使用一个新的、全面的世界树功能特征数据库。 在实验规模上，我会问生物多样性生态系统功能的影响有多少是由于物种功能特征值（表型可塑性）对其邻近区域的反应而发生的变化。这很重要，因为虽然我们知道特征是可塑的，以响应环境，但对社区组成及其如何影响社区水平功能的了解却少之又少。现有的、精心设计的多样性实验将用于测试这些机制，包括丰富度和功能多样性的正交梯度。这些将允许正式检验表型可塑性驱动这种关系的假设，而不是性状的内在差异。我将使用配备多光谱相机的无人机以及地面测量（叶子光谱反射率、荧光和与压力相关的指数）来测量树木特征及其可塑性。 最后，在本研究计划即将结束时，我将汇集从树木实验中获得的积累的证据，每个证据通常都强调多样性影响林分动态的单一机制，以建立更全面的森林动态模型。 这项工作的影响和应用在于确定帮助管理森林以实现最大效益和可持续性的关键因素。该研究项目还将有助于进一步推动 BEF 科学，特别是森林动力学。