Landscape ecology for conservation : Canadian boreal cryptogams in a global context

保护景观生态学：全球背景下的加拿大北方隐花植物

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-06356
• 负责人: Fenton, Nicole
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=757554
• 关键词: Landscape; ecology; conservation; Canadian; boreal

The world's biosphere is changing at an unprecedented speed. The daily loss of species to extinction is now a reality; consequently, efforts in species conservation are of primary importance as the erosion of planetary diversity weakens the resilience of the biosphere. For many species outside of vertebrates, conservation efforts are hindered by the lack of basic biodiversity information such as distribution ranges and basic ecology. These knowledge gaps are not evenly distributed across the tree of life or the globe,These gaps are particularly evident for cryptogams, ast seven of the ten plant families with the least amount of biodiversity information available globally were bryophytes. Additionally, while abundant information is available in temperate regions, the quantity of biodiversity information available drops towards the tropical and boreal zones. Without information on species' distribution ranges, population sizes, and functional traits, it is impossible to evaluate whether species are of conservation concern. If the IUCN criteria for species at risk are applied, information is required on the distribution ranges of species, the habitats they occupy within this range, and their population sizes. As the biosphere is rapidly changing, it is also necessary to understand how species disperse across the landscape and their ability to track habitat envelopes in order to understand their level of vulnerability. Consequently, with this research program we will: (i) determine the importance of cross-scalar effects (i.e. the interaction between microhabitats and macroclimates) in determining regional habitats and consequently species' distribution ranges; (ii) determine how dispersal interacts with both distribution ranges and population sizes; and (iii) determine regional and continental species' distribution ranges and population sizes. This research is novel on several fronts. First, I will be describing the relative importance of processes that determine species composition at scales beyond the habitat patch for understudied groups of organisms. Second, biogeography boreal of bryophytes in Canada has long been ignored because of the vast expanse of the forests and an assumption that "everything was everywhere". However, we know this is not true as the only biogeographical study of boreal bryophytes (published in the 1970s) indicated continental patterns but no studies have examined this question in detail since. Understanding the spatial variation in bryophyte species richness and community composition across the Canadian boreal forest is critical to understanding what natural areas within the boreal forest are representative or distinctive in their bryoflora, in order to identify representative or distinct ecosystems from their vegetation components. In that respect, this understanding is also critical to Goal C of Canada's 2020 Biodiversity Targets.

世界生物圈正在以前所未有的速度发生变化。现在，每天都有物种丧失甚至灭绝。因此，物种保护工作至关重要，因为地球多样性的侵蚀削弱了生物圈的复原力。对于脊椎动物以外的许多物种来说，由于缺乏分布范围和基本生态等基本生物多样性信息，保护工作受到阻碍。这些知识差距在生命之树或全球范围内的分布并不均匀，这些差距对于隐花植物来说尤其明显，因为全球可获得的生物多样性信息最少的十个植物科中有七个是苔藓植物。此外，虽然温带地区有丰富的信息，但热带和寒带地区的生物多样性信息量却有所下降。如果没有物种分布范围、种群规模和功能特征的信息，就不可能评估物种是否受到保护。如果应用世界自然保护联盟关于濒危物种的标准，则需要有关物种的分布范围、它们在该范围内占据的栖息地以及它们的种群规模的信息。由于生物圈正在迅速变化，因此有必要了解物种如何在景观中分散以及它们跟踪栖息地范围的能力，以了解其脆弱性程度。因此，通过这项研究计划，我们将：（i）确定跨标量效应（即小生境和大气候之间的相互作用）在确定区域生境以及物种分布范围方面的重要性； (ii) 确定扩散如何与分布范围和种群规模相互作用； (iii) 确定区域和大陆物种的分布范围和种群规模。这项研究在几个方面都是新颖的。首先，我将描述决定物种组成的过程的相对重要性，这些过程超出了未研究的生物群体的栖息地斑块的范围。其次，加拿大北方苔藓植物的生物地理学长期以来被忽视，因为森林广阔，并且假设“一切都无处不在”。然而，我们知道这不是真的，因为唯一的北方苔藓植物生物地理学研究（发表于 20 世纪 70 年代）表明了大陆模式，但此后没有研究详细研究过这个问题。了解加拿大北方森林苔藓植物物种丰富度和群落组成的空间变化对于了解北方森林内哪些自然区域的苔藓植物区系具有代表性或独特性至关重要，以便从其植被组成中识别代表性或独特的生态系统。在这方面，这种理解对于加拿大 2020 年生物多样性目标的目标 C 也至关重要。