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: 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=765228
• 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 functioningC. building a model of forest dynamics that accounts for diversity effects, plasticity and stand developmentThe 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移到便利化中的作用。在接下来的五年中，我的意图是进一步发展生物多样性的领域 - 生态系统功能和植物功能生态学通过：确定功能性状在装配规则中的作用以及树种在世界森林中的分布B.了解表型可塑性在生物多样性中的重要性对森林功能的影响。建立一种森林动态模型，该模型可以说明我的研究计划的多样性效果，可塑性和摊位开发仅涵盖了我的研究计划的应用和技术方面。如果我要成功地隔离解释森林中多样性影响的关键因素以及支持研究生，则需要该要求的DG资金。我将使用全球森林清单的全球数据库来研究i）i）物种和功能性状如何沿环境梯度在全球范围内分布，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，我将为世界树使用新的全面功能性状数据库。在实验量表上，我将询问有多少生物多样性生态系统功能效应是由于响应其邻居的物种功能性状（表型可塑性）的价值变化所致。这很重要，因为尽管我们知道特征是响应环境的塑料，但响应邻里组成以及如何影响社区水平的运作而少得多。现有的，精心设计的多样性实验将用于测试这些机制，包括丰富性和功能多样性的正交梯度。这些将允许正式测试表型可塑性驱动这种关系的假设，而不是性状上的内在差异。我将使用配备多光谱摄像机的无人机以及地面测量（叶片光谱反射率，荧光和与压力相关的指标）来测量树状性状及其可塑性。最后，在该研究计划的结束时，我将汇集从树实验中获得的积累证据，每种证据经常突出一种单一的机制，通过该机制，多样性会影响森林立场动态，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关键因素，以帮助管理森林，以提供最大的利益和可持续性。该研究计划还将有助于推动一般的BEF科学，尤其是森林动态。