Abstract Reyes Sandoval, Wilmer
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ABSTRACT REYES SANDOVAL, WILMER MISAEL. Landscape Heterogeneity and Complexity: Implications for Terrestrial Carbon and Water Cycles. (Under the direction of Dr. Ryan E. Emanuel). Heterogeneity and complexity are ubiquitous phenomena in terrestrial landscapes. Landscape processes and patterns are governed by biotic and abiotic interactions that arise from and lead to both heterogeneity and complexity over wide ranges of spatial and temporal scales. Thus, different parts of a landscape may behave differently, resulting in diverse carbon and water dynamics across the landscape with the potential to alter not only water and carbon cycles but also other ecosystem processes and behaviors. Improving our understanding of these phenomena, and their consequences for natural resource sustainability is relevant for the scientific community and for society in general. Chapter two includes a literature review on landscape heterogeneity and complexity, which synthesizes classic and recent work on these topics, providing rigorous definitions of the terms and discussing implications for water and carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The review highlights opportunities for moving forward in both conceptual understanding and modeling. Chapter three synthesizes datasets from the AmeriFlux tower network to evaluate relationships between terrain complexity and responses of ecosystem carbon fluxes to temperature and precipitation. Analyses show that different characteristics of terrain mediate responses of daily carbon fluxes to temperature and annual carbon fluxes to precipitation. The fourth chapter characterizes the water balance of a tropical landscape characterized by heterogeneous land use and rapid environmental change. Analyses are aimed at a broader discussion of complex human-environment interactions in tropical landscapes. Overall, chapter two shows that, by affecting several factors and ecosystem processes, heterogeneity and complexity can lead to a wide range of carbon and water dynamics across the landscape, which need to be accounted for in carbon and water modeling approaches. Chapter three demonstrates that terrain complexity can give rise to a broad spectrum of carbon fluxes responses to climate at multiple temporal scales, including linear, nonlinear, and bidirectional. Finally, chapter four finds that climate, soil water storage and complex human- environment interactions converge to influence tropical eco-hydrological systems. Taken as a whole, this work helps to improve our conceptual understanding of the roles of heterogeneity and complexity in terrestrial carbon and water cycling. © Copyright 2017 Wilmer Misael Reyes Sandoval All Rights Reserved Landscape Heterogeneity and Complexity: Implications for Terrestrial Carbon and Water Cycles by Wilmer Misael Reyes Sandoval A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Forestry and Environmental Resources Raleigh, North Carolina 2017 APPROVED BY: _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Ryan E. Emanuel Dr. John King Committee Chair _______________________________ _______________________________ Dr. Melissa McHale Dr. Aziz Amoozegar Minor Member DEDICATION To my beloved wife Yeni and children María, Emily, and Jimena, whose unconditional and endless love and support drive my life. Thanks for being the main reason for my existence. To my parents, Pedro Adan and Enma Esperanza, who with their unwavering hardwork, love, and sacrifice are largely responsible for all that I am and have accomplished. Papito: Como quisiera que estuvieras aquí conmigo compartiendo este nuevo logro. Gracias por estar siempre presente en mi vida y por ser mi mayor fuente de inspiración. “Daddy: I wish you were here with me sharing this new accomplishment. Thanks for being always present in my life and for being my major source of inspiration” To my mother in law Maria, who has always supported every step we have given as a family. To my brothers and sisters for their permanent encouragement ii BIOGRAPHY Wilmer was born and raised in San Marcos de Colon, a small city in southern Honduras. He completed his early education there and received a BS in Agricultural Engineering from the National Agricultural University of Honduras (UNA) in 1999, and a Master’s degree in Integrated Watershed Management from the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica (2003). In 2011, Wilmer was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for doctoral studies at NCSU and joined the Ecohydrology and Watershed Science’s lab in Fall 2012. Wilmer was awarded a Russell E. Train Fellowship from the World Wildlife Fund in 2014, and a Global Change Fellowship from SE Climate Science Center (DOI-NCSU) in 2016. Wilmer is currently a professor at UNA. His academic and research interests include the study of biophysical factors and processes regulating spatial and temporal variability of water, CO2 and nutrient fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. Wilmer is particularly interested in using eco and sociohydrologic approaches to address issues related to water scarcity, global warming, ecosystem services and food security. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I must first express my infinite gratitude to my mentor Dr. Ryan Emanuel. Since the first time I met him I realized he was more than just an advisor, but a role model as a scientist and also as a person. During the last four years, Ryan has permanently supported me both academically and personally well far beyond the normal call of duty. Regardless it was throughout rigorous scientific discussions, fieldwork, writing’s feedbacks, or friends talks in a coffee shop, he has been influential in shaping my life path, which ultimately has led to an incredibly valuable life experience. I hope to achieve something close to Ryan’s excellence, commitment, and humility as I move forward with my career as a scientist and as a person in life. I also want to extend my thankfulness to Ryan’s wife and his terrific kids. They also have been an important source of inspiration not only to me but also to my family. I want to thank my great graduate committee members, Dr. John King, Dr. Melissa McHale and Dr. Aziz Amoozegar for their incredible commitment, helpful comments, and suggestions about my dissertation and science in general. Their advice had a bigger influence than they may be aware. I am fortunate to have had such excellent mentors. Thanks to my coauthors in chapter III, Dr. Howard Epstein, Dr. Xu Li, Dr. Brian McGlynn, and Dr. Diego Riveros-Iregui for their insightful comments and suggestions. Their contributions improved my AmeriFlux work significantly. Diego also has provided me with exceptional professional and personal advice. Many other individuals and organizations have contributed to this dissertation and my doctoral studies in general. I could never list them all but will take the risk to mention some. First, I owe a huge debt to my friend Dr. John Sabella. He was the first person who put the idea of this journey in my mind. He has been not only a permanent source of encouragement, iv advice, and unwavering support but also through his contacts helped me to open many doors. He was a great friend when he was living in Honduras, but now he is part of my family. Thanks a million John! Second, there is a group of friends without their help I wouldn’t be here and to whom I express my sincere gratitude for all the support and advice they gave me before and during my doctoral studies: Dr. Paul Mueller, Dr. Jeffrey Lansdale, Dr. Yasmin Cardoza, Dr. Jean-Marie Luginbuhl, Dr. Alonso Suazo, and Dr. L. George Wilson. My gratitude also goes to my colleagues and friends at RDS-HN, especially to Raquel Isaula and Pedro Torres. My deepest thankfulness to Theo Jass, José Reyes, Calixto Ordoñez, and Alex Moody for their invaluable support in fieldwork, data collection, and data processing. In addition to his contribution to this dissertation, my brother, José Reyes, has been to me a role model and a permanent source of encouragement and support. I would also like to extend a tremendous thank you to my current and former labmates, as well as Dr. Marcelo Ardon’s lab, who throughout our lab meeting discussions have also contributed to my academic formation. I’m deeply indebted to many other people who with their extraordinary work and friendship facilitate our life as students/grantees. Sarah Slover and Aranzazu Lascurain at NCSU, Karla Castaneda, Renee Burke, Gabriela Galvez, Megan Murphy, and Beverly Thacker at Fulbright-Laspau, and Andrea Santy and Stephanie Eisenman at WWF-Education for Nature. Finally, this dissertation and my doctoral studies, in general, were possible thanks to generous funding and support from the US Department of State (Fulbright Scholarship), World Wildlife Fund. Inc (EFN-Russell E. Train Fellowship), US Department of the Interior (SE Climate Science Center, Global Change Fellowship), US Department of Agriculture v (National Institute of Food and Agriculture), Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (Honduras), and the department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NCSU. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ..........................................................