ABSTRACT:It is increasingly recognized that natural resources research should in many cases be broadened in scope and oriented toward more general “environmental” problems. Locales with a history of “watershed” research can be eminently suited for development of comprehensive, environmental research programs. This is recognized in many research efforts of the International Biological Program (IBP), where watershed research sites have been successfully utilized for intensive investigations of process and function of selected ecosystems or ecosystem components. In the North American Subarctic there is almost no history of “watershed” studies. Basic data on hydrometeorologic parameters such as precipitation amounts and areal and seasonal distribution of runoff are scarce; the data framework within which environmental understanding can be structured is exceedingly sketchy. Opportunity exists in the discontinuous‐permafrost settings of central Alaska to begin rectifying this situation. A basic program of multi‐agency, multi‐discipline research and data acquisition for the most significant hydrologic subregions is being developed, based around several existing environmental research areas (chiefly the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, the Caribou‐Poker Creeks Research Watershed, the Wickersham Dome Fire Study Area, and a series
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机译:摘要:人们越来越认识到,在许多情况下,自然资源研究应该扩大范围,并面向更普遍的“环境”问题。具有“流域”研究历史的地区可能非常适合制定全面的环境研究计划。这在国际生物计划(IBP)的许多研究工作中得到了认可,其中流域研究地点已被成功地用于对选定生态系统或生态系统组成部分的过程和功能进行深入研究。在北美亚北极地区,几乎没有“分水岭”研究的历史。关于水文气象参数的基本数据,如降水量和径流的面积和季节分布,很少;可以构建环境理解的数据框架非常粗略。阿拉斯加中部的不连续永久冻土环境存在着开始纠正这种情况的机会。正在制定一个关于最重要的水文次区域的多机构、多学科研究和数据采集的基本计划,该方案基于几个现有的环境研究领域(主要是Bonanza Creek实验森林、Caribou-Poker Creeks研究流域、Wickersham Dome 火灾研究区和一系列
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