SGER: Does Manipulation of Top Predators Lead to Rapid Shifts in the Structure of Ecological Communities?

SGER：对顶级捕食者的操纵是否会导致生态群落结构的快速变化？

• 批准号: 0502069
• 负责人: John Orrock
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-12-15 至 2007-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0502069&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Does; Manipulation; Top; Predators

This SGER project would capitalize upon the imminent reintroduction of foxes to San Miguel Island, part of the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California. The Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis) was removed from San Miguel Island in 1998. Following fox removal, the native rodent population (consisting of a single Peromyscus species) has shown dramatic increases, attaining densities of over 900 mice per hectare - thirty times greater than densities on nearby Santa Cruz Island where fox are present. There is some evidence that the removal of foxes on San Miguel and the dramatic increase in their rodent prey led to rapid changes in the plant community. This SGER would allow the real-time tracking of the small mammal prey community on San Miguel in response to reintroduced foxes, with the immediate and longer term effects that foxes have on the plant community a central focus. Contrasts will include San Miguel before and after fox reintroduction, with San Nicolas Island where foxes have been present for at least 2000 years, and Santa Barbara Island where foxes have never been present (at least recently). The approach would be to use exclosures to manipulate predator and rodent access in order to quantify top-down influences on plant communities across islands with different predator histories as well as different contemporary predator activity (i.e. the reintroduction on San Miguel). The broader applications of the project are potentially quite large, especially considering that the Islands have hundreds of species of rare and endangered plants. Because the Park Service is responsible for oversight of the Channel Islands, there is an opportunity for outreach with Park volunteers, and some fairly unusual outlets for any results. The research would support a female graduate student.

这个SGER项目将利用即将重新引入狐狸到南加州海岸岛的一部分的圣米格尔岛。 1998年，从圣米格尔岛（San Miguel Island）移走了岛上的狐狸（Urocyon littoralis）。狐狸去除后，啮齿动物种群（由单个peromyscus物种组成）显示出急剧上升的增长，达到了每公顷超过900只小鼠的密度，比附近的圣克鲁斯岛岛附近的福克斯岛附近的密度大三十倍。 有证据表明，在圣米格尔（San Miguel）上去除狐狸以及啮齿动物猎物的急剧增加导致植物社区的迅速变化。 该SGER将允许对圣米格尔（San Miguel）的小型哺乳动物猎物社区进行实时跟踪，以回应重新引入的狐狸，而狐狸对植物社区产生的直接和长期影响是核心的重点。 对比将包括圣米格尔（San Miguel）在福克斯（Fox）重新引入之前和之后，圣尼古拉斯岛（San Nicolas Island）至少有2000年的狐狸和圣塔芭芭拉岛（Santa Barbara Island），那里的狐狸从未出现过（至少最近）。 该方法是使用排他性操纵捕食者和啮齿动物的通道，以量化对具有不同捕食者历史以及不同当代捕食者活动（即对San Miguel的重新引入）的植物社区的自上而下的影响。 该项目的更广泛应用可能很大，尤其是考虑到这些岛屿有数百种稀有植物和濒危植物。 由于公园服务部门负责监督海峡群岛，因此有一个与公园志愿者进行外展的机会，以及一些结果相当不寻常的渠道。 该研究将支持女性研究生。