EAGER: The role of demographic stochasticity in community assembly

EAGER：人口随机性在社区集会中的作用

• 批准号: 1250170
• 负责人: Jean Burns
• 金额: $ 14.99万
• 依托单位: Case Western Reserve University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1250170&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; role; demographic; stochasticity; community

One of the great puzzles in ecology is explaining how similar species can coexist in a community; presumably, one species should be a better competitor and cause extinction of all similar species. Plant coexistence is especially difficult to explain, because plants share a relatively small number of limiting resources, which should greatly restrict the number of species that can coexist. So, how it is possible for some plant communities to have hundreds of coexisting species? At least two factors, in addition to the number of limiting resources, might promote coexistence: conditions such as soil nutrient availability might vary within a community (environmental heterogeneity) and individual plants might have different rates of germination and death due to random chance (demographic stochasticity). Dr. Burns and her collaborators will conduct a novel experiment at Case Western Reserve University to ask: what is the relative importance of environmental heterogeneity and demographic stochasticity in creating conditions that allow for many species of plants to coexist? The proposed experiment will manipulate heterogeneity of the soil environment and introduce species into populations belonging to the same species and a closely related species. This experiment will be able to clearly distinguish for the first time the relative importance of environmental heterogeneity and demographic stochasticity in determining which species can be found together in a particular community.Dr. Burns and her collaborators work closely with a local government organization, Cleveland Metroparks, to answer important local management questions and ensure open communication between scientists and land managers. Cleveland Metroparks is an ~8000 ha series of parks that ring the greater Cleveland area. The Cleveland Metroparks Natural Resources Division is committed to maintaining the health and diversity of the parks. Maintaining plant community diversity is essential for Metropark's ability to provide essential ecosystem services, such as providing clean water to the Cleveland area. This project will enhance our understanding of coexistence, and will help managers prevent and control biological invasions and maintain plant community diversity. For example, if more heterogeneous sites are more likely to be invaded by pest species, managers can target those areas for monitoring to prevent new and potentially detrimental biological invasions.

生态学中的巨大难题之一是解释了类似物种如何在社区中共存。据推测，一个物种应该是更好的竞争者，并灭绝所有类似物种。植物共存特别难以解释，因为植物具有相对较少的限制资源，这应该极大地限制可以共存的物种数量。那么，某些植物群落如何有数百种共存的物种？ 除限制资源的数量外，至少有两个因素可能会促进共存：社区中的土壤养分供应量可能会有所不同（环境异质性），并且各个植物可能由于随机机会而具有不同的发芽率和死亡率（人口统计学）随机性）。伯恩斯博士和她的合作者将在凯斯西部储备大学进行一项新颖的实验：环境异质性和人口统计随机性在创造允许许多植物共存的条件方面的相对重要性是什么？提出的实验将操纵土壤环境的异质性，并将物种引入属于同一物种和密切相关物种的种群中。该实验将能够首次清楚地区分环境异质性和人口统计随机性在确定哪些物种在特定社区中可以找到哪种物种的相对重要性。伯恩斯（Burns）和她的合作者与地方政府组织克利夫兰都会（Cleveland Metroparks）紧密合作，以回答重要的地方管理问题，并确保科学家与土地管理者之间的公开沟通。克利夫兰大都会公园（Cleveland Metroparks）是一个约8000公顷的公园，响起了大克利夫兰地区。克利夫兰Metroparks自然资源部致力于维持公园的健康和多样性。维持植物社区的多样性对于Metropark提供必不可少的生态系统服务的能力至关重要，例如向克利夫兰地区提供清洁水。该项目将增强我们对共存的理解，并将帮助管理人员预防和控制生物学入侵并维持植物社区的多样性。例如，如果更多的异质部位更有可能被害虫物种入侵，则管理人员可以针对这些区域进行监测，以防止新的和潜在的有害生物学入侵。