DISSERTATION RESEARCH: A Spatial Theory of Trophic Cascades in Omnivory Systems

论文研究：杂食系统营养级联的空间理论

• 批准号: 1407338
• 负责人: Kurt Anderson
• 金额: $ 0.63万
• 依托单位: University of California-Riverside
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1407338&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Spatial; Theory; Trophic

Identifying the characteristics of communities that affect their responses to perturbations is a primary goal of both fundamental and applied ecology. Trophic cascades occur when predators reduce their prey, indirectly affecting lower trophic levels such as plants. This project combines mathematical models and their predictions with experiments to determine why trophic cascades vary across diverse communities. The investigators propose that omnivores - organisms that eat both animals and plants - will stabilize communities based on convincing preliminary data. This hypothesis will be tested using experimental food webs consisting of mixed bacteria as resources, a single-celled prey species, a protist predator, and a protist omnivore. The investigators will manipulate colonization rates across experimental communities and measure changes in the mathematical stability of each community in response to these manipulations. Models will be fit to time series of data to provide new insights into the causes underlying change in the structure and stability of omnivorous food webs. Support for this project will significantly improve an ongoing doctoral dissertation project that has combined mathematical models with field experiments to suggest that colonization rates result in consistent changes in trophic cascades. The training of a promising young scientist will be enhanced as a result. The project will involve a diverse assemblage of undergraduates who will perform research at the interface of biology and mathematics. Through participation in the United States Department of Education RISE program, the investigators integrate deserving students underrepresented in science fields into research labs when they transfer from local community colleges. These students will receive training in microscopy, experimental design, mathematical modeling, statistical analyses and basic usage of several computer programming environments. Results from the research will improve efforts to curb human alteration of habitats, production of commercially-valuable crops, and control of animal vectors that spread human disease.

确定影响群落对扰动反应的特征是基础生态学和应用生态学的首要目标。当捕食者减少猎物时，就会发生营养级联反应，间接影响较低的营养级，例如植物。该项目将数学模型及其预测与实验相结合，以确定为什么不同群落的营养级联有所不同。研究人员提出，杂食动物——既吃动物又吃植物的生物——将根据令人信服的初步数据稳定群落。这一假设将使用由混合细菌作为资源、单细胞猎物物种、原生捕食者和原生杂食动物组成的实验食物网进行测试。研究人员将操纵整个实验群落的定殖率，并测量每个群落响应这些操纵的数学稳定性的变化。模型将适合时间序列的数据，以提供对杂食性食物网结构和稳定性变化的根本原因的新见解。对这个项目的支持将显着改善正在进行的博士论文项目，该项目将数学模型与现场实验相结合，表明定植率会导致营养级联的一致变化。因此，对有前途的年轻科学家的培训将得到加强。该项目将涉及各种各样的本科生，他们将在生物学和数学的交叉领域进行研究。通过参与美国教育部 RISE 计划，研究人员将科学领域代表性不足的优秀学生从当地社区大学转学后纳入研究实验室。这些学生将接受显微镜、实验设计、数学建模、统计分析和几种计算机编程环境的基本使用方面的培训。该研究的结果将加强遏制人类对栖息地的改变、生产具有商业价值的农作物以及控制传播人类疾病的动物媒介的努力。