NSF-IOS-BSF: When physiology meets landscape ecology: Effects of landscape fragmentation on physiological tradeoffs

NSF-IOS-BSF：当生理学遇到景观生态学：景观破碎化对生理权衡的影响

基本信息

批准号：
1656279
负责人：
Goggy Davidowitz
金额：
$ 65.72万
依托单位：
University of Arizona
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-03-01 至 2022-02-28
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1656279&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
NSF IOS BSF When physiology

项目摘要

Agricultural activity can result in the fragmentation of natural habitats, which can lead to loss of total habitat area, reduced average habitat patch size, and increased distances among patches. All these may lead to the decline and extinction of local populations that live in these fragmented habitats. Organisms in general have finite amounts of resources (nutritional energy) to invest in growth, maintenance, dispersal and reproduction. Allocation of resources to any one of these functions reduces the amount available to the others. This study will test the hypothesis that a tradeoff in the amount of resources allocated to dispersal versus resources allocated to reproduction serves as the physiological mechanistic link by which organisms translate environmental variability experienced in fragmented habitats into population persistence within those habitats. This study will test this hypothesis using a fast-moving ground-dwelling beetle in the fragmented habitat of the Southern Judean Lowlands in Israel. Through the outreach program Insect Discovery, about 10,000 2nd grade students in Tucson, AZ will use insects to learn biological principles in specially designed workshops and classroom visits. In addition, 66 undergraduate preceptors and 12 graduate students will be trained in science outreach and how to convey an enthusiasm for science to the general public. Habitat fragmentation is a dominant feature of landscapes particularly where intensive cultivation results in increased fragmentation of natural habitats. A novel, integrative conceptual framework is proposed in which spatial characteristics of the environment, imposed by fragmentation, lead to specific life-history traits that increase individual survival and decrease the likelihood of population extinction. As habitat fragmentation increases, organisms should invest more into dispersal and less into reproduction, resulting in a resource allocation tradeoff between reproduction and dispersal along a habitat fragmentation gradient. Emerging from this are three explicit and testable hypotheses that predict that the dispersal-reproduction tradeoff is the mechanistic link by which organisms translate environmental variation created by habitat fragmentation into variation in species abundances that lower local extinction probability and increase population persistence. These hypotheses will be tested in a well-studied fragmented landscape in the Southern Judea Lowlands of Israel, focusing on a fast-moving, ground-dwelling beetle. This study brings together techniques from landscape ecology and ecological physiology across multiple scales, from the individual, to patches, to populations, to whole landscapes. This project will support Insect Discovery, an outreach program that uses insects to teach biological principles to nearly 10,000 2nd grade students in Tucson, AZ, most of whom are economically disadvantaged, underserved minorities. In addition, 66 undergraduate preceptors and 12 graduate students will be trained in science outreach and how to convey an enthusiasm for science to the general public.

农业活动可能导致自然栖息地破碎化，从而导致栖息地总面积减少、平均栖息地斑块面积减小以及斑块之间的距离增加。所有这些都可能导致生活在这些支离破碎的栖息地的当地种群的减少和灭绝。一般来说，生物体用于生长、维持、传播和繁殖的资源（营养能量）是有限的。将资源分配给其中任何一项职能都会减少其他职能的可用资源。这项研究将检验这样一个假设，即分配给扩散的资源量与分配给繁殖的资源量之间的权衡是生物体将支离破碎的栖息地中经历的环境变化转化为这些栖息地内的种群持久性的生理机制联系。这项研究将在以色列南朱迪亚低地的破碎栖息地中使用一种快速移动的地面甲虫来验证这一假设。通过“昆虫发现”推广计划，亚利桑那州图森市约 10,000 名二年级学生将在专门设计的研讨会和课堂参观中利用昆虫来学习生物学原理。此外，还将对 66 名本科生导师和 12 名研究生进行科学推广以及如何向公众传达科学热情的培训。栖息地破碎化是景观的一个主要特征，特别是在集约化耕作导致自然栖息地破碎化加剧的情况下。提出了一种新颖的综合概念框架，其中由碎片化带来的环境空间特征导致了特定的生活史特征，从而增加了个体的生存并降低了种群灭绝的可能性。随着栖息地破碎化的加剧，生物体应该更多地投资于扩散，而更少地投资于繁殖，从而导致沿着栖息地破碎梯度在繁殖和扩散之间进行资源分配权衡。由此产生了三个明确且可检验的假设，它们预测分散与繁殖的权衡是生物体将栖息地破碎化造成的环境变化转化为物种丰度变化的机械联系，从而降低局部灭绝概率并增加种群持久性。这些假设将在以色列南朱迪亚低地的一个经过充分研究的碎片化景观中进行测试，重点是一种快速移动的地面甲虫。这项研究汇集了景观生态学和生态生理学的技术，涵盖多个尺度，从个体、斑块、种群到整个景观。该项目将支持 Insect Discovery，这是一项外展计划，利用昆虫向亚利桑那州图森市近 10,000 名二年级学生教授生物学原理，其中大多数是经济弱势、服务不足的少数族裔。此外，还将对 66 名本科生导师和 12 名研究生进行科学推广以及如何向公众传达科学热情的培训。