Reframing plant competition: Understanding how plant social interactions affect community assembly and the delivery of ecological goods and services

重构植物竞争：了解植物社会互动如何影响群落组装以及生态产品和服务的提供

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04350
• 负责人: Cahill, James
• 金额: $ 4.74万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=737573
• 关键词: Reframing; plant; competition; Understanding; how

The behavior of individuals influences the outcome of the interactions among species that can structure natural communities. For plants, species interactions are central to foundational theory in ecology and are drivers of issues of societal concern (e.g. invasive species, agricultural sustainability). The study of plant interactions has focused on deterministic outcomes of competition driven by shared limiting resources. However, plants engage in complex cue detection and fine-scale behavioural responses to neighbours which can be independent of resource-driven processes. Thus, the outcome of species interactions is determined by both resource and non-resource effects and responses of individual plants living together in space and time. The relative strengths of these processes will determine whether outcomes are negative, neutral, or positive at scales ranging from individual fitness to species coexistence. This ideas in this proposal build upon several recent discoveries, and continues to rely upon my experimental approach to understanding ecological processes. Over the next five years, I will address four objectives: 1.Determine how social context influences the relative importance of resource and non-resource cues for determining individual behaviour and performance. 2.Identify the determinants and contingencies of root placement decisions by individual plants. 3.Determine how plant traits, behaviour, and local context interact to affect ecosystem functioning. 4.Advance understanding of additional topics in plant behavioural ecology. Central to this research will be extensive training of HQP at the undergraduate, MSc & PhD, and PDF levels. The success of my program is dependent upon effective mentorship, helping encourage individuals as they develop as scientists. As evidenced from the publication record and current positions of my previous lab members, I have previously been successful in my training efforts. Though the research presented in the proposal is drawn from broad conceptual theory, its relevance to issues of concern in Canada and elsewhere is not abstract. Natural communities are constantly faced with external pressures, including the introduction of new species and changing climatic and resource conditions. As sessile organisms, plants must deal with their neighbours the entirety of their lives. Understanding how social interactions influence how plants respond to other factors could enhance the accuracy of conservation-oriented models. For example, behavioural adjustments may be a mechanism for ecosystem stability in the face of mild, but perhaps not major, perturbation. Furthermore, plant biology and ecology are the foundations of crop and cattle production. A deeper understanding of how plants occupy and use their habitat, including the integration of signals and cues, will have impacts on the productivity and sustainability of managed systems.

个人的行为影响可以构造自然社区的物种之间相互作用的结果。对于植物，物种相互作用是生态学基础理论的核心，并且是社会关注问题的驱动因素（例如，入侵物种，农业可持续性）。对工厂相互作用的研究集中在共同限制资源驱动的竞争的确定性上。但是，植物对邻居进行了复杂的提示检测和精细的行为反应，这可以独立于资源驱动的过程。因此，物种相互作用的结果取决于资源和非资源的影响以及在时空中共同生活的单个植物的反应。这些过程的相对优势将决定结果是在范围从个人健身到物种共存的量表上的负，中性还是阳性。该提案中的这一想法是建立在最近发现的基础上，并继续依靠我的实验方法来理解生态过程。在接下来的五年中，我将解决四个目标：1。确定社会环境如何影响资源和非资源线索对确定个人行为和绩效的相对重要性。 2.识别单个植物的根本放置决策的决定因素和偶然性。 3.确定植物特征，行为和局部环境如何相互作用以影响生态系统的功能。 4.提出对植物行为生态学其他主题的理解。这项研究的中心将是对本科，MSC和PHD和PDF水平的HQP的广泛培训。我计划的成功取决于有效的指导，帮助个人作为科学家发展。从我以前的实验室成员的出版记录和当前职位中可以看出，我以前在培训工作中取得了成功。尽管该提案中提出的研究是从广泛的概念理论中得出的，但它与加拿大和其他地方关注的问题的相关性并不抽象。自然社区不断面临外部压力，包括引入新物种以及不断变化的气候和资源状况。作为无柄生物，植物必须与邻居打交道。了解社会互动如何影响植物如何应对其他因素可以增强面向保护模型的准确性。例如，面对轻度但不是主要的扰动，行为调整可能是生态系统稳定性的机制。此外，植物生物学和生态学是农作物和牛生产的基础。对植物如何占用和使用其栖息地（包括信号和线索的整合）将对托管系统的生产力和可持续性产生影响。