An integrative approach to reveal community responses to multiple stressors

揭示社区对多种压力源的反应的综合方法

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04856
• 负责人: Vinebrooke, Rolf
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 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=740263
• 关键词: integrative; approach; reveal; community; responses

Global decline in biodiversity is estimated to involve a several-fold greater loss of species than before the onset of human pressures, being most pronounced in freshwater ecosystems. Here, ecologists are often surprised by the cumulative impacts of these novel and extreme anthropogenic environmental changes, or "stressors," especially when their combined effect does not equal the sum of their known individual effects. While much research has focused on the properties of the stressors and their interactions to explain such non-additive effects, relative little consideration has been given to how the affected species themselves and their interactions may mediate community responses and ecosystem processes (e.g., primary production). Consequently, there does not exist a well-developed conceptual framework in community ecology upon which empirical investigations can be built to examine the net effects of multiple stressors. Here, I focus on empirically upgrading the often cited Species Co-tolerance Concept (SCC) to advance it as a tool for revealing the nature of community responses to multiple stressors from a mainly freshwater perspective. The primary tenet of the SCC is that the correlation of species tolerances of various stressors determines their combined impact on community-level properties (e.g., species richness, total production); however, it has remained in need of hypothesis-testing and further refinement. Our recent discoveries point to the SCC requiring an improved species-based null model, and also better integration of species interactions and their traits to make it more predictive and mechanistically insightful. Over the next five years, my short term objectives involve determining how integration of these factors into the SCC affect its potential for groundbreaking predictions and understanding of community responses to simultaneous or sequential exposures to stressors. Extensive training of HQP is at the core to the success of my research program. I personally mentor and assist HQP in their design and start of field and lab studies, subsequent quantitative analyses, and communication of their findings. I take a comprehensive approach to training HQP in standard to novel and advanced algal and invertebrate taxonomic techniques, developing skill sets that are increasingly in demand yet short in supply in the environmental sector. I also foster active transfer of skills in my lab to develop mentorship in senior lab members, while also strongly encouraging a highly collaborative and diverse lab environment. I am particularly excited that our findings will lead to textbook-changing advances in community ecology by placing it more in a global change context while also addressing the need for better environmental risk assessment of the cumulative ecological impacts of multiple stressors.

据估计，全球生物多样性的下降涉及物种的损失比人类压力发作之前大几倍，在淡水生态系统中最为明显。在这里，生态学家通常会惊讶于这些新颖和极端人为的环境变化或“压力源”的累积影响，尤其是当它们的综合效果不等于其已知的个体效应的总和时。尽管许多研究集中在压力源的特性及其相互作用以解释这种非添加效应，但对影响物种本身和它们的相互作用如何介导社区反应和生态系统过程（例如，初级生产）的相对考虑很少。因此，在社区生态学中，没有一个发达的概念框架，可以在该概念框架上构建经验研究以检查多种压力源的净影响。在这里，我专注于从经验上升级经常引用的物种共耐受性概念（SCC），以将其作为一种工具，作为从主要淡水角度揭示社区对多种压力源反应的性质的工具。 SCC的主要原则是，各种压力源物种公差的相关性决定了它们对社区级特性的综合影响（例如，物种丰富度，总产量）；但是，它仍然需要假设检验和进一步的改进。我们最近的发现表明SCC需要改进的基于物种的空模型，并更好地整合物种相互作用及其性状，以使其更具预测性和机械性。在接下来的五年中，我的短期目标涉及确定将这些因素整合到SCC中如何影响其开创性预测的潜力，并了解对压力源简单或顺序暴露的社区反应的理解。 HQP的广泛培训是我的研究计划成功的核心。我个人指导并协助HQP进行他们的设计，领域和实验室研究的开始，随后的定量分析以及他们的发现的沟通。我采取了一种全面的方法来培训HQP，以针对新颖和先进的藻类和无脊椎动物分类技术进行标准，从而开发了越来越多的需求但在环境部门供应量较短的技能。我还培养了实验室中的技能转移，以发展高级实验室成员的心态，同时也强烈鼓励高度协作和潜水的实验室环境。令我感到特别兴奋的是，我们的发现将通过将其放置在全球变化环境中，同时还解决了对多种压力源累积生态影响的更好的环境风险评估的需求，从而导致社区生态的变化。