Effects of topography on the environment
Effects of topography on the environment
复制标题
地形对环境的影响
DOI：
10.1017/s0025315409991123
复制
发表时间：
2010
影响因子：
1.2
通讯作者：
A. Jackson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Jackson
如果要充分认识气候变化的后果，就需要更好地了解生物体的分布模式及其因果机制。环境的地形特征与生物体分布之间的关联通常被认为是这些特征提供或改变当地条件的结果。这些假设很少得到经验支持，而且越来越多的证据表明地形特征并不总是以我们预期的方式影响变量。因此，有关栖息地特征如何影响环境条件（包括食物供应）的数据可能有助于理解生物体如何以及为何在其所在的地方被发现。此类数据很少，并且很少提供关于定义栖息地特定特征的严格描述或过于简单化。对于水生环境中的坚硬基质，裂缝通常是许多物种与之相关的显着特征。裂缝经常被认为（但没有被证明）可以通过增加湿度、调节（通常是降低）温度以及减少波浪冲击和水流的力来改善条件。这项研究提供了关于裂缝如何改变当地环境的各种假设的明确定义和测试。主要预测是，裂缝将比远离裂缝的区域更凉爽、更潮湿、更能遮挡水流，并且能支持更多的微藻。两年多的时间里，我们在多个海岸上进行了利用人工栖息地的操纵实验和对天然岩石海岸的测量，以了解裂缝如何影响当地条件。与附近的开放区域相比，裂缝确实更凉爽、更潮湿，支持更多的微藻，并且更能避开水流，但条件并不总是按照预期变化。影响往往很复杂，季节、海岸高度和潮汐条件等因素相互作用，影响裂缝对环境条件的影响。如果没有这些详细信息，就无法测试有关动物与栖息地特征相关的原因的假设。
Greater understanding of patterns of distributions of organisms and their causal mechanisms are required if the consequences of climatic change are to be fully realized. Associations between topographic features of the environment and distributions of organisms are frequently assumed to be a consequence of provision or modification of local conditions by those features. Such assumptions are rarely supported empirically and there is increasing evidence that topographic features do not always influence variables in the way we might anticipate. Thus, data about how features of habitat influence environmental conditions, including availability of food, are likely to be useful for understanding how and why organisms are found where they are. Such data are few and rigorous descriptions about what defines particular features of habitat are seldom provided or are simplistic. For hard substrata in aquatic environments, crevices are often prominent features with which many species associate. Crevices have frequently been assumed, but not demonstrated, to ameliorate conditions by increasing humidity, moderating (usually reducing) temperatures and by decreasing forces from wave-impacts and water-flow. This study provided clear definitions and tests of various hypotheses about how crevices altered the local environment. The main predictions were that crevices would be cooler, more humid, more sheltered from water-movement and support more micro-algae than areas away from crevices. Manipulative experiments using artificial habitats and measurements on natural rocky shores were carried out on multiple shores over two years to understand how crevices affected local conditions. Crevices were indeed cooler, more humid, supported more micro-algae and more sheltered from water-flow than open areas nearby, but conditions did not always vary in ways that were expected. Effects were often complex, with factors such as season, height on the shore and tidal conditions interacting to influence how crevices affect environmental conditions. Without this detailed information, assumptions about the reasons animals associate with features of habitat cannot be tested.