Ecological Interactions in Headwater Streams

捕食和竞争在许多不同生态系统的群落结构中扮演着重要的角色。这些生物相互作用在河流群落结构中的重要性仍然是群落生态学中一个紧迫的问题。这个问题将在两个重复的实验溪流中进行研究；一个是16个溪流中的一个，一个是24个溪流中的一个，以及山湖生物站的野外采样和野外实验计划。实验溪流分别模仿阿巴拉契亚山脉溪流的池塘和流水栖息地。将使用这些溪流中常见的几种底栖生物。它们与中水捕食性天敌Salvelinus fontinaris一起，组成复杂的群落。这将是热带生态系统中第一次大规模的。这项研究计划将使河流生态学家能够更好地解释小溪中物种的分布和丰度模式，并更好地理解关于河流群落中栖息地隔离和微生境利用模式的大量数据。

Predation and competition play an important role in the structure of communities in many different ecosystems. The importance of these biotic interactions in the structure of stream communities remains a pressing question in community ecology. this question will be examined in two large arrays of replicated experimental streams; one of 16 streams and one of 24 streams, and in a program of field sampling and field experiments at Mountain Lake Biological Station. The experimental streams are constructed to mimic the pool an driffle habitats respectively of Appalacian mountain streams. Several benthic species common in these streams will be used. Etheostoma flabellare, Eurycea bislineata, Cottus bairdi, and Gyrinophilus porphyriticus, along with the midwater predator Salvelinus fontinalis, to assemble complex communities. This will be the first large-scale in lotic ecosystems. This program of research will enable stream ecologists to better interpret patterns of distribution and abundance of species in small streams and to better understand the large body of data on habitat segregation and microhabitat use patterns in stream communities.