Mechanisms and Consequences of Resource Competition in a Desert Grassland

在这项提案中，P.I.开发了一个竞争的机械论模型，该模型预测植物对资源的利用如何影响个体竞争能力和种群水平的竞争结果，沿着生产力梯度。该模型基于将竞争力的两个组成部分分离出来：耗尽资源的能力和容忍耗尽的资源的能力。使用这两种类型的植物-资源相互作用来预测植物-植物净相互作用的结果是复杂的，因为相互作用的植物的相对大小决定了好的耗竭者或好的耐受者是更好的竞争者，而且植物的耗竭和耐受能力由不同的植物性状决定。研究人员开发了关于这些关系的具体预测，并描述了在沙漠草原群落中测试它们的实验。这样的模型应该对许多植物群落具有重要意义，包括世界各地那些濒危的植物群落。

In this proposal the P.I. develops a mechanistic model of competition that makes predictions about how resource use by plants influences both individual competitive ability and the population-level outcome of competition along productivity gradients. The model is based on separating two components of competitive ability: ability to deplete resources and ability to tolerate depleted resources. Using these two types of plant- resource interactions to predict the outcome of net plant-plant interactions is complex because the relative sizes of interacting plants determine whether good depletors or good tolerators are the superior competitors and because depletion and tolerance abilities are determined by different plant traits. The investigators develops specific predictions about these relationships and describe experiments to test them in a desert grassland community such models should have significant implication for many plant communities, included those endangered worldwide.