U.S.-U.K. Cooperative Research: Population Dynamics and Ecological Stability

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This award will support collaborative research in population biology and ecology between Dr. Philip Crowley, University of Kentucky, and Dr. J.H. Lawton, Center for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, England. The proposed study will focus on two areas: l) the possible tendency for the abundances of individual populations or of groups of populations to stabilize, and on how best to detect, measure and conceptualize this stabiliza- tion process, and 2) the possibility that being sufficiently spread out in space or fragmented into partially connected sub-populations can reduce population variability and the risk of extinction. The proposed projects represent attempts to facilitate the convergence of theory and data concerning the stability and persistence of natural populations. Among the specific objectives of each project are: 1) Density-Dependence and Stability: to devise and improve statistically defensible and sensitive techniques for detecting density-dependence in density sequences for individual populations and 2) Metapopulation Stability and Persistence: to consider models of populations that consist of quasi-independent parts weakly linked by dispersal and buffeted by moderate environmental fluctuations and to conduct laboratory tests of the models' predictions. The issues addressed in the proposed research are of fundamental importance in population and community ecology. Though difficult to document empirically, density dependence is central to our understanding of how populations are regulated. Moreover, understanding persistence and measuring stability are becoming increasingly critical in an era of human-induced ecological stress and global climatic change. The Center for Population Biology at Silwood Park provides an outstanding environment for collaborative research in population dynamics. The expertise of Dr. Crowley and his British collaborators is complementary, and should serve to enhance the proposed research.