RUI: Animal-Plant Interactions in Mangrove Communities

这项研究是对新热带红树林、红树根和生活在其气生根上的附生生物之间相互作用的第一次全面研究。红树林覆盖了75%受保护的热带海岸线。对这些无处不在的群落的研究将扩大我们对这些海岸系统的结构和维护的理解，并澄清生物本身如何改变这一过程。这项研究还应该阐明到目前为止尚未被认识的树木和底栖无脊椎动物之间的直接和间接相互作用。该项目特别致力于促进本科生培训和参与热带研究。该研究计划将在中美洲伯利兹广阔的芒果区进行为期四年的工作。表面生物将被选择性地去除并添加到苗木、幼树和成熟树的根中。这些处理对存活率、茎和根的生长、叶产量和小根增殖的影响将被监测。该项目将研究表生生物影响树木生长的机制，并将确定海绵是否参与红树林的固氮。这项研究将进一步评估表生生物是否会改变幼树和成熟树下沉积物的积累速度，从而影响芒果个体发育。对构建和维护Mangal的过程的了解将为明智地使用和保护这些广泛的社区提供信息。

This research constitutes the first comprehensive study of interactions between neotropical red mangroves, Rhizophora mangle, and epibionts that live on its aerial roots. Mangroves cover75% of sheltered tropical coastlines. studies of these ubiquitous communities will expand our understanding of the structure and maintenance of these coastal systems, and clarify how such process may be altered by the organisms themselves. This research also should elucidate hitherto unappreciated direct and indirect interactions between trees and benthic invertebrates. This project specially seeks to foster undergraduate training and participation in tropical research. The research program will expand upon four years of work in the extensive mangal of Belize, Central America. Epibionts will be selectivity removed and added to roots of seedlings, sapling, and mature trees. Effects of these treatments on surviorship, stem and root growth, leaf production, and rootlet proliferation will be monitored. The project will investigate mechanisms by which epibionts influence tree growth, and will determine whether sponges are involved in nitrogen fixation for mangroves. The research will further assess if epibionts alter the rate of sediment accretion under saplings and matures trees, thereby influencing mangal ontogeny. Knowledge of processes that structure and maintain mangal will inform the wise use and conservation of these widespread communities.