Collaborative Research: The Interactive Effects of Spatial and Temporal Patch Structure on Faunal Dynamics

小行星9318060 理论研究认为，栖息地斑块的空间和时间安排可能有很大的影响，人口规模和持久性的环境是异质性和/或干扰。很少有实验研究，解决了当地种群动态的空间布局和斑块年龄的交互作用。在这项研究中，PI的将进行一系列的实验，以确定斑块之间的距离和斑块年龄如何影响斑块居住生物的丰度和分布。试验生物将是木本/叶状残体实验斑块内的溪流无脊椎动物。首先，PI的将确定的空间尺度上，动物群可能会响应补丁安排，通过测量特定物种的传播距离在现场。接下来，将设计实验来操纵斑块之间的距离和斑块年龄，然后根据种群丰度和分布监测物种的反应。 %%% 这项研究是广泛相关的斑块动态的理论和实证研究，它是特别感兴趣的，因为它解决了栖息地异质性和动物群的扩散流相互作用，以确保人口的持久性在高度可变的环境中的河流生态学家。此外，这项工作将提供一个第一个实证应用的理论模型，建议使用扩散能力作为一个尺度函数时，研究空间生境异质性。

9318060 Palmer Theoretical studies have argued that the spatial and temporal arrangement of habitat patches may have a strong influence on population size and persistence in environments that are heterogeneous and/or disturbed. Few experimental studies have addressed the interactive effects of spatial arrangement and patch age on local population dynamics. In this research, the PI's will conduct a set of experiments to determine how the distance between patches and patch age influence the abundances and distributions of patch-dwelling organisms. The test organisms will be stream invertebrates within experimental patches of woody/leafy debris. First, the PI's will determine the spatial scale over which fauna potentially can respond to patch arrangement by measuring species-specific dispersal distances in the field. Next, experiments will be designed to manipulate the distance among patches and patch age, followed by monitoring species responses based on population abundance and distribution. %%% This research is broadly relevant to both theoretical and empirical investigations of patch dynamics and it is of particular interest to lotic ecologists because it addresses how habitat heterogeneity and faunal dispersal in streams interact to ensure population persistence in highly variable environments. in addition, this work will provide one of the first empirical applications of theoretical models which suggest using dispersal ability as a scaling function when studying spatial habitat heterogeneity.