Resource Variance and Composition of Daphniid Assemblages

小行星9421539 滤食性浮游动物功能性生物多样性的维持机制是通过浮游植物资源丰度的时空环境变化来实现的。 物种可以被看作是不同的能力，以利用丰富的资源条件和穷人，这种差异创造了独特的相互作用之间的每一个物种和异质环境。 这项拟议中的研究将考察栖息在美国中西部湖泊中的水蚤物种多样性的广度，并使用广泛的自然资源组合来测试这种开发权衡的普遍性。 使用一种新的方法来量化资源丰富度从生物体的角度来看，这项研究还将研究组合组成之间的关联，和环境资源条件之间的湖泊和湖泊内的垂直栖息地。 两项实验研究将探讨这种权衡竞争和食物网相互作用的后果。 这项研究将确定调节水蚤多样性的关键因素，水蚤在淡水湖泊生态中起着关键作用。 这项研究提供了一个明确的测试的一般概念连接消费者的特点和多样性的生态社区。 它还为探索一个重要生物群体内的生物多样性如何转化为生态系统一级的后果奠定了基础。

9421539 Tessier It is proposed that a mechanism by which functional biodiversity of filter-feeding zooplankton is maintained is by spatial-temporal environmental variation in phytoplankton-resource abundance. Species can be viewed as differing in their ability to exploit rich versus poor resource conditions, and such differences create unique interactions between each species and a heterogeneous environment. The proposed research would examine the breadth of species diversity within the Daphnia inhabiting the lakes of midwest U.S., and use a broad range of natural resource assemblages to test the generality of this exploitation tradeoff. Using a novel approach to quantify resource richness from the organisms's perspective, this research would also examine for an association between assemblage composition, and environmental resource conditions among lakes and vertical habitats within lakes. Two experimental studies will explore the consequences of this tradeoff to competitive and food web interactions. This research will identify key factors regulating the diversity of Daphnia, which play a pivotal role in the ecology of freshwater lakes. The research provides an explicit test of a general concept linking consumer traits and diversity of ecological communities. It also lays the groundwork to explore how biodiversity within an important group of organisms translates into consequences at the ecosystem level.