Mechanisms and Consequences of Trait-Mediated Indirect Interactions in a Larval Anuran Community

摘要 96-15523 Werner幼虫无尾类群落中性状介导的间接相互作用的机制和后果 该项目研究食物网中物种之间的间接相互作用及其对生态群落结构的影响。当通过物种B丰度的变化传递时，从物种A通过中间物种B传递到物种C的效应被称为密度介导的间接相互作用。有令人信服的理由相信，特质介导的间接互动在塑造社区方面也很重要。这些是由物种B的性状（行为、形态和生活史）的变化所传递的间接效应。目前，只有少数研究表明了这些影响。在这个建议中，我们使用一个模型系统的青蛙幼虫和他们的捕食者来研究，当我们可以预期的密度介导或性状介导的间接相互作用占主导地位，以及它们将如何相互作用时，这两个都是重要的。我们开发了一个模型，表明性状介导的间接相互作用被严重低估，并设计实验来测试这些预测。

ABSTRACT 96-15523 Werner Mechanisms and consequences of trait-mediated indirect interactions in a larval anuran community This project examines indirect interactions between species in a food web, and their effects on the structure of ecological communities. The effects transmitted from a species A to species C through an intermediate species B are termed density-mediated indirect interactions when they are transmitted through changes in the abundance of species B. There are compelling reasons to believe that trait-mediated indirect interactions also can be important in shaping communities. These are indirect effects transmitted by changes in the traits (behavior, morphology, and life history) of species B. Presently only a few studies have illustrated these effects. In this proposal, we use a model system of frog larvae and their dragonfly predators to examine when we can expect the density-mediated or the trait-mediated indirect interactions to dominate, and how they will interact when both are important. We develop a model that indicates that the trait-mediated indirect interactions have been strongly underestimated, and devise experiments to test these predictions.